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How to move photos and files out of dropbox and on to my PC

I recently set up my Ipad and Iphone to upload photos to my dropbox account. This has resulted in my dropbox account being full. I do not need all of these photos backed up in dropbox nor do I need to access them from my dropbox account. I would like to move them to a folder on my Pc (running Vista). That way they will be available in the future should I need them, but will not be taking up space in my dropbox account. But I can't figure out how to do this. In the help knowledge base it tells my how to remove them from dropbox, but then says this does not remove them from my account. So bottom line. How does one reduce the number of photos (files) to allow future uploads to Dropbox? The photos are also in the carousel?

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Tony W.16

Hi guys,

I just got notified that the "good will" extra data will be going on my account soon. So I have found out how to MOVE your files from DBox to your pc. Obvoiusly this will depend on how much Hard drive space you have and how much space you are using in Dbox.

1) open exporer then find your dropbox folder.

2) open a second explorer by right clicking the explorer icon and opening another window.

3) in the 2nd window find the folder on your pc that you want to move your stuff to.

4) Select everything in your dropbox folder by single clicking the fist file/folder the going to the last file/folder and with the SHIFT key pressed click the last file/folder.

5) RIGHT click on any of the selected files and drag then to the folder you want to move them to.

6) when the menu appears select MOVE.

Depending on how many file/folders and their sizes it could take a bit of time, but the end result is your folders/files are now on your pc. You can even watch this happening by logging into your Dropbox on the web and see them disappearing.

Hope this helps. It took me a while to finally find this through experimenting. lol

All comments

rp b.

looking for the same answer, Larry M.

and I'm getting frustated ( probably like you are..)

there seems to be no simple method for downloading files, and then freeing up space?

Kathy B.3

This question is from a month ago and it doesn't appear that a reasonable answer has been posted. I am also wondering exactly how my dropbox space is being used and how I can free up space. I don't have a clue as to how I have used 16 Gb of space on dropbox. Also, I find the same photo in different lists, does that mean my photos are being stored more than once??

rp b.

As laborious as it is, I've found the best way to synchronize when dealing with new computers, or losing "promo" space, or other issues is to turn off the "sync" of All Connected Items ( phones, tablets, PCs, i-Whatevs) then log onto the Dropbox website.

Download everything into a separate back-up location, if your computer is "sync complete" then you have all the items on your hard-drive. Copy them to another folder Not In Dropbox.

Then do the re-organizing and deleting you need on the Web Interface.

Remember, Dropbox, in an effort to appease the "I've foolishly deleted it, now I want it back...types" saves EveryThing that you have deleted in a cache for three days, and this saved space still counts as part of your total storage?

Once your content with what you still have in your Box, as shown in the on-line interface, turn sync back on.

Then wait... and check every Connected Item for conflicts.

I moved everything, well almost everything Out of my Box, then re-loaded files in small batches, to get my stuff organized and such.

DropBox is Far From Perfect, remember. We all like it because it's free, ergo, it is designed for the lowest common denominator use.

Also, it is far from secure...

"Amid the shiny, happy announcements of new features and new apps this week, file-sharing startup Dropbox quietly revealed another piece of news. Condoleezza Rice — Stanford professor, Iraq War architect, alleged warrantless wiretap supporter — is joining the board at the rising tech startup.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston didn’t mention the appointment during his keynote at a press event on Wednesday, but a day later, Rice’s arrival had eclipsed the rest of the company’s carefully crafted public event. Unsurprisingly, some people aren’t too happy about the move. Over on Hacker News, a leading barometer for what’s on the minds of tech geeks, the day’s most popular link connects to DropDropbox, a new site calling on users to boycott the company unless it removes Rice.

The campaign’s apparently anonymous creators are calling for her removal in part because of her support for the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, including claims that Rice herself authorized eavesdropping on UN Security Council members. “Why on earth would we want someone like her involved with Dropbox, an organization we are trusting with our most important business and personal data?” the site asks.

‘What Dropbox and its many competitors are ultimately selling is trust — after all, you’re giving them your data — and public relations are a big part of winning your business.’"

Alice FAYE T.

I would like to get pictures out of my Dropbox so I can use them in other files. How do I do that with deleting them or them going some place I can not find them... I have windows 10 and an on a hp laptop.

Faye

Brian P.32

I have a similar problem, plus my photos upload from my iPhone 4 to my laptop as Tiff files, and I want to upload them into a pictures file I have on my laptop and as jpeg files, not Tiffs. Also, whenever I want to use a picture in an ad to buy or sell items, or send as an attachment in an email , dropbox is always the "go to " place that comes up to select pictures from, and then they won't be accepted by the ad sites as Tiff files, they have to be jpeg. Does anyone know how to re-set Dropbox to accept pictures as jpegs, and have my pictures file come up to select pictures from, instead of Dropbox? A lot to ask I realize, and I'm quite a luddite, and not so familiar with Windows 10. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Sherry L.4

Brian, being an iphone user, I know that any photos I take with the phone are in jpeg/jpg format. These photos should automatically upload "as is". Also docs, video files and any other file should always upload to dropbox as they are on your phone. I have never had them change their format. What photo program are you using on your phone?

