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People I shared my folders with cannot access due to "not enough space" - this is unacceptable.

I am the tech lead for my church and I have people who take photos of services and events. I wanted to use Dropbox as a place where they could upload their photos and the Pastor and I could get them to use for our website and other multi-media uses. I personally upgraded to a 3TB plan so that I would have plenty of space for them to be able to share their photos and videos without the need to do so in small chunks requiring me to keep going in there and removing them. I wasn't aware that Dropbox counts shared folders against their storage space allotted. IF this is indeed the case, I'm going to want a full refund of the year I purchased in advanced. I don't like shady scummy practices like that. I have worked in consulting for years and have had companies use their file share services to share files with me and I could create new accounts there and get what I needed without ever running into anything like this.

So I'm first of all wondering if there is a better way of doing this? Why should my entire team pay for the same space that I already purchased? I really hope someone has a solution that can work. Thanks in advance.

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JDTurkelton

So from my google searches, unless I did something wrong when I set this up,
1. I purchased 3 TB of space that I am the sole owner of. I allow my team members to write to that space so we have an easy way to transfer files.

2. But that requires them to also purchase more space. So say 5 other team members each purchase 3 TB plans to use the same space I have already purchased.

3. 6 people purchasing 3 TB of space - do we get 18 TB of space then? NO.

4. Why should they have to purchase the ability to use my space?

5. If I buy a house, the bank doesn't also require each person who lives with me to also pay them the full price of the same house just to use it.

Rich

@JDTurkelton wrote:
Why should they have to purchase the ability to use my space?

The short of it is this... they're not using your space. They're using their own space. When people are a member of a shared folder, they aren't uploading to the owner's account. They each have their own copy of the folder in their own account, and that copy syncs with all other members. A person needs to have enough space available for any files in their account.

https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/shared-folder-count-against-storage

If you just want people to upload to you without affecting their own account (or even needing an account), use a File Request instead. People will be able to upload directly to your account, but they won't be able to access the files once uploaded.

https://help.dropbox.com/share/create-file-request

JDTurkelton

From what I understand, I would have to send a fresh File Request every time they had new photos to upload. That's a very clunky system and not what I'm looking for.

My experience with Dropbox up to this point has been as an outside user having to upload and download files shared with me by large companies. They create a folder and send me an invitation. I had never had a Dropbox account of my own before. I would create one, log in and be able to download and upload files in those folders which would contain considerable file amounts and sizes. I understand they were enterprise level companies, but I personally never had anything other than a beginner level account.

So when the need came up for my church to need somewhere for our users to share photo dumps larger than allowed in email attachments, I remembered how easy it was to use Dropbox. But as a small user being the one to host the file share, that's not the case at all. They really put the screws to small users trying to squeeze money out of everyone they want to share with.

Rich

@JDTurkelton wrote:
From what I understand, I would have to send a fresh File Request every time they had new photos to upload.

You can leave the same File Request open. As long as you haven't closed it, people can continue to use the same link to send files to you.

... be able to download and upload files in those folders which would contain considerable file amounts and sizes. I understand they were enterprise level companies ...

If they invited you to join their team, you would have been using one of their paid licenses which would have allowed you to access the shared storage pool of the team account.

theflyingburritto

This is ludicrous. Why does DB force data to be duplicated when a user simply needs access. Why can't someone without a subscription that has been shared a folder from someone with sufficient storage space not be able to have access and have it stored locally? Truthfully, this is outrageous and blatantly exploitative.

Rich

theflyingburritto wrote:
Why does DB force data to be duplicated when a user simply needs access.

One of the main reasons is to prevent the stacking of accounts for unlimited storage.

theflyingburritto wrote:
Why can't someone without a subscription that has been shared a folder from someone with sufficient storage space not be able to have access and have it stored locally?

If they just need to access the files, use a view-only shared link instead. If they need to store the files in their own account, then those files will take up space in their account, thus they need enough available space to hold the files.

https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/storage-space

DBoxTips

Rich wrote:
One of the main reasons is to prevent the stacking of accounts for unlimited storage

How would that actually work, though? The space of the account that shares the folder is limited. And if that account's quota is filled, the folder would just stop syncing, just like it does for any user who exceeds their storage limit?

Andrew (DBoxTips)

Mark

theflyingburritto wrote:
Why can't someone without a subscription that has been shared a folder from someone with sufficient storage space not be able to have access and have it stored locally?

Because the service costs money to run and operate. Dropbox needs to cover its costs and more users = more costs. Every up and download has a fee associated with it as does supporting all of these users.

theflyingburritto wrote:
Truthfully, this is outrageous and blatantly exploitative.

Thankfully, it is a free market, however, so people ARE free to vote with fee (and money) and use other services if they so wish.