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I've uploaded my Documents folder to Dropbox inadvertently

Staxman

I'm using a Mac with MacOS 26 (Tahoe). I recently accessed my Dropbox folder for the first time in a couple of years, and I got a message that I'm using more than my quota of Dropbox storage. I dug around some more and found that the entire Documents folder on my Mac has been uploaded to Dropbox. I never intended this to happen and don't know how it did. So 2 questions:

How do I delete the files from my Dropbox storage without deleting them from my local drive?

How do I keep files from being uploaded to my Dropbox account, unless I want them to be?

Thanks.

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Mac

Dropbox Backup

Quota

Accepted answers

Walter

Yes, you should be good to delete your Documents folder from the Dropbox folder now @Staxman, but please let us know if anything else comes up.

All comments

Jay

Hi @Staxman, thanks for messaging the Community!

It sounds like you've enabled the Dropbox Backup feature, which allows Dropbox to backup certain system folders to your account online.

Are you able to see the backup on this page, and then delete the backup on the site to free up your quota?

Keep me updated with any progress!

Staxman

I may have found a solution, if only by dumb luck. I right-clicked on a file in the Documents folder in my Dropbox storage, thinking I'd choose Delete from the right mouse button menu, and I noticed that there was a Stop Syncing item on the menu. I right-clicked on the entire Documents folder and chose Stop Syncing.

I then sent a file in the folder to the Trash and performed "Empty Trash" for good measure. The file is still in the Documents folder on my Mac, so deleting it from Dropbox didn't cause it to be deleted from the Mac—good!

I'm assuming that now that I'm not syncing the Documents folder, I can delete the entire Documents folder from my Dropbox without deleting it from the Mac, but please confirm. Thank you.

Walter

Yes, you should be good to delete your Documents folder from the Dropbox folder now @Staxman, but please let us know if anything else comes up.