We are aware of the issue with the badge emails resending to everyone, we apologise for the inconvenience - learn more here.

Forum Discussion

risingfire's avatar
risingfire
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago

Files will not delete from DropBox--gives error message

I am having trouble deleting files from DropBox.  Some folders contain thousands of files.  I see from other discussions that DB does not handle large amounts of files well, and currently my DB has 2 million+ (!).  So I want to delete these huge folders and remove them from DB.  But.... DB is refusing to delete them.  I have tried this from both desktop and website interface.  No luck. 

 

On the website interface I tried to drill down to simply deleting a batch of files from one folder.  I receve the popup message "Delete 14030 items?"

 

I click "Delete" and then after a minute or so receive the popup message "Couldn't delete 14030 items."

 

I have tried everything I can think of.  How can I get rid of these files from DB??

 

  • Thanks... yes, I've tried smaller batches, but that did not help.  These are shared folders.  One of the other DB members was able to move some of the folders to a sub-folder and I was able to delete each of those moved folders one-by-one.  I also think that he may have been able to delete the files in the current recycle bin/deleted files folder, so that may have also helped.  It's hard to say exactly what got us past the "can't delete files" error message from DropBox, but it does seem that we may be able to delete these large folders.  There are still more to go, but we seem to be making progress.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi risingfire, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    Are these files you're trying to delete in a private or shared folder?

     

    Have you tried deleting the files in smaller batches?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

    • risingfire's avatar
      risingfire
      Helpful | Level 6

      Thanks... yes, I've tried smaller batches, but that did not help.  These are shared folders.  One of the other DB members was able to move some of the folders to a sub-folder and I was able to delete each of those moved folders one-by-one.  I also think that he may have been able to delete the files in the current recycle bin/deleted files folder, so that may have also helped.  It's hard to say exactly what got us past the "can't delete files" error message from DropBox, but it does seem that we may be able to delete these large folders.  There are still more to go, but we seem to be making progress.

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        That sounds like good news. Just so you're aware, deleting files from the recycle bin/deleted files folder doesn't really affect the Dropbox account, since the space has already been freed up.

         

        However, it's good news that progress is being made on your account. If you need any further assistance, please let me know!

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!