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Why is free storage space removed by Dropbox?

I've been reading through some community posts, and a few people have said similar to the following:

They have a free account, have storage of over 20GB, but Dropbox has messaged them to say the space will be reduced back to 2GB.
Why is this? I don't want to go to the trouble of referring people to get more space, then have Dropbox message me and tell me the space will be removed.
Does space get reduced if you don't use it after a certain amount of time or something?

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Referrals

Accepted answers

Jay

Hi @RRRarchit, when was the last time you accessed your account? If you're not seeing the referrals on this page, then it means that this specific account never had them, which would indicate that either there was another account, or the original account was deleted and recreated later under the same email.

@manngroup, how large is the shared folder you're trying to add to your account? Is it possible that it's greater than your available free quota?

All comments

Mark

Space from referrals does not get removed unless there is deemed an abuse of the referral system.

However, other space is time limited. Dropbox does not give out over 16gb for referrals, so, if you have had 20gb+ thats come from elsewhere.

kiritdave

I also suddenly lost my storage without any explanation. Why? Years ago I had received 25 Gig storage for a referral. And now it is gone!

russee4

Hi I have had 25 GB of free storage after making referrals over years. The Dropbox icon on my task bar still says, "Dropbox 25 GB".

I'm in the middle of passing files to members of a neighborhood counsel. Yesterday I sent a Dropbox link to some of the subcommittee and today it gives me a message "Couldn't copy - Your out of Dropbox space". Why after years of earning the space am I dinghied its use. This is bad timing. I need immediate help.

Thanks - Russ Erickson -current email address - I may have originally signed up using my old work email address can't remember which email I used. Use the current address

I see in the post below that space is only removed if there was abuse of the referral system. I never abused the system. All referrals I did was done prior to changing jobs in 2017. It took years to build up the referrals. I'm retired now and this is a problem for me. I'm doing free community work, and this puts a halt to my efforts - please help.

[Moderator edit: Personal information removed as per the Community Guidelines]

Walter

Hey @russee4, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Could you please have a look at your account's
plan tab and let me know what's reported there?

Also, is the email address you see on your account's
settings online the same as the one you're using on the
desktop app?

Let us know what you find and we'll take it from there.

russee4

Hi Walter - Thanks for the reply.

Hey @russee4, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Q - Could you please have a look at your account's plan tab and let me know what's reported there?

Answer The accounts plan tab says - Dropbox space is the Basic Account - currently there are 1.4 GB of files - Unused space 3.35 GB (Note - I removed something like 9 or 10 GB's worth of files so I could get it to do the work I needed to do.)

Q - Also, is the email address you see on your account's settings online the same as the one you're using on the desktop app?
Answer - NO- The email address on the "settings online" shows my old employer's email which doesn't exist anymore. I saw the "Edit" button and tried to change the email address to my current address but don't think I was successful making the change as I couldn't remember the old password despite receiving the account verification email a few times.

Let us know what you find and we'll take it from there.

[Moderator edit: Personal information removed as per the Community Guidelines]

Walter

Thanks for the updates @russee4

If you'd like to change the account you have linked to your desktop app on your computer, you'll need to unlink the old one and then link the account you'll be using from now on through the app's preferences.

When it comes to the issue you mentioned originally, can you clarify which account is affecting after all?

Roymond

Hi Mark,

I have a similar problem. Through a number of referrals, I have had 10gb of storage space for many years. I regularly remove files to make sure I don’t run out of space. I have only one account based on the same email address since I installed Dropbox. I have recently had emails from Dropbox telling me that I have run out of space and that my limit is 2gb. My account online is showing that I only have 2gb. I have also noticed that the Dropbox icon has disappeared from the task bar in Windows 10. I’ll appreciate your help in reclaiming the missing 8gb. Incidentally, I have certainly not been abusing the system.

Nancy

Hey @Roymond, sorry to jump in.

Can you please upload a screenshot of what you see here?

Also, in regards to your Windows device, have you checked whether there’s a small arrow showing in your system tray? If you click on it, are you able to see the Dropbox icon perhaps, or is it missing from there, too?

Keep me updated!

Roymond

Hi Nancy

Thanks for replying and for your kind offer to help. Apologies for the delay in coming back to you, but I only managed to get to my computer about an hour or so ago with the intention of replying to you (I've been otherwise engaged for the last two and a half days). As I expected, the same situation I described still existed. But before sending you further info, I decided to delete the program and reinstall it. Wow, Success: the correct amount of storage is being shown and the icon is back where it should be!! Gremlins?? Whatever the reason(s) for the problems, it's been resolved. Panic over.

If you or anyone else in the community has any idea of the cause of these problems, I'd love to know.

Nancy

I’m really glad to hear that, @Roymond!

It sounds like the Dropbox app had stopped running on your device; it’s difficult though to say why this happened exactly.

However, since you’re seeing the correct storage on your desktop app now, the same should be showing on www.dropbox.com, even before.

If this issue occurs again, give me a shout here, and I’ll be happy to check this for you.

Roymond

Hi @Nancy

You’re correct, www.Dropbox.com is showing the correct amount of storage. Thanks for your help.

Nancy

No problem at all!

