Child Item

Why do you say I have no space when I do?

I am using 2.81 GB of 6.75 GB so why did dropbox send this email-

This is a friendly reminder that your Dropbox is almost full! Sadly, it won't save any new changes until it's back in shape. Upgrade your Dropbox today and get up to 3 TB (3,000 GB) of space and powerful sharing features.

Find more posts tagged with

Storage space

Accepted answers

Ross_S

And I'm back...

Yes, due to a technical issue the emails were incorrectly sent. There are 2 near-quota programs that should only email users +90% of quota, it seems since probably around yesterday, that its been running incorrectly and doubled the amount of used bytes... so users that are 40-50% of quota are appearing as 80-100% of quota.

We'll make the change and no further users should receive this email incorrectly after the weekend.

(I'll try and get it stopped and reconfigured sooner than that of-course, but I just give that timeframe as that's the latest I expect all the updates to take to apply.)

Many thanks for highlighting here and saving other users the pain!

All comments

Anna N.3

Hi there, I know this is an older thread, but I am having the exact same problem. The wording of the email I got is the same as well: "This is a friendly reminder that your Dropbox is almost full! Sadly, it won't save any new changes until it's back in shape."

I checked my free Dropbox space online and via the app: online it says I have 32.42 GB free, in the app (Mac) it says I have 48% of 62.4 GB free. Either way, I have PLENTY of space left... and yes, the email address is the one I personally use for my Dropbox Account.

Can I safely ignore this email?

Thanks & cheers

rkny

Just got the same email, but I am only using 2.5gb of 5gb and it's an old account I don't use anymore. I logged into it and verified no rogue files added, so not hacked.

I'm guessing a glitch.

groovekonna

Same here, I'm using 47% of my reserved space and got a similar warning email. What is this, a mistake perhaps?

Fiona

Happy Friday @Fullbore @groovekonna!

This usually happens when users have two different emails/accounts and one gets full, but they access the other one on the web and get confused, as the other account they are seeing is not full.

I am not saying this is the case here. I am only saying that this is common for cases I have handled in the past. You can help me check what is going on there. Please confirm that the email address you received this notification email at, is the same email you have with the account you are checking the space of.

Thank you!

groovekonna

Thanks, and I can confirm I received the email. This the only email I have connected to Dropbox and I have never had more than this one account

Elixir

Maybe you want to unsubscribe from space related emails by visiting https://www.dropbox.com/account/notifications and uncheck Email me when I'm running out of space.

2019-10-11 at 12.07 PM.png

groovekonna

Thanks, but it does not help very much because at the message it warns that

"... your Dropbox is almost full! Sadly, it won't save any new changes until it's back in shape"

which is a bit confusing.

WPaulBishop

So, turn off the out-of-space emails and then wonder what happened when your account is locked? That doesn’t seem like a good super-user answer when people are stating they are not out of space.

Maybe DropBox needs to check our actual space instead of sending the email saying it’s almost full.

I use one account, and I achieved bonus space in several ways. I’m using 2.01GB, which would be over the base personal limit of 2GB but it’s only 46% of the 4.63GB I have.

One of the first instructions DropBix suggests when you get this message is to check your used space. You’d think DropBox could do that before sending an email that says your account will be limited.

Fullbore

But if I was running out of space a warning email would be useful, but not when I'm using <50% of my space!

And Fiona it is the same account.

Dropbox seem to be trying to extort money from their users with scare tactics.

Fiona

Of course you are right on what you are saying here @Fullbore @WPaulBishop @groovekonna if you have already checked the email you received is not correct based on the accounts space calculation. Kindly note, I cannot see your account or the email send, via Community, so was trying to figure out if this is a false notification indeed or some sort of multiple account confusion.

Apologies for any confusion or inconvenience these notification emails might have caused. Going to check with my team and let you know what is going on soon. No worries. Since your accounts have indeed enough space, everything is functional.

Thanks for reporting.

MsJinnifer

I got the same email today! I have a Dropbox Plus account with 2TB storage. I have only used 3.2GB.

The email addresses me by name, so if this is in fact a scam of some kind as suggested below, there must have been a data breach. If there are a lot of these emails around; they must be:

alarmist errors,
security problem,
some kind of sneaky marketing.

I didn't click the link -- I went straight to my account...

Please can Dropbox investigate properly? Cancelling notification emails is NOT a solution -- as has been pointed out, we would then get no warning of a genuine lack of space.

FormulaRon

I have the same email. I am...

"Using 1.07 GB of 2.25 GB"

Something is wrong.

MsJinnifer

Fiona,

This is very strange. The email came to an email I don't use for anything online. My Dropbox Plus account uses a different email and I have checked that my Plus account is connected with that email. I have used 3.2Gb of 2 TB on that account.

BUT it turns out that I have an old Basic account that is dormant, which uses the email account in question. So presumably the email refers to this Basic account. But I have put nothing in there since 2017 and I have 1.15 GB of 2.5 GB. So why would I get that email, even for tat account?? My guess is that it is an annoying marketing attempt to get me to upgrade this account. It's alarmist to say 'Sadly, it won't save any new changes until it's back in shape. ' It's hardly out of shape, given my usage and that I have 49% storage remaining!

