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Removing files from dropbox

I have files on DropBox for which I no longer need remote access. I would like to remove them from my DropBox account without removing them from the desktop where I keep all my other files. Can I even do this? It looks like removing them from DropBox will totally delete them, which I don't want to do.

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Walter

Hi @Karen Ivy, welcome to our Community!

Your Dropbox folder on your computer is like any other folder on your computer, only with syncing properties. This means that actions you take on files or folders in your Dropbox folder while the Dropbox desktop app is running will sync across your connected devices and the website as well.

Instead of deleting them, you can move them out of your Dropbox folder to another location on your computer and let the desktop app sync the changes until it's up to date in your system tray/menu bar.

I hope this helps and please let me know how you get on, Karen.

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Walter

Hi @Karen Ivy, welcome to our Community!

I hope this helps and please let me know how you get on, Karen.

Karen Ivy

Walter,

Thank you, yes, that helps a lot! I didn't know that. I'm not sure what happens if I don't have the Dropbox desktop app running (I don't), but I'll try it. I try to delete things and I got the "do you want to delete this everywhere" message from Sync, and I thought it meant everywhere on my hard drive.

Karen

Mariaconill

Descárgate los archivos en el escritorio en una nueva carpeta por si acaso, pero asegúrate de que no están en línea. Luego ya borras los de dropbox.

Karen Ivy

Sorry, no hablo español, but Google translate says I should download the files I want to a new folder on the desktop. It sounds as though as long as the files are in another folder on my desktop, not the DropBox folder, I should be able to delete them from the DropBox folder without affecting the files in the other folder. Thanks for the advice, and my apologies for not speaking Spanish.

Karen Ivy

In most cases the files in my Dropbox folder already exist somewhere else on my hard drive. I've tried deleting a couple of Dropbox copies with no impact on the other folders, so I feel much better about clearing the folder out. Thanks again!