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My account is full and the desktop app is stuck syncing, so I can't delete any more files

I decided to send a large number of photos and videos to Dropbox to back them up. Doing so caused me to exceed the 2 GB limit on my basic plan. Since then, I have been trying to delete enough photos and videos to stay under the 2 GB so as not to have to pay a subscription price for an advanced plan. However, when I hover on the Dropbox icon on the top menu bar of my MacMini M4 computer, it says "Dropbox 241.4.4795" and next line "Uploading 1,343 files..." It has been stuck on that number for weeks now and I have tried to use ChatGPT to get it syncing again but to no avail. I have tried the following: Pause and Resume, View Sync Issues (it says that I don't have any sync issues), I have given Dropbox Full Disk Access, re-indexing safely by quitting Dropbox - restarting the Mac and opening Dropbox, and made sure that Photos and Preview were off. ChatGPT then suggests renaming the local Dropbox folder then opening Dropbox in which case it will create a fresh folder and reconcile deletes from the cloud correctly. I didn't do this last step since I decided to contact you.

If I can't get this fixed, I'm in a forever do-loop of exceeding the basic limit and constantly receiving notices that I am above the limit.

Any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

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Accepted answers

Mapster12

I was able to delete enough photos using the DropBox website itself instead of my local DropBox folder which in turn got me under the 2 GB limit. Therefore, problem solved!

Thanks for the help.

All comments

Dell_Dropbox

Welcome to the community @Mapster12

Thanks for the details, and I’m sorry this has turned into a loop. When a Dropbox Basic account is over the 2 GB limit, uploads and syncing can be restricted until you’re back under quota. The fastest way to break the cycle is to delete files directly from dropbox.com (not just locally), then let the desktop app catch up.

Log in at dropbox.com and delete enough large photos/videos to get under quota (steps here: https://help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/delete-files).
Quit and reopen Dropbox on your Mac, then check the sync status again

give that a try and let us know how it works

Mapster12

I was able to delete enough photos using the DropBox website itself instead of my local DropBox folder which in turn got me under the 2 GB limit. Therefore, problem solved!

Thanks for the help.

Megan

Hey @Mapster12, happy Monday!

Happy to see that your issue is now resolved!

If you need something else, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help every step of the way. 😇