Dropbox says I'm over-quota, even though I have 0 files in my account.

Question

I have been a user on a church's account for years. They pay for dropbox and upload videos into their folder and I go on to their account for purposes of downloading the video for use elsewhere. This has been the case for at least 4 years. Now I can't access their folder anymore because dropbox says that my account is out of space, even though there are 0 files in my account. This doesn't make sense. The church is already paying for the space. I am not doing anything except downloading files from a folder that is being paid for by someone else. What reason would I need to upgrade my account?

Rich · Answer

The church is already paying for the space. I am not doing anything except downloading files from a folder that is being paid for by someone else. What reason would I need to upgrade my account?

As ComboFajitas mentioned, shared folders do take up space in your own account. This is because with a shared folder you're not accessing the content in another person's account. You get your own copy of that folder in your account and any changes made within sync back and forth. Because the folder is in your account, it takes up your space.

For more information on this, refer to this help article.

ComboFajitas · Answer

When you say a "user on the church's account" what do you mean by that? Do they have a team account of which you are a member or do you have a personal account and they share content to you?

If it's the latter then you need to understand that shared content counts against your quota. So if they share a folder to you that exceeds the space your account has and you join that folder, then you'll be out of space.