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Forum Discussion

Siine's avatar
Siine
Explorer | Level 3
2 months ago

How to stop shared Dropbox files from taking up my personal hard drive space?

I am not the owner of a shared folder . I only have editing access. I only add files into the shared folder, but now the shared folder is eating up space in my personal storage space. I have made all files offline but my Dropbox personal storage is still being used up. 
How can i still have access to the shared folders but not have them saved to my personal storage ?

I need the files that I upload to the shared folder to be transferred to the shared folder's owners storage and not my personal storage. 


  • Siine wrote:

    How can i still have access to the shared folders but not have them saved to my personal storage ?


    If you're a member of a shared folder, you have your own copy of the folder in your account taking up space. Anything in the folder, along with anything you add, is actually in your account and syncs back to all the other members. You're not uploading directly to someone else's account.

     

     

    If you require edit access, there's no easy easy way around it. You could ask for a view-only shared link to download the files you need, and a File Request to upload files back to their account, but that can be a pain to manage.

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    Siine wrote:

    How can i still have access to the shared folders but not have them saved to my personal storage ?


    If you're a member of a shared folder, you have your own copy of the folder in your account taking up space. Anything in the folder, along with anything you add, is actually in your account and syncs back to all the other members. You're not uploading directly to someone else's account.

     

     

    If you require edit access, there's no easy easy way around it. You could ask for a view-only shared link to download the files you need, and a File Request to upload files back to their account, but that can be a pain to manage.

  • Siine's avatar
    Siine
    Explorer | Level 3

    So does this mean that i need to be included to a team drop box so that i do not personally have my storage used by the shared folder ?

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

      Hey Siine, if you have edit rights on a shared folder, it will need to take up space in your account, no matter what.

       

      If you join a Dropbox team, the files will still take up space, but it won't be your own personal Dropbox space.

       

      However, there are certain things to take into consideration, before joining a Dropbox team.

       

      I'd suggest reading about it here and here, before moving forward.

       

      I hope this helps, but let me know if you still have questions!