Ollie B.

I got the same email. I'm using only 6.25GB of 12.98GB in my free acount, i.e., less than half the available space, and I haven't added or removed any large files recently. I have only one Dropbox account, and this message was sent to the email associated with that account.

It doesn't seem to be a phishing scam - the link in the email doesn't send me to a dodgy 3rd-party website, but to a page on the official Dropbox website which says: "You’re almost out of room! Adding another file could fill up your account. Make sure you’ll be able to sync or use your files when you need them." With a button saying "Upgrade now".

But it *does* have the appearance of a scam, in that it is giving me false information (that my Dropbox is nearly full) and using fake scare tactics (that no changes will be saved until I upgrade) to trick me into upgrading to a paid account that I have no need for.

Benefit-of-the-doubt would suggest that this is more likely a mistake than a deliberate scam on Dropbox's part, but it is something that needs looking into as a matter of urgency if these false emails are still going out. I hope you will also be sending a correction and apology to anyone who has already erroneously received one.

Fiona

@MsJinnifer happy to know you found a forgotten account! Maybe you have old memories in there! :gift: I was so excited when this happened to me (found an old account of mine).

Back to the subject, we are still looking into the notification emails you are all receiving. I will get back to you with more info here.

Again if your quota online is good, please ignore the email.

Thanks once more for all your reports.

Ross_S

Hi everyone,

I'm one of the Product Operations Managers here at Dropbox, and I'll jump straight on this.

It certainly sounds like something's not quite right. We're investigating to make sure we have the threshold correct, normally atleast 80% of your Dropbox space needs to be used before you'd get an email like that.

Appologies for wasting electrons, and we hope the emails didn't cause too much concern!

I'll loop back here once I get to the bottom of this.

Ross

Anna N.3

I think even if 80% are used, you guys should not be sending out emails saying "Sadly, it won't save any new changes until it's back in shape." - this sounds like "your Dropbox is completely and totally full, not enough room to sync a single additional file"...

This might confuse users and yeah, some might even upgrade because they don't want to loose sync funcionality :-/

hamilton88

same email / problem here - be glad when we can have an explanation please.

Senko13

Just wanted to point out that I am receiving an email warning that my dropbox is almost full when I am only using approx. 40% of the free 2GB provided to me. It also states that it wont save any changes until it's back in shape. I haven't tested whether that is true as I haven't had any activity in my dropbox folder for probably over a year.

Jane

Hey @Senko13, thanks for highlighting!

I’ve moved your post (& subscription) under the relevant discussion to keep things consistent & ensure that you’re also receiving the latest updates on progress on this issue.

At the moment, the relevant team is investigating what could have triggered that & we’ll circle back here with some insight in due time.

Hopefully my message puts your worries to rest!

sookoll

I just got this e-mail:

This is a friendly reminder that your Dropbox is almost full! Sadly, it won't save any new changes until it's back in shape. Upgrade your Dropbox today and get up to 3 TB (3,000 GB) of space and powerful sharing features.

So it is shameless spamming in a hope that somebody will upgrade. It is against GDPR and I hope somebody will sue Dropbox.

Ross_S

And I'm back...

We'll make the change and no further users should receive this email incorrectly after the weekend.

(I'll try and get it stopped and reconfigured sooner than that of-course, but I just give that timeframe as that's the latest I expect all the updates to take to apply.)

Many thanks for highlighting here and saving other users the pain!

Mark_UK

That's good news, thanks for that. Good to know this Community and Tech' Sup' have our backs even for minor hiccups such as this!

I for one will rest easy with the assistance of a coffee and doughnut :coffee: :doughnut:

Ollie B.

I'm glad you tracked down the problem and are fixing it, but I do think that even if the email is only sent to people whose Dropbox is over 90% full, you should change the wording so that it doesn't falsely imply that the user's Dropbox will not work correctly until it's upgraded. (Assuming that is false - if it's true that you can't save new files to a Dropbox that is over 90% full, that's another issue.)

Fiona

@Ollie B. The problem is that the system notified users that were using less space. Normally it notifies users that have more than 80% as Ross explained.

The accounts actual space is not affected though. You only received an email with an incorrect notification.

You can upload as much as your account fits. If you have 90% of your storage occupied and the file you want to upload fits in the space left, it will upload successfully.

Feel free to ask more questions.

cossadonne

Same with 48 % used....

AbidM

@Ollie B.has a point which escapes your attention. Your email should not state, even when it goes correctly to over 90% used account holder, that no changes to the account will be saved until upgraded. It should rather state changes will not be saved once 100% space has been used.

Brontide

i also received one of these emails. i still have around 55% of my allocated space free. this does feel like shameless spamming to fool people into upgrading. no one likes to be lied to, particularly by their service provider. i accept that this may have been an honest technical error. if so, will apology emails be sent out tout suite to those who have been affected? it seems the very least you could do, if just to allay the fears of those users who dont frequent community support boards.

MsJinnifer

Absolutely, @Brontide!

Bob S.15

Why am I getting a Dropbox almost full email? It even says it won't save any new changes. Is this spam? I am using less than half of my Dropbox space.