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.

[tpatel0]

I have paid account with 2 TB space but the shared folder (via link to edit) person despite being made owner of the folder states the capacity for the folder is 2 GB and have used up all.  Total space used out of 2 TB is less than 100 GB. I am confused. Guidance is appreciated, 

[Rich]

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@tpatel0 wrote:

I have paid account with 2 TB space but the shared folder (via link to edit) person despite being made owner of the folder states the capacity for the folder is 2 GB ...

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You have 2TB of space available in your account. The other user does not. Since the shared folder exists in their account, it takes up space in their account, and they're still limited to the space available in their own account.

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

[mwoo]

Hi, so I personally have a Google Business account and primarilly use Google Drive as storage and collaboration. IF I share a folder and make it so an external team I'm temporarily working with can edit/upload then anything they upload goes to my quota (I am the one granting permission to utilise my drive space temporarily) this is absolutley how you'd expect it to work..Google still get the money from me but I can share/lend others my space for collaboration as if it were a physical rented space until the project is over. 

Dropbox doesn't seem to work like this? If client 'A' shares a project folder with me, I too have to have enough 'space' in my account to collaborate, even though I do not use Dropbox myself unless it's the clients platform.

So you are essentially forcing payment from someone to edit/collaborate on files that the host has already paid to use? I don't get it...Client 'A' has sent me a dropbox link I cannot even access because apparently I don't have enough space, even though I've got 0mb uploaded with a free account... 

[Hannah]

Hey @mwoo, thanks for reaching out to us.

When it comes to sharing folders with edit access, the folder needs to be added to each member's account, so it can be edited, thus it needs to take up space for that.

Someone can send you a "view only" link instead, for you to access the files, which won't affect your space.

And if you need to upload files to their account, they can send you a file request.

I hope this helps.