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Forum Discussion
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.
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!
It appears the storage on my computer has been almost completly used up by dropbox files. I though the purpose of dropbox was for everything to be saved to a 'cloud' so that it does not use up space on my computer?? What am I doing wrong here?
Matt
- Rich
Super User II
mgsallee wrote:
I though the purpose of dropbox was for everything to be saved to a 'cloud' so that it does not use up space on my computer??
No, that's not the primary use of Dropbox. First and foremost, Dropbox is a file synchronization service, meant to keep the files stored in your local Dropbox folder synchronized with the copy stored in your account online. The Dropbox folder is not a cloud folder or drive where your files only exist online. The Dropbox folder is a regular folder just like any other, and anything stored in it takes up space on your drive.
Now, there are some features that help you save space. Selective Sync, available on all plans, can be used to remove the local copy of a folder from your Dropbox folder so that it only exists online. Any folders set this way are no longer accessible through Explorer (PC) or Finder (Mac), but can still be accessed through the Dropbox website.
Smart Sync, which is available on all paid plans allows you to mark files and folders as Online-only. A file or folder marked as such a way is removed from your computer and stored only online, but a placeholder is left behind so it appears as though the file or folder is still on your computer. Accessing such any files that are marked as Online-only will cause Dropbox to download them back to your computer so you can use them normally.
