Re: Storage - only viewing a shared folder

Buff Daddy · ‎06-30-2023

Hi everyone,

I've had drop box for a while - just the basic plan and it's served me well for many years.

A few months ago I was given permission to view a group's folder. All was good until last week when they uploaded photos and videos. Now Dropbox is saying I've used 994% of my storage. I would have thought that if I could only view their folder it shouldn't affect my storage. Have the files been downloaded as well?

How can I fix this?

Thanks!

Rich · ‎06-30-2023

@Buff Daddy wrote:

So according to that, it's just been shared with view access. So I can't figure out why this is taking up room.

It may be view access but it's still a shared folder that you've been invited to, rather than a shared link. A shared folder is added to your account and you have your own copy of the folder that you are given view access to (you can't edit). A shared link is a different method of sharing, and a view-only shared link doesn't even require the recipient to have a Dropbox account. It's just accessed directly on the Dropbox website, and if you do have an account, the content of the link isn't added to your account unless you chose to save a copy.

Send them the link you found for creating a shared link. It has the steps needed to create a view-only shared link that will do what you want.

View solution in original post

Walter · ‎06-30-2023

Hey @Buff Daddy, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

If this is a shared folder that was added to your account, this would be normal since shared folders count towards the quota of every account that's a member of the share.

You can read more about this here.

Let us know if you have any more questions.

Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support

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Buff Daddy · ‎06-30-2023

Thanks Walter for the reply.

So is there a way i can access the files without it being added to my quota?

Regards

Buff

Buff Daddy · ‎06-30-2023

Being looking some more into this. I found this page: https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/storage-space#

On that page is this:

If you need to view shared files that are larger than the remaining space in your account, you can:

Ask the person who invited you to send a shared link to the folder instead

When I click on the "shared link" hyperlink, it doesn't really specify how that can be done - just talks about view or edit permissions.

The original email I received said this:

Email title: "Person's name redacted by me!" shared "SP - ACT 1" with you

Hi Jason,

"Person's name redacted by me!" invited you to view the folder " SP - ACT 1" on Dropbox.

So according to that, it's just been shared with view access. So I can't figure out why this is taking up room.

All very confusing!

Buff

Rich · ‎06-30-2023

@Buff Daddy wrote:

So according to that, it's just been shared with view access. So I can't figure out why this is taking up room.

It may be view access but it's still a shared folder that you've been invited to, rather than a shared link. A shared folder is added to your account and you have your own copy of the folder that you are given view access to (you can't edit). A shared link is a different method of sharing, and a view-only shared link doesn't even require the recipient to have a Dropbox account. It's just accessed directly on the Dropbox website, and if you do have an account, the content of the link isn't added to your account unless you chose to save a copy.

Send them the link you found for creating a shared link. It has the steps needed to create a view-only shared link that will do what you want.