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Removing files from Mac but not Dropbox

I have a MacBook Air, and as such it's got 121Gb of memory.

I synced it with the company DropBox account, and so the Mac claims to have 1.4TB of documents (all the company documents) on it. Obviously it can't, but it can see/access them

I have now removed DropBox from the Mac, but the Mac still thinks it has 1.4TB of docs on it.

If I delete them from my Mac, I am concerned that they will be deleted from the company DropBox.

Can anyone advise on how I ensure that this does not happen? I don't want to accidentally kill the entire company, as I think it would get me fired.

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Hannah

Hey @RaiyuLovesToast, before you delete the files, please make sure that you've unlinked the computer from your account.

You can do so, by clicking on the trash can next to the name of the computer in question from the 'Devices' section in your account settings here.

And as for you, @MikeDodson, generally, as long as a computer is no longer linked to a Dropbox account, you can safely delete the Dropbox files from your computer, without affecting your account online.

Just make sure you're not deleting files that are available only in your hard drive and not the Dropbox website, because you will lose those and won't be able to restore through Dropbox.

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Jay

Hi @MikeDodson, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Are you certain that these files are taking up disk space on your machine?

Are the files online-only or local in Finder?

This will help me to assist further!

MikeDodson

Hi Jay - great - thank you!

The files are appearing in Finder, and seem to be accessible from there.

Jay

Just to check, are they now showing the correct filesizes, if they are online-only, which should be zero-bytes?

MikeDodson

That's the weird thing - like I say, the Mac only has 121GB of memory, but it's showing Documents as taking up 1.4TB of space.

The reason for all of this is that Photoshop keeps telling me the scratch disks are full, when they aren't (I don't have much on my hard drive at all).

Nancy

Hi Mike, and sorry for jumping in.

Do you mind uploading a screenshot of the size of your Documents folder, as showing on your Finder?

Also, can you please let me know what steps you followed exactly, in order to remove Dropbox from your computer? Do you still see the small Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

MikeDodson

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for stepping in - attached (hopefully) is a screenshot.

I was advised to unlink the computer from dropbox and that it would give me an "Unlink anyway" option, though it didn't. I then deleted Dropbox from my apps, and Dropbox is no longer available to me on my Mac. I have contacted Mac support and they have said it is a Dropbox issue - they can't comment or advise.

dbss copy.jpg

Nancy

Thanks for the screenshot, Mike; I appreciate it.

The “unlink” option is what you’d need indeed, so that you can safely delete the local Dropbox files without affecting your web account.

What you can do as an extra test in this case, to make sure these files are no longer synced to your web account, is to upload a small file within the Documents folder, and then check www.dropbox.com.

Do you see this file there, after it's been added to this folder?

RaiyuLovesToast

ok I need help with a similar situation, I have quit from drop box (am using Mac) at the top there is a bar and I saw the dropbox icon, I clicked it, then my account and I pressed quit, I then deleted the dropbox application, now there are like 20 gigabytes of documents, can I delete those? can i delete them without affecting the others using dropbox

MikeDodson

Hi Nancy,

I've put a file into the Document folder on my Mac, and it is not appearing in the same folder on dropbox.com.

dbss2 copy.jpg

Dropbox.com:

dbss3 copy.jpg

Does this mean I can safely delete the files from the other documents folder on my Mac, and they won't be deleted from Dropbox?

Hannah

Hey @RaiyuLovesToast, before you delete the files, please make sure that you've unlinked the computer from your account.

You can do so, by clicking on the trash can next to the name of the computer in question from the 'Devices' section in your account settings here.

Just make sure you're not deleting files that are available only in your hard drive and not the Dropbox website, because you will lose those and won't be able to restore through Dropbox.

MikeDodson

Hi Hannah,

Thanks for your responses - how do I confirm that the computer is no longer linked to the Dropbox?

Many thanks,

Mike

Megan

Hi @MikeDodson, I suggest that you check your account's security page for that.

Also, if the app is uninstalled from the device, that is another sign too.

MikeDodson

Hi Megan - is there not some formal way that I can confirm that my machine is now completely disassociated with Dropbox? Surely you have this technology, if I give you the details? You have my email address from my login - please could you contact me and confirm that it is - I can then give you the machine's name &c then.

Jay

Hi @MikeDodson, the devices page is the live page showing all connected devices on your account, which is similar to the system we would use on our end.

If you wish, you can contact the support team directly for them to confirm it for you.

Anthony_7

All of this is happening because Photoshop continues claiming that my scratch discs are full even though I have very little data on my hard drive.