How can I make sure my Dropbox files don't take up space from my devices?

Many thanks to Colin for using his magic.

I've just checked playing MP3s both through Dropbox and FileBrowser (3rd-party app) and both are working fine.

Thank you to the moderators too, for helping.

All comments

Nancy

Hi @stevecjames. I’m really sorry to hear about your experience so far.

To properly guide you from here, can you send me more details on what issue it is that you’re facing exactly with Dropbox?

We’ll take it from there.

Yes, of course. Thank you for your reply.

I signed up a few days ago for the 2TB plan. I'd been using the free plan for years & years before then.

I cancelled the new subscription immediately I discovered that an iOS application I'd been using (again for years) didn't work with Dropbox, even though it was set up to do so (it's called FileBrowser). The designers of the app are looking at it presently to find out just why it won't work (although they sem to be as flumoxxed as me about why it's not working!)

Here's what they say : "The reason FileBrowser doesn't play your video and instead offers the Stream to Another App option is that the video is in a format that iOS can't play (FileBrowser uses the in-built video codecs to avoid licensing issues - other apps usually ignore these potential legal problems). "

I wanted to know in the meantime - and while FileBrowser are looking into all this - is whether the cancellation that I had subscribed to (the 30-days' free trial) has gone through and when it will come to an end (a full month or in 28-days).

I also wanted to know that when I play anything on my iPhone (music files or videos), when it says "synching in progress" (or something similar) if my phone is actually going to be downloading the file to my device... as if so it's going to be pretty useless as I shall be running out of space imminently, making the whole process of me signing up to a 2TB plan worthless.

Sorry that this is all a bit convoluted but the Internet has got enormously more complicated since I first used it in 1996.

Thanks for your advice. Steve

That which I thought was going to happen now HAS now happened... I've run out of space on my MacBook so I'm having to delete everything which I've attempted to upload today to Dropbox. What a waste of bloody time.

All this is FAR, FAR too complicated... I used to teach IT. To the blind. But to even think about doing such an occupation nowadays would be a non-starter.

People buying new computers used to complain about so-called "bloatware" and had to remove programs, unnecessary software, images, videos etc already placed by unscrupulous manufacturers on their new computers even before they could even think about using it.

Dropbox has made their system unuseable after progressively complicating everything over the time that I've been using their services.

All I wanted to do was place a few videos and music files on a server, pay the hosting service money for doing so, et voilá... everyone's happy. It seems nowadays that one not only needs a university degree to do so, but 48-hours in one day.

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Nancy

Thanks for the details you’ve provided, Steve, as well as the screenshots! After cancelling your Dropbox plan, did you check your linked to Dropbox email address? Have you received any confirmation there that your trial has been cancelled? Make sure to also check your spam folder, if nothing is showing in your email’s inbox.

Now, as for viewing files on your iPhone, the Dropbox app shouldn’t download those locally, unless you tell the app to make those files offline (with these steps).

Finally, regarding your computer’s hard drive being filled up, I’d like you to follow these steps in your local Dropbox folder there and let me know if you see any difference after a bit.

Hello Nancy...

I don't understand what you are saying here... you seem to have missed out either a word or a complete phrase when you say :

" After cancelling your Dropbox plan, did you check your linked to Dropbox email address? "

My linked what?

Hey @stevecjames, let me also jump in here!

Your Dropbox account is linked to your email address. Usually when cancelling your plan or trial, you should receive a confirmation email informing you about that.

This is why my colleague, @Nancy suggested that you check your email address.

Yes, my e-mail address is correct.

Hey @stevecjames, how did you initially sign up for that 2 TB plan?

Did you upgrade directly through the Dropbox website or did you use your iTunes account to upgrade (through the Dropbox mobile app)?

Also, did the steps that Nancy provided to help you free up your hard drive space help?

You asked : "Did you upgrade directly through the Dropbox website or did you use your iTunes account to upgrade (through the Dropbox mobile app)?"

I believe it was through the mobile app.

Thanks, Steve!

If you go to your phone's settings, then tap your name and then on "Subscriptions", what do you see about your Dropbox trial?

I see that it's cancelled (see below).

Screenshot 2024-09-18 at 09.09.41.png

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Perfect, thanks for checking, Steven!

Now that we've confirmed that the trial has been cancelled, let us know if there's anything else we can help you with.

I've been away for a few day so have been unable to continue with my original question.

I established that FileBrowser - through the help of the developers - does not work playing my MP3s stored on Dropbox.

I've tried OutPlayer too (as this seemed to have been one recommended online by various sites). That doesn't work either as I can see none of my songs listed on their app.

Can I ask, therefore, what is potentially the best MP3 player that I can try out (free to begin with as I don't want to be wasting my money), for use with Dropbox? All of my songs / tunes are stored as MP3 files.

Thanks in advance.

* PS I have just tried to play an MP3 file from with Dropbox itself. They won't play. This is the error notice that I get:

Alizee - Moi... Lolita 2.mp3.jpeg

Hey @stevecjames!

Do you get the same error when trying to open your .mp3 files using your browser?

If you download the file locally on the device, does it preview?

Hello. Thank you for your reply.

a) I can download tracks from Dropbox and then play them back from my laptop (I don't know what you mean by "preview")

b) I can play tracks from within a browser directly from Dropbox (please see attached image below)

c) Nothing plays when I use a third-party iOS application.