If you need something else, I’ll be around the Community.

almighty972

Good morning,
I used to have 150go of storage on my account. When I signed in today, I saw you reset my storage space to 5,8go . Why that ?

Rich

@almighty972 wrote:
I used to have 150go of storage on my account. When I signed in today, I saw you reset my storage space to 5,8go . Why that ?

Did you have any bonus space on your account that has expired? Extra space earned through certain promotions , like with the purchase of a laptop or mobile device, usually expire after 6 month, a year, etc., depending on the promotion.

You can see a list of the space you've earned and whether or not it expires on your Referrals page.

simrinm

I had 8 GB storage space last week but now it looks like I only have 5.75 - not sure how I’ve lost space?

Rich

@simrinm wrote:
I had 8 GB storage space last week but now it looks like I only have 5.75 - not sure how I’ve lost space?

Could you have had some bonus space that expired? Not all space you earn lasts forever. Referrals do, along with a few other things, but there are some promotions and bonuses you can earn that have an expiration. You can see all the space you've earned and whether or not it has expired on your Referrals page.

You can also look at your Plan page to see exactly how much space your account has along with how much is in use.

RRRarchit

I was getting notifications that my Dropbox was full, but every time I checked my quota on the website, it was not full. Today, I was unable to share a file with someone, and I checked again, and instead of 9.25 GB of space, it said I only have 2 GB, which of course I was way over. I've removed most of my files now, but I want my storage space back. I was an early adopter and referred many users here. How can I get my storage space back?

Thanks

Hannah

Hey @RRRarchit, thanks for reaching out to us.

Space earned by referrals or by completing the Dropbox 'getting started' checklist, is permanent and would not get removed.

Did you perhaps redeem some kind of promotion that has now expired?

Or are you maybe looking at a different Dropbox account?

RRRarchit

No, and No.

I earned ALL of that space from referrals, and now it appears to be gone. I only have one Dropbox account. Thanks

Walter

Hey @RRRarchit, sorry to jump in, but I just wanted to mention that you should be able to see your account's quota, including your referrals under your account's plan tab.

Do you happen to see anything there?

Also note that space earned through referrals is permanent and can't be removed.

DuaneM

When I first started using dropbox I earned a few extra gigs of storage as a result of recruiting other users. Then I started a paid account for a lot more storage. Now I've dropped back down to the free level on the same account but seem to have lost my earned gigs of storage that I had before. I'm back down to the entry level 2 gigs. That doesn't seem right. Suggestions? I don't know how to get in contact with an actual dropbox rep.

manngroup

I'm not sure what's going on but I seem to be having the same problem as everyone in this forum. Through referrals, I have had a Dropbox folder of 19GB for some time. Recently I have noticed that I am having storage issues - especially when I am trying to add a Shared folder to which I have been invited. I am being told that I must upgrade my plan. See two screengrabs attached.

Screen Shot 2023-02-01 at 11.56.38 AM.png

RRRarchit

I really do not know how to be more clear. The tab says I have 2GB. I had nearly 10 GB several months ago, all of which was from referrals from years ago. I had to remove nearly everything from my dropbox folder to regain any function. This might have happened around the same time I installed a new hard drive on my computer, but that should not have caused this to happen.

How can I regain this lost space?

Thank you

Jay

@manngroup, how large is the shared folder you're trying to add to your account? Is it possible that it's greater than your available free quota?

RRRarchit

That was it. I had several email addresses associated with the account, so I didn't realize I was creating a new one. Thanks for the help

ahmadi

سلام فضای ذخیره سازی قبلا ده گیگابایت بود چرا کم شده من نمیخوام ارتقا دهم باید چکار کنم

Megan

سلام @Ahmadi امیدوارم حالتون خوب باشه

سطح فضای ذخیره سازی حساب پایه و رایگان ما همیشه 2 گیگابایت بوده است. اکنون، به شرطی که از برخی ارجاعات استفاده کرده باشید، ممکن است فضای بیشتری برای حساب Dropbox خود داشته باشید. به خاطر داشته باشید که فضای ارجاع از بین نمی رود.

با این حال، اگر سهمیه شما کاهش یافته باشد، حدس می‌زنم تبلیغی داشته‌اید که منقضی شده است. با دسترسی به صفحه طرح خود می توانید موارد بیشتری را مشاهده کنید.

امیدوارم روشن شود.

PS: من یک ترجمه خودکار از پیام خود را در بالا اضافه کرده ام. بابت هر اشتباهی که ممکن است پیدا کنید عذرخواهی می کنیم.

Hi @Ahmadi , I hope you're doing well!

The level storage of our Basic, free account had always been 2GB. Now, provided you've used some referrals, you might have extra space for your Dropbox account. Keep in mind that the referral space doesn't get taken away.

However, if your quota was reduced, then I am guessing you had a promo that expired. You can see more by accessing your plan page.

I hope that clarifies.

PS: I've included an automated translation of my message above. Apologies for any mistakes you might find.

ARACHNA

I just lost my storage. I didn't get a warning. I am down to 2 gb. I have been reorganising on a new computer so my have loaded to cloud cpu but have been exemplary member for as long as dropbox has existed.

Nancy

Hi @ARACHNA!

As a first step, can you please upload a screenshot of what you see on this page?

Isaashkini

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