Dropbox Files Take Up Hard Drive Space

[Emeskay]

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.

[Mark]

Hi @FredericVT 

To upload initially they have to go in to your Dropbox folder locally. Thats the only way to upload via the software. Once they have then uploaded you can use the web interface to move them to a none sync'd folder or turn it to Online Only. However, you HAVE to do the local part first

[FredericVT]

Oh, that's bad news! I have huge files on external drives. I can't copy them locally first. So I need to change by dropbox directory to each external drive until everything is uploaded for the first time? I wish it was are easy as a FTP client...

[Mark]

I'd not recommend changing drive lots... you risk data loss. All I can suggest is uploading in smaller batches

[Mark]

OR @FredericVT would https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/external-drive help?

[FredericVT]

Using smaller batches is not an option for me, my files are huge, hundreds of megs each. I'll try to external drive feature, thanks for pointing it to me. I have several drives and I need to backup a few files per drive, but maybe this is supported.

[Undrbgt]

Why do large files I uploaded to Dropbox from my MacBook to free up storage space still count against my storage capacity?

[Megan]

Hi @Undrbgt, I'd be happy to respond to that! 

Do you use the desktop app, when you upload content to your Dropbox account?  If so, then keep in mind that since the app uses a local copy of your content, it'd make sense for the files and folders to take up space on the device. 

Also, can you clarify if you're referring to the device's storage space or your account's? 

Let me know if you have any other questions. 

[Photon_wrangler]

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]

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.

[gwilcken]

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.