Screenshot 2024-09-25 at 18.53.25.png

Would you mind clarifying your mobile's OS, and the Dropbox version you're using there @stevecjames?

Do you get the same error for all of your .mp3 files?

Yes, of course. It is : iOS 18 (the new one) on an iPhone 14.

Yes... it's the same error for every mp3 file.

The Dropbox iOS version I am using on the iPhone is the latest one. It was updated yesterday :

Screenshot 2024-09-25 at 21.09.54.jpeg

Hm, odd @stevecjames.

The .mp3 files should preview when you use the iOS mobile app.

Could you try clearing the app's cache through its settings, and let me know if you notice the same behavior?

I shall do that if you can tell me how to do clear them ( forgive me if there is now a delay of several hours as I really do have to go to bed. Goodnight ) :

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Walter

Hey @stevecjames - to clear your cache, you can follow these steps:

On iOS:

Open the Dropbox iOS app.
Tap the account icon (person) in the bottom right.
Tap the gear icon in the top right.
Scroll down and tap Clear cache.
Tap Clear cache again.

Once you’ve cleared the cache, log out of the Dropbox app, restart your device, then log back in.

Thank you for the very clear instructions, Walter.

I followed your instructions exactly... it made no difference. I still cannot play any MP3s on Dropbox. I tried both from with Dropbox to play music files, and also third-party apps, but still no difference. As you can see from the last (black) image, the MP3s are showing that they cannot be played back from within Dropbox as the music files are greyed out (and missing their little 'play triangles' on their left-hand side) :

Show folder MP3 - Favourites on Dropbox.jpeg

Nancy

@stevecjames, apologies if you’ve mentioned that and I’ve missed it, but are you able to preview/play your .mp3 files properly if you go to www.dropbox.com and not the mobile app?

It's fine if I play something from Dropbox using the laptop at home, say.

But this defeats the whole purpose of why I wanted to use Dropbox when I subscribed two-weeks' ago to the 2TB version, and why I cancelled the subscription the moment that I found out that Dropbox no longer plays my music from a mobile device, like my iPhone (it used to play it, years' ago). I'd never use Dropbox at home, of course, as I have everything I need on the NAS or elsewhere.

Regards.

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I've noticed that other users have had the same problem(s) with Dropbox not playing their stored music files. This is but one page of quite a few that I've found on the 'Net :

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/View-download-and-export/My-MP3-files-are-not-playable-any-more/td-p/513742

I'm wondering how they solved the problem... or if they just gave it all up as a bad job?

Hello... has Dropbox Support abandoned me in my hour of need?

I notice how Dropbox.com score a "bad" on Trustpilot (the word "bad' is Trustpilot's description of the company - and not mine).

I certainly hope that Dropbox Support can sort out this problem, as I really don't want to have to leave a bad report about Dropbox's services... unless I am forced into that situation, of course.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.dropbox.com

Hey Steve, we appreciate your feedback here.

Can you also let us know how large (in size) are the MP3 files you're trying to play through the Dropbox app itself?

And are you getting the same error when you try to play all of them or with some of them?

Hello Hannah

Thank you for coming back to me.

Please do not feel as though I am criticising Dropbox unduly, here. I am now over half way through the 2TB Trial period that I originally signed up for and so would really like to get these problems sorted out quickly as it's really a service that I should love to use from now on.

I uploaded 46 MP3 trial files for playing back from both the Dropbox app and other third-party iOS apps. None of them, so far, work. I cannot play anything back from Dropbox using either Dropbox's own app or anyone else's.

I am enclosing two images here : the first one shows the larger of the 46 uploaded files; the second shows the smaller.

I hope this helps solving the problem. Many thanks.

Thanks for the update, Steve, I completely understand where you're coming from.

Regarding the 3rd party apps, unless it's an official Dropbox integration, there's not much we can offer on our end; you might want to look into it with the 3rd party app's manufacturer.

Or perhaps another user that's using this integration may have some helpful info for you, which is why the thread will remain open.

However, if the files don't play in Dropbox itself, this is something we can definitely assist you with.

If you haven't already, can you also uninstall the Dropbox app, restart your device and then reinstall it, to see if that helps?

Hello again, Hannah

If you read the previous few messages on this thread then you can see exactly what the problem is. I don't wish to repeat all that I've said previously, other than MP3 files are NOT playing from within Dropbox. I have sent you images in this forum to that effect. I really don't see what else I can do at my end...

As far as reinstalling the Dropbox app, that's already been done... surely once is enough? Any more downloading and reinstalling of the Dropbox app would suggest that there is a big problem with how the app has been coded.

It's really not that I'm using any sort of 'exotic' phone to play back my files on Dropbox. It's a bog-standard Apple iPhone 14 that I bought from new eighteen-months' ago. iOS 18 was installed on it only a few days' ago, when again my iPhone restarted.

I'm going to say no more other than that I shall leave it a couple more days and then shut up , and then use another Cloud company. But as I said in my forum message to you earlier today (five hours' ago, according to your forum page), if other users were having problems in the year 2021, and these were reported to you at that time - and Dropbox did nothing about it - then my expectations in hoping that this ongoing problem will at any time be solved, is just pie in the sky.