You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Why do shared files count against my space use???
Why are files shared with me counted against my space usage? Is this data counted twice? If someone who is sharing files with me is paying for this space, why should I have to pay as well just to acc...
dualice wrote:
Why are files shared with me counted against my space usage?
Because the files exist in your account.
When you have access to a shared folder, you're not accessing someone else's folder. You're accessing your own COPY of the folder within your account, and you need to have enough space available to hold that folder.
If you just need to view or download files that someone else is sharing with you, ask them to send you a shared link instead. A shared link is a view-only method of sharing and you don't even need a Dropbox account to access it.
Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi again, Rebecca16!
Indeed, a shared folder will take up space in the accounts of all the members, when the folder is shared with edit permissions.
Do you need this person to have edit access to the folder or just view and/or download it to their computer?
Just view/download I believe. But also capability to save new items to the folder.
- Hannah
Thanks for the update, Rebecca!
To be able to save files to the folder, they'd need to have edit permissions, however, you can use the workaround of a file request.
And in order to give them access to the folder, you can use a "can view" link instead.
That way, their Dropbox space won't be affected at all.
I hope this helps!
Hannah so, in general, storage is only affected if a shared file has edit access allowed? And the storage refers to online or desktop space available?
- Jay
HI Rebecca16, if it is a shared folder, which is then added to their account, then it would affect their quota.
This quota we're referring to is the online quota on your (and their) Dropbox account. If the Dropbox desktop application is installed, it will also take up space on the computer.
