Dropbox is Full, What To Do?
Are you running out of your Dropbox storage? If so, it can hinder your ability to store new files, sync files across devices, and share them with your friends and colleagues. Don’t panic, there are several methods to free up your Dropbox storage and make room for your new files.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a popular cloud-based file storage, transfer, and synchronization service. It was founded by two MIT students in 2007 to provide a seamless platform for transferring files across different devices and accessing them remotely. Within a few years, it gained popularity and crossed a 1 Million user base. Today, it is known as a strong alternative to Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive and offers robust security features and deep integration with various third-party services.
Why Dropbox Gets Full & How You Can Fix It?
Your Dropbox can become full due to many reasons. Here’s a glimpse of some of the common possibilities and the steps that you can take:
Free Limited Storage
Dropbox’s free plan offers limited storage of only 2 GB, which is insufficient for most home and business users. You might want to upgrade to a Pro plan to increase your storage quota. Visit the Dropbox pricing page for more information.
Large Files
Large files are one of the key reasons why your Dropbox may get full. They are hiding in the depths of your cloud account and contributing to the storage problem. You can identify large files by sorting all files in a folder by their sizes. Keep in mind that large files are often scattered across different folders and sub-folders, which is why it’s often difficult to manually identify them.
- Login to your Dropbox account, and go to the top-level folder where you want to find large files.
- Click on the “Size” column head.
- Dropbox will sort your files by their size.
- Select the large files you don’t need and then click on the Delete icon.
Migrate Files to Another Cloud Platform
Dropbox’s free storage is limited. You can migrate your files to another cloud storage platform such as OneDrive, Google Drive, or Box. This will allow you to take full advantage of the cloud technology without upgrading your account.
Manually downloading and re-uploading your files can be a long and tedious job. A Web-based cloud migration tool, Easy Cloud Manager, will simplify it and save your time.
Duplicate Files
You may have acquired duplicate files from multiple sources. For example, simple file copying and uploading tasks can lead to the creation of redundant files. If the same data is stored on multiple devices linked to the same Dropbox account, it can contribute to data duplication. Thankfully, a Web-based Cloud Duplicate Finder is a handy tool that can come to your aid.
- Create an account on the Cloud Duplicate Finder website, and log in to your new account.
- Click on the Dropbox tab.
- Click on Load Drive.
- Log in to your Dropbox account.
- Once you’re logged in, you will be able to view your folders list in the left-hand side panel.
- Select the folders you want to scan for duplicates.
- Click on the Scan button, and wait for a few minutes.
- Once the scan concludes, use the predefined criteria in the CDF to automatically select duplicates of your choice.
- Click on Select Action, and choose Delete.
Privacy Note: CDF does NOT store your password. It uses official APIs from Dropbox, which is the only secure way to log in to your account and obtain file access permissions. You can revoke these permissions anytime from your Dropbox settings.
Cloud Duplicate Finder Benefits:
- Beginner-friendly: CDF has an easy and intuitive user interface. Just register on their service, and quickly get started in minutes.
- Web-based: You don’t need to download any software. You can open the CDF website on any browser, and using any device of your choice.
- Multi-cloud account management: These days, many of us use multiple cloud services. CDF enables you to find duplicates on all major cloud platforms including Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3, and Google Drive, among others.
- Safety & Security: CDF neither stores your passwords nor stores your data on its servers. It uses the official API method to respect user privacy.
- Automated File Selection: Many users accumulate hundreds or thousands of duplicate files. Manually checking and unchecking files can be a long and tedious job. CDF offers an easy way to automatically check and uncheck files using predefined selection options.
Unneeded Synchronized Files
If your Dropbox account is connected to multiple devices at your home or workplace, you may be acquiring too many unneeded files. The best way to stop this happening is to stop syncing unneeded and top-level folders.
Windows
- Click on the Dropbox application in the system tray area.
- Click on your avatar and select Preferences.
- Click on the Sync tab.
- Click on the Select Folders button in the “Selective Sync”.
- Uncheck any unneeded folders, and then click on Update.
Mac
- Click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
- Click on your avatar and select Preferences.
- Click on the Sync tab.
- Click on Select Folders in the “Select folders to sync to this Mac”.
- Uncheck any unneeded folders and then click on Update.
Linux
- Click on the Dropbox icon.
- Click on your avatar and select Preferences.
- Click on the Sync tab, and uncheck any unneeded folders.
- Click on Update.
Third-party Apps & Services
Many third-party services such as mobile call recorder apps offer integration with the Dropbox service. They use Dropbox as the storage medium to save new files, which can contribute to the space issue. To fix this problem, configure such apps and services, disable them from storing new files on your Dropbox account, and delete existing ones you don’t need.
Your Old Data
Cleaning your cloud account regularly is an important, yet often neglected task. If your Dropbox account is old enough, old unwanted files and Dropbox Cache can prevent you from storing, searching, and organizing your files. It’s important to delete old data from your Dropbox account regularly to avoid reoccurrence.
- Go to the folder that contains your old files.
- Click on the “Date Modified” column head.
- Your files will be sorted by the date of their modification.
- Select the old files you don’t need, and click on the Delete icon.
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