Why do shared files count against my space use???

[dualice]

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 access it? I am out of space, I have no intention of buying more space, and yet, when someone shares some files with me, I cannot access them and I am forced to buy space in order to access them. Why is this?

Thank you.

[brandonbrant]

That sounds like dropbox is throttling my capacity based off of things I can't control. If a used folder gets 10 GBs of photos added to it, I need to be able to accommodate their data (i.e. spend more money just to be able to view them).

Thanks for the answer, I'm just going to cancel my account. 

[Rich]

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@brandonbrant wrote:

That sounds like dropbox is throttling my capacity based off of things I can't control.

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You can certainly control it. You can easily remove the shared folder from your account. Also, if you only need view and/or download access to the files, ask the owner to send you a view-only shared link instead.

[brandonbrant]

But then when I needed the files I would have to request access to that shared folder again. 

What I'm hearing is if I want to collaborate and edit files from someone's shared folder, I will have to pay extra. There's no way around that. It doesn't matter if it's a word doc that 100kb, if that shared folder has more than 2GB worth of files I will have to have premium. And no one at Dropbox thinks that's an issue? 

Thanks again for your help. I just deleted the account. Take Care.

[Anandarup]

Hi. I have received edit request of a folder, which has 2000 GB space. But when I am trying to upload files, I can't upload files more than 2gb of space. I have a basic account. but the owner of the folder is a subscriber of a paid plan. What am I doing wrong?

[Zein awada]

Hello, so my manager at work subscribed to a certain plan on dropbox, after that he made shared folder with me(I don’t have subscription). He uploaded large files that exceeds my storage, but still didn’t understand why I’m not able to access the files(please note I download via the application on windows not the browser) so the question is should we both have subscription? Cause this doesn’t seem to be logic for me! Or is there a way where he the one who already have subscription can upload files on shared folders and I download those files normally on my PC
Thanks.

[Rich]

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@Anandarup wrote:

I can't upload files more than 2gb of space. I have a basic account. but the owner of the folder is a subscriber of a paid plan. What am I doing wrong?

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You're not doing anything wrong. Since you have your own COPY of the shared folder in your account, you need to have enough space in your account for anything stored in the folder. You're not uploading directly to someone else's folder.

• https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/storage-space

If you just need to be able to upload files to someone else and will have no need to access those files again, ask the other person to send you a file request instead.

[Megan]

Hey there, @Zein awada, happy Thursday! 

I merged your post under this thread, since many others also had the same question. 

Feel free to take a look at the existing info our superusers have shared, along with what has been suggested already, and let me know if you have any questions. 

Thanks!

[sandragouveia]

I was given edit permission by an employer to a Dropbox Folder but Dropbox requires me to add the shared folder to my Dropbox account. It's a large folder so I don't have enough space on my account.

Is this normal? I can't find any information connected to this on the website nor does my employer.

Thank you,

Sandra

[Rich]

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@sandragouveia wrote:

I was given edit permission by an employer to a Dropbox Folder but Dropbox requires me to add the shared folder to my Dropbox account.

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Yes, that's normal. When you're a member of a shared folder you get your own COPY of the folder in your own account, and that copy syncs back to all other members of the share. In order to add a shared folder to your account, you need to have enough space to hold the entire folder.

• https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/storage-space

[sandragouveia]

Thank you for your help! 🙏