Dropbox is one of the best ways to get photos or any other file onto your laptop, PC, or mac. Once everything is loaded into Dropbox, go to your computer and download/click&drag those files to any file on that computer.

Brian P.32

Thanks Sherry, yes all my photos used to be uploaded to my pictures file as jpeg, but...since I have activated Dropbox, they are being uploaded as Tiffs. I don't recall at any time during the setting up of Dropbox changing any setting to have them uploaded as Tiff files, but all the photo's I've taken since activating Dropbox are in fact uploaded as Tiffs. I can convert them one at a time using the paint program, but that is laborious and frustrating. I have searched as many help sites as I can to find out why this is happening, and have even written directly to Dropbox to ask for help on this matter, but their answer did not directly address this issue. I'll have to keep digging, but it's frustrating as I need to use some of these pictures now , so I'll just have to keep converting them using Paint until I can come up with an answer. Thanks for your help though, greatly appreciated. Brian.

Charlene K.3

If you want the photos (or any files) completely out of DB and onto your desktop (I have a MAC but I'm sure there is a similar way for PC), open Finder and go into DB through Finder, from there, grab the folder or files you want and drag them to your desktop. I recently did this with vacation photos and I freed up 4GB.

Sherry L.4

Brian, Just gave some thought to your problem. Tiffs are not a bad thing and you could convert them to Jpegs via batch processing in LightRoom, Photoshop, Aperture, Adobe Essentials or any photo editing program you have. Takes only a couple minutes and there is plenty "how to's" out there on the web to help you. Hope this at least puts a band aid on the problem.

Carol M.4

To remove files from dropbox and save to your local or other storage drive in Windows 10, here's what worked for me. Find the folder you want to detach from dropbox, right click on the folder & select download. When the info pop up box at the bottom of the says it's finished downloading click "Open".this takes you to "This PC>Downloads>your file folder name. Right click on your file folder & drag it to where you want to store it. Then you can go back to dropbox & delete it from there. It's taken me months to figure this out in windows 10. Hope it saves someone else some time.

Ajit M.1

Bingo, it works, kudos to you for windows 10

John B.234

I foolishly enabled automatic camera uploads and several hundred photos were synced to my camera uploads folder from my iPad, and now my Dropbox is full. My impression is that there is no way of freeing up space by deleting these photos without simultaneously deleting them from my iPad, which I do not want to do. I have searched online but nobody will confirm or deny this, and now I feel I have put all my photos at risk. Dropbox obviously would prefer me to pay for additional space rather than freeing up space in my existing account, but I do not want extra space. Can some kind person please set my mind at rest. If I delete the contents of my Camera Uploads folder, will that automatically delete them from the device they came from, and if so, is there any way of preventing this from happening? I am quite happy to abandon Dropbox completely, but leaving the photos up there seems too risky - not because Condoleeza Rice might look at them (thank you rp b) but because Dropbox might reach out in some way and delete them from my devices. (Yes, I know, I'm paranoid - but why shouldn't this happen?)

Sherry L.4

Hi John B.

Go to your Dropbox folder on your computer. Make sure all of the pics/docs that you want to keep are still there. Then, Go to the folder where you usually put all of your photos on your hard drive (PC or Mac) and make a sub folder called whatever you want like: my dropbox keepers, or whatever. Mine is just "Pictures>DB" on my mac. If you are running windows, then probably MyPhotos>Dropbox keepers. Just name it anything you like.

1. go back to Dropbox folder, select all>copy

2. go to the new folder you just created on your harddrive, highlight the folder name>paste.

Now you can delete everything from Dropbox cloud. I highly recommend that you do a few test samples of photos you don't care about.

Good luck!

Sherry

Aracely B.

I am running into the same problem a few of you had. My sister uploaded over 1000 photos into a sharing folder I had created a long time ago and so I ran out of space quite quickly. She has a TB so has no problems, I on the other hand only have 7.5gb. I received an email from DB indicating that it was no longer syncing any of the files.

Any who, I tried the download folder option suggested by Carol M on Dec 7 with no avail. A blank file ("unspecified") was the only thing that was downloaded. I then tried Sherry L's suggestion posted on Jan 14 and that did not work either. I am also on Win 10. When I tried to copy via the keyboard shortcut, it didn't work. I tried the copy option from DB but all it does is suggest an alternate folder to copy files to.

The question remains, how can we pull out all these files/photos out of dropbox given that it is not syncing with my PC or phone?

Amy K.9

Same problem as Aracely B: On a new Windows 10 computer, trying to download photo and video files, I keep getting the download dialog box that "unspecified" is finished downloading, all 1KB of it. Nothing there. Copy also suggests an alternate folder in the ether, no chance to copy to PC.

Help?

Kay C.1

I was having trouble getting dropbox files copied from dropbox onto my computer hard drive. A suggestion made by Sherry L. did it. I had been trying to copy them out of the dropbox on my web browser, which didn't work. When I opened dropbox on my computer I was able to copy them and paste them into a folder on my hard drive. I have Windows 7.

