I sent links to 'email' some large files. The files show up now in dropbox under recent; however, there is no way to delete them. The system message is 'the file does not exist'. They are still there after more than a month of not being accessed.
Thank you!!!! That worked! I had never opened the 'Shared' tab.
What a relief to have this over after months of fussing with it!
I appreciate the patient step-by-step diligence you exhibited in solving this for me.
Gratefully,
rsrunique
It is not possible to delete the 'Recent Files' list I'm afraid.
Note, however, they are not using up space or quota if they are not stored within your Dropbox.
Thank you very much for responding to this inquiry.
Do these files ever go away, given enough time?
I think they must be using up space - the original files on my computer have been deleted.
The content is still available in dropbox; so, the files have to be somewhere.
Could DropBox be hiding them somewhere on my computer?
They wont take up Dropbox space if they are not at www.dropbox.com/home. They WILL take up hard drive space if you saved somewhere else (desktop / downloads etc.). Or, if you deleted to recycle bin and havent emptied yet 🙂
It is unfortunate that there is no way to delete this history. Someone sent me an inappropriate link and now it lives in my dropbox "recent links" where my children can see it. Is there no way to clear the history? This is a terrible feature of Dropbox if that is indeed the case. 😞
Sorry to hear about this, @ginaaspetti.
Where are you seeing this? On the Dropbox website or the mobile app?
It is on the Dropbox website. I do not use the mobile app, just my PC.
Hey @rsrunique! Do you see those files, if you visit your Dropbox homepage here?
If yes, you should be able to delete them this way (keep in mind that the shared links you sent will also stop working, if the files they link to are deleted from your account).
Thank you for your help with this problem.
Unfortunately, this procedure does not successfully delete the file. It dutifully asks "Are you sure ..."
Then, when I click delete for the second time, a message comes up at the bottom of the screen: "file does not exist".
Thanks for letting us know about this @rsrunique
Could you try clearing your browser's cache or using another browser and let us know if you get the same results?
If you do, we'd appreciate a screenshot too.
In the meantime, note that you could make it go away by generating some (sharing) file activity to populate your 'recents' area.
Keep us posted anyhow!
I used Edge and Chrome
I used Edge and then Chrome, both were clear of any cache. The results were identical with the two browsers. the images attached to show the process.
I have tried other activity as a way of clearing 'Recents', nothing works.
Thank you
Thanks for these screenshots, @rsrunique! This is interesting, indeed.
Are you having trouble deleting any other files on your Dropbox account? Or just the ones associated with the shared link you sent out?
You can also try uploading a small file to your Dropbox account and see if you can delete it after that.
I can delete other files that I have uploaded in the ordinary fashion.
The only files that I cannot delete are those listed among 'Recents' that arrived because they represent links that I have used in emails instead of attaching large files. None of the files in the 'Recents' list can be deleted.
Is there perhaps a method to sweep them all away at once rather than trying one at a time? Some files have been there for months and I have tried to delete them many times over, hoping that age might make them more susceptible to removal.
Thank you for your help with this vexing issue!
I should add that I have conducted yet another experiment. Thinking perhaps that the very existence of the links in emails somewhere in mailboxes might be preventing the deletion.
I sent a link for a large file to a single recipient. That recipient and I both deleted every email that contained the link. We deleted our trash bins as well. I even deleted the 'Sent' folder that my email client maintains.
With every reference to the link completely obliterated, the file remained in 'Recents' un-deletable!
Thank you again.
Hmm, did you also try deleting the shared link itself from the Shared tab here?
Hi @rsrunique , I am so so glad to read that your issue has finally been resolved 🙌💃.
I'm Theresa a Community Manager here at Dropbox H.Q and I'm always excited to learn about the various ways people use Dropbox.
If you're open to it, I'd love to hear how Dropbox plays a role in your daily routines 🤗! Hey, who knows.. we might have a few tips to help things run even more smoothly for you 😉✨.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
T 😸 (Dropbox Community Manager)
