Why do shared folders count against both the owner's and collaborator's storage limits?

nickyg1

I freelance and have multiple clients with their own Dropbox accounts. After using Dropbox since 2014 I can quite honestly say the worst feature of Dropbox is that Shared Storage counts towards my limits: https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/storage-space

A few times, clients share their folders with me so I can pull assets I need but I can't join because their total Dropbox exceeds my storage remaining space or eats what little storage I have, forcing me to upgrade MY storage just to get access to the files the CLIENT already pay to store.

I pay for 2 TB of storage and my client pays for 2 TB of storage so in total we pay for 4 TB of storage. Yet with shared files, we can only have 2 TB of cumulative storage. Extrapolate that across a multiple clients at a time and that's the mess I'm in.

My client pays for Dropbox, their files are their's, why in the world do I have to pay more just to get access to their files?

For the record, Google Drive, does not do this. The storage counts towards the UPLOADER of the file, not everyone who has access to it. So sharing a file doesn't suddenly "multiply" and artificially eat into the limits of everyone who has access. Not only that but I can transfer ownership of a file to my client should I want it to count toward's their limit.

I also work with other freelancers, so when 3 of us join a client with 500 GB of data, that 500 GB of data now counts against 4 separate accounts and is billed as 2 TB of data, allowing Dropbox to max out accounts and force upgrades on customers.

This is borderline predatory, anti-collaborative, and against the spirit of Dropbox being a place for collaboration. It is forcing people to upgrade simply because Dropbox is attributing a single stored file towards the limits of multiple accounts.

Now that I'm nearing my data cap and down to essential shared files, Google Drive is suddenly becoming a way more affordable as shared files are eating into my limits. This practice is about to drive me away even though I've been a customer since 2014.

Megan

Hey there, @nickyg1, thanks for posting here!

I completely understand this situation, and it’s definitely a tough spot for everyone involved.

When you are giving edit access to a shared folder, it needs to be added to the recipient's Dropbox account so they can modify the contents, which means it counts against their storage space.

If you want them to access files without affecting their own quota, you can send them a shared link instead. This allows them to browse, preview, and download individual files without impacting their account storage unless they choose to save them directly.

Hearing how much this impacts day-to-day teamwork is really valuable feedback. I'll pass it along to the appropriate team so we can continue to improve.

Thanks a bunch!