Dropbox is taking up all of the space on my harddrive

[kalebseaton]

Dropbox is killing me. I have 2TB of space on my laptop, Dropbox is taking up almost 700gb of it, despite all of my files being set to Online Only. I've also followed the steps suggested by other users to toggle "Online Only files on Mac" which appears to have done nothing.

I finally resorted to deleting the Dropbox app with the intent of re-downloading it, hoping that that would clear out whatever data it is supposedly storing, but when I deleted the dropbox app, the folder in the finder window still stayed there, and is STILL showing 700gb of storage being taken up. I can't seem to get rid of it. Can anyone give me any advice?

[Jay]

Hi @GiftofGaby, have you enabled the 'Online-only files on Mac' option on this page, which will show online-only files as taking up no space on your machine?

[GiftofGaby]

Yes, it is enabled. 

Last nigh my system did updated to Sonoma 14.0. I'm noticing that when I get info on a folder - it will show the full size (according to Dropbox) 

 But the issue being that in system preference when I check my storage and see whats taking up space. Documents tend to be a bulk with many of those items being Dropbox items that have been turned into offline only...

[Megan]

First of all, great job on the troubleshooting steps you've followed @GiftofGaby!

Can you locate the example file you mentioned above "Working America" inside your Dropbox folder, and right click on it in order to access its preferences and Get Info? 

Once you do, can you send me a screenshot of what you see there? 

[GiftofGaby]

No no - thank you for the speedy replies. 

[Removed as per Community Guidelines]

[Jay]

From the screenshot, the file size is Zero bytes on disk, meaning it isn't taking up any space.

What you're seeing in Finder is mostly a false report, since it isn't going by the physical size of the file.

[rls3800]

I've used Dropbox on my home computer for several years. I don't remember when I checked the use online only box, but I have numerous Dropbox files still on my hard drive that have almost filled it up. Once that box is checked is it OK to delete all the other Dropbox folders on my hard drive? I'm assuming when I checked the online only box it began the online only process but didn't remove the files that had already been stored locally. Since I can't speak with anyone on the Dropbox support team by phone I'm really stuck and frustrated and am considering just starting over with another offering. Can anyone give me some guidance on cleaning up my local disk... what Dropbox folders or other files can I safely delete from my hard drive? Thanks in advance for any proven advice.

[Hannah]

Hey @rls3800, thanks for your post today!

When you say that you checked the box about the online-only files, do you mean that you enabled the option for new files to sync as online-only?

If so, this wouldn't make your already existing files or the ones you add to that computer online-only, just the new ones added from the website or other devices.

So, if you'd like to switch your files to online-only, select the ones you want (or your entire Dropbox folder), right-click on them and then choose "make online-only".

Let me know how it goes!

[rls3800]

Thanks Hannah, I think we're on the right track. What you're telling me is once I checked that box then only new files from that point on went only to the cloud. If that's right, then all the files that went to the cloud previous to my checking that box are both on the cloud and my PC. Therefore I have to indicate on the rest of my data that I only want it backed up to the cloud from now on. If I've got that correctly, in which "entire" Dropbox folder do I select that? Once that's done I'll have more questions about cleaning up the many Dropbox folders on my PC that would appear to have local duplicates of my backup data. It's a mess... just wish Dropbox had a phone connection available for us lowly home users. I need someone to remotely share my system and help me straighten this all out. Anyway, thanks much for the start of what I'm sure will help.

[Hannah]

Thanks for your reply, @rls3800!

Phone support is currently only available to our Business users, but let's see how we can sort this out from here.

So, indeed, any files that were previously added to your account, and were available offline, wouldn't have been affected by the setting that makes new files online-only.

If you want to make all your Dropbox files online-only, to stop them from taking up space on your hard drive, you'll need to locate the folder named "Dropbox" in your File Explorer, right-click on it and choose "make online-only".

Once you do that, the app will start clearing up your hard drive space, without any additional actions from you.

That means that you don't have to manually delete anything; deleting the files will actually delete them from your account.

You'll just need to let them app do its work and keep an eye on the sync status (the message you see when you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray).

Once it shows "up to date", it should have cleared up your hard drive space.

I hope this helps!

[rls3800]

Hannah, I think this helps a lot. I found the icon and clicked right then checked the "make online only." I didn't see an symbol or check marks anywhere that indicated it was taking effect, should I? Assuming this works what do I do with the other Dropbox folders I seemed to have accumulated, through my own ignorance over the years, can those be deleted? Thanks again.