Troubleshoot issues with your Dropbox storage space limit

This article addresses frequently asked questions about storage space issues and offers troubleshooting steps to resolve those issues.

• If you see the error message “You are running out of disk space” (Windows) or "Your startup disk is almost full” (Mac), then your computer is low on hard drive space. Learn how to troubleshoot disk space issues.
• If you see the error message “Your files have exceeded the storage on this plan”, or “Your account is full and has stopped syncing”, then your Dropbox account is out of storage space, not your hard drive.

To check how much space you have available in your Dropbox account, learn how to check how much Dropbox storage space you have left.

What happens if my account is over my storage space quota?

If your Dropbox account is over your storage space quota, file syncing and uploads will stop, and sharing and previewing functionalities may be restricted. Syncing will resume once you bring your account under your quota again.

To get your account under your storage space quota you can either upgrade your account or free up storage space.

Upgrade your account

• Get more storage space on your Dropbox account.
• Upgrade your account.
• Increase your storage quota using referrals bonuses or other promotions.

Free up storage space

• Leave any shared folders that put you over quota.
• Remove files from your Dropbox.
• If you’re an admin, use the Manage storage cleanup tool.

Will my files be deleted if my account is over my storage space quota?

If your account goes over your storage space quota, our support team may contact you and let you know that you need to remove files to get back under quota.

If you don’t bring your account under quota, your least recently modified files first may be deleted to bring your account under the limit. Only files you own will be removed. We’ll notify you before this happens to give you an opportunity to save your files. Learn more about exceeding your storage.

Why didn’t I receive more space after I upgraded?

There are a few possible reasons why you wouldn't see a Dropbox Plus or Professional upgrade applied to your account.

1. Verify that you purchased Dropbox Plus or Professional using the same email address that's associated with your Dropbox account. Here are ways you can determine your account email address:
   • If your computer is linked to Dropbox, open your Dropbox desktop app preferences and click the Account tab.
   • If your phone is linked to Dropbox, navigate to your Settings in the Dropbox mobile app.
   • If you shared a folder with anyone in the past, then that user can find your account email address in the shared folder invitation or shared folder settings.
2. If you did purchase space using the same email address as the one associated with your Dropbox account, but you're still not seeing your space, verify the subscription purchase and then contact our billing team.

You can verify a subscription purchase in a few ways:

If you paid with credit card

1. Go to our receipt-finder tool.
2. Enter the transaction ID (found on your payment provider's billing statement).
3. Enter the last four digits and expiration date of the card charged (if applicable).

If you couldn't find the transaction ID, we'll need the following information to identify the account associated with your purchase:

• The type of card (Visa, Discover, MasterCard, American Express, etc.)
• The last four digits of the card
• The first six digits of the card
• The date of the charge
• The amount charged
• The billing postal code
   

If you paid with PayPal

If you paid with PayPal, we'll need the PayPal transaction ID. You can find this ID by logging in to your PayPal account and clicking the transaction in your account history.
 

If you paid with Direct Debit or iDeal

If you paid by Direct Debit or iDeal, we'll need the mandate reference number or transaction number.
 

If you paid through an app store

If you paid through the Apple App Store or Google Play, you’ll need to contact Apple or Google to determine the status of your payment.

Learn more about contacting a mobile app store.

After gathering this information, submit a support request containing the billing information requested above. For security and privacy purposes, please don't send anyone, including Dropbox, your full credit card number or CVV number. We’ll never ask for your password or your full credit card number.

Why haven’t I received my promotional space?

To receive the bonus space for one of your devices, you first need to link the eligible device to your account and then complete five steps from our get started guide.

If you haven’t received your bonus space for a promotion, then check the following questions to see if they can help you to resolve the issue:
 

Is my device eligible for the bonus space?

Make sure that your device:

• Is brand new. The bonus space offer can only be redeemed once per device so pre-owned devices will most likely have had their eligible space already redeemed by a previous Dropbox account.
• Came pre-installed with Dropbox. If you manually downloaded Dropbox, then your device isn’t eligible for the bonus space.
• Is from a participating network carrier.
   

Which account will receive the bonus space?

A common issue is that users link one of their Dropbox accounts to the new device and then log into a different account where they won’t see the bonus space. When you first log into a Dropbox account on a new device, an email will be sent to the email address you have used telling you about the bonus space.

After you receive this email you just need to complete five steps of the get started guide for that account to redeem the space.
 

I received the email about my bonus space but why haven’t I received the actual space in my account?

First, double check the email address where you received the email. This is the Dropbox account email which will have the bonus space.

After you receive an email informing you about linking your space, you will need to complete five steps of the get started guide (you need a computer to do this).

I already have a bonus space offer active on my account, but I haven’t received more space for my new device that I purchased?

Multiple promotions of the same type can’t be applied to one account.

However, you can give the promotion to a friend or family member so that they can redeem the promotional space. They can do so by logging into their account from the eligible device.
 

I had a promotion active on my account but the space has disappeared?

Each bonus space promotion is only valid for a limited period of time, usually either one or two years.