Forum Discussion

New member | Level 2

6 years ago

Dropbox Files Take Up Hard Drive Space

My laptop keeps showing me that my Dropbox files are taking up space on my hard drive. I am certain they are syncing and on the cloud. How do I resolve this? Thanks.

Desktop

FAQ

Sync

Hannah
2 years ago
Thanks for taking the time to post here, Roni5050.

Just wanted to let you know that the Dropbox desktop app's job is to sync local versions of your files to your computer.

This allows you to access your Dropbox files and work on them, even if you're not connected to the internet and it's our preferred method of uploading/downloading larger files.

You can of course still use the website and if you'd like, you can also use our selective sync feature, which will help you remove entire folders from your Dropbox folder, but keep them on dropbox.com, to free up some of your space.

I hope this helps!

MNWIV

Explorer | Level 3

Are you using the free version of Dropbox, or a paid version? It looks like the free version uses hard drive space now, and only paid dropbox uses cloud storage

Lusil

Dropbox Staff

6 years ago

Hi there, Emeskay and MNWIV!

Initially, please note that files that are in the Dropbox folder are available locally and for this reason take up space on your hard drive, no matter the plan that you are subscribed to.

To ensure that your files have synced to the website and to other connected devices, you can find out by hovering over the Dropbox icon that’s next to your desktop’s clock (if it’s finished syncing, it should read up to date) and from the syncing icons on your files (if they are synced, they will have a green icon with a check-mark on them).

If you don’t want your folders to take up space on your computer, you can selectively sync them which would remove them locally. If you’re under a Professional or Business subscription, you can also use Smart Sync to make files online-only. If you’re not sure which plan you have, you can navigate to your Plan tab for more details.

I hope this helped clarify matters a bit more. Let me know if you have any other questions! :grin:

cpie23
New member | Level 2
4 years ago
This is what I don't understand about smart sync though - I'm a photographer and have a ton of RAW files and large jpg files from editing in Lightroom and Photoshop. I save all my filed to my Professional Dropbox account because I've had multiple failed external hard drives and computers. I use the smart sync function and it simply doesn't matter. I'm running critically low on computer space every single day. What is the deal with this? It's driving me nuts that I can't figure it out.
- Rich
  Super User II
  4 years ago
  cpie23 wrote:
  
  I use the smart sync function and it simply doesn't matter. I'm running critically low on computer space every single day.
  
  Are you on a Mac?
  
  https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-files-folders/How-to-stop-Dropbox-files-set-to-Smart-Sync-from-taking-up/td-p/284499
  - FredericVT
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago
    Hello,
    
    I'm using Dropbox Pro on Windows 10. In my preferences:
    - "online only" is set
    - "Selected Sync" is used and zero folder is selected (absolutely nothing)
    So in theory, I should have nothing copied to my hard drive by Dropbox.
    Note that I can't use the online version as I'm backuping huge files online, and the web version of Dropbox is limited in terms of file size.
    I'm pretty much upset because Dropbox keeps on copying files to my hard drive, no matter what I do. What did I miss?
gwilcken
New member | Level 2
3 years ago
I have this problem as well. I have already set everything to online-only through smart sync. It doesn't matter - the laptop that I use which I need to access my dropox with still screams that it's out of space, and that huge files in my dropbox are the problem. I have looked everywhere and found no more options to set, no more menus to pull down... no matter what I do, DB is still claiming local HD space.

Please help.
- Walter
  Dropbox Staff
  3 years ago
  Hey gwilcken, sorry to hear you're having issues this.
  
  If you've made sure that the app is 'up to date' and not still syncing in your computer's system tray/menu bar, then, the space might be taken up by the cache folder.
  
  Could that be the case here?
  
  Keep me posted!
Photon_wrangler
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago
Is there a difference between files that have only "place holders" in Selective Sync and can be downloaded to the computer and files that are On-line only in Smart Sync?
- Jay
  Dropbox Staff
  3 years ago
  Hi Photon_wrangler, with selective sync, there are no placeholders, the files literally do no exist on your machine, and will only appear on the site.
  
  Only Smart Sync with online-only files have placeholders on your machine.