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.

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

If your Dropbox account is over your storage space quota then file syncing will stop. Syncing will resume when you bring your account under your quota again.

To get your account under your storage space quota you can:

• Get more storage space on your Dropbox account
• Upgrade your account
• Increase your storage quota using referrals bonuses or other promotions
• Leave any shared folders that put you over quota
• Remove files from your Dropbox

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 still don’t bring your account under quota, your account may be closed or your files may be deleted. We’ll notify you before this happens and give you an opportunity to save your files.

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 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 were unable to 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 will 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 will 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 will 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.