Thanks!

이지현

Here's what you should do:

1. Right click on the folder in your dropbox.

2. Click Open.

--> Then the files (.jpg, .txt, .pdf, etc.) in the dropbox folder will open in your computer

3. Cut or copy what's been opened in your computer to the folders in your pc / mac.

Calvin H.

I CON'T CARE IF THEY BRING BACK GANDHI TO THE BOARD! DROPBOX SUX ON WINDOWS TEN BECAUSE FILES ARE HELD HOSTAGE THERE! Pathetic that Condaleza Rice can't tell them to keep up with the Operating System times!!!\\BOOOOOOOO!!!

HIIIIISSSSSSSSS!!!

EL STINKO! Back tio thumb drives and the sneakernet!!!

Natalie P.

Could someone please advise how to do this if the photos folder doesn't show up in the PC files? All my photos are on carousel but I can't find a way to download them - there is no download option other than going through each of the pictures one at a time - I have several hundred pics on there so not exactly ideal. There is also no folder in my DB interface that shows all my photos, only a separate one called 'camera downloads' which doesn't have all the photos in.

So if anyone can help with moving pics from Carousel to another cloud I'd really love to hear from you! Thanks

Glenn D.

I just figured out how to do it. I am using MS10. Not sure if this works on any other version of MS. Here are the steps - it's really fast.

1. Open Explorer (you can click on the file icon on the bottom of your screen

2. Use your mouse to roll down to the Dropbox icon (in the left hand column of Explorer)

3. Select (left click once) the Dropbox icon to see the folders held in Dropbox

4. Right click the folder you want to move to your PC - a menu will appear with about 18 choices.

5. Use your mouse to roll down to the choice "Send to" and left click or hover over it - a new menu will appear with a number of choices (8 on my computer), including "Desk Top", "Documents", and "DVD".

6. Select (left click) the place you want the folder to be transferred to (e.g. "Desktop") and it executes the transfer.

7. Then find the folder (e.g. on your desktop and use your normal steps to move the folder or its contents to where you want them.

Michael K.75

Recently Ransomware attacked my computer's Files and Drop Box synced everything without regard to the fact it was a known virus/ransomware called LOCKY..

In order to avoid a repeat of something similar to ransom-ware attacking DropBox, I would like to make one back up of all of my folders and files to an external Hard-Drive that will never sync, and will never depend on Drop box. I went to different forums and DropBox Help and there is no clear and/or coherent answer..

So, in plain English : Can I copy/paste (not move) all of my drop-box folders to a hard drive that will have no relation to drop box whatsoever.

Alternatively; if I totally close my Dropbox account, will all of my folders and files be accessible to me from my own win 10 computer, without having to go online.

Thank you

Susan B.26

How do I upload/download/whatever photos from my camera directly into my pc (MsW7)without going through DropBox, which I don't want to use in every instance. I have copied photos from Dropbox into a folder on my pc but it is laborious and if this could be avoided, by avoiding DB altogether, I'd like that option.

Adele H.4

I want to also know how to move files from Dropbox onto my PC Please

Thomas K.14

Please help...

The usual instructions to move a file out of DB and back to my Desktop don't apply because when I place the cursor in the empty space to the right of the folder in question, "Download" doesn't appear. That's right! "Download" does NOT appear. What appears is:

Open... Remove... Rename... Move... Copy...

and none of them allow me to Download anything. "Open" opens the file, "Remove" does what it suggests, "Rename" ditto, "Move" and "Copy" only let me Move and Copy to another file within DB, so what's the point?

But NOT, I repeat NOT "Download".

Any further suggestions?

Thanks!

Kay C.1

I repeat my earlier post. I could not copy files out of Dropbox accessed through a web browser. But I COULD drag files from Dropbox that lives on my computer into a folder on my hard drive. Try it.

Thomas K.14

OMG! Kay C.,

You're right! I wasn't differentiating between trying to move a file while ONLINE, and trying to move a file in the DB folder already on my Desktop! So simple, I feel really dumb! Thanks!

Wendy B.24

DB won't let me sign into my account on mobile devices and I do have the app installed.It says username or password is wrong eventhough the same username and password work on my pc. Totally over DB NOT PAYING FOR MORE SPACE.

Devon H.

Hi friends,

I'm using Windows 10. Here's what to do.

1. Create a new folder on your desktop

2. Open that empty folder

3. Open Dropbox file and highlight all your photos/files

4. Click and drag photos from Dropbox to the OPEN FOLDER. Not directly to your desktop. Not to the new folder icon on your desktop. Onto the white, empty space of your shiny new, open folder.

4. Watch the magic happen.

This should work. It worked for me.

Margaret H.8

I've just found a much easier way - at least on a Mac. Do not sign into dropbox. Go into your list of folders, find the dropbox folder - drag the files you want to put elsewhere onto the desktop and from there you can put them into any other places. Easy!

sales w.

In Windows 7 you open the dropbox that is installed on your desktop and open another window explorer window and just copy and paste.