How to manage your team’s Dropbox storage

What counts towards your team storage space?

Anything in your team’s shared space, including team folders, shared folders owned by the team, and content stored in your team member's folders will count against your team’s available storage space. Folders behave differently depending on their ownership and membership. 

For example:

• Team folders use your team’s storage space and don't count towards the team member's storage limit.
• External shared folders use your team’s storage space if added to your team’s Dropbox.
• Shared folders owned by members use your team's storage space and count against the individual member's storage limit.
• Replay and Backup content owned by members uses your team's storage space and counts against the individual member's storage limit.

Learn how shared folders impact your storage space.

How to see what storage space your team is using 

Admins can create, view, and download reports that show how their team and individual members are using their storage space.

Team storage reports

This report tells you what’s using team storage space, including:

• Team folders and subfolders
• Shared folders (internal and external)
• Private folders from members (active, suspended, or removed)
• Archived and app-created folders

Learn how to create a team storage report.

Member reports

Member reports show what each individual team member can access, and how much storage they’re using: 

• Member data report: Shows usage, limits, and file access for each user.
• Member access report: Shows which folders each user can access.

These reports can help identify overages or unusual access patterns.



Storage details

The Storage details section of the admin console dashboard gives you a clear, real-time overview of how storage is used across your team folders and team members.

You can view your storage usage by team folder, time, and members:

• Team folders: See the storage used by each of your team folders. The Team folders interactive chart shows the folders that use most storage, and groups the rest under Other. You can view all your team folders listed next to the chart. To get more detailed information on the storage used by each team folder, click the folder’s name on the chart, or on the list next to it.
• Usage history: See the total storage used by your team over time. To see the exact TB used, the percentage of storage used, and the specific date and time for that data, hover over the Over time trend.
• Team member: See the storage used by each member of your team. The Team member section shows the top 10 team members by storage use, to see all your team members, click See all members. To see the exact amount of TB a team member’s using, their storage limit, and the specific date and time for that data, hover over the team member’s name.

How to manage storage limits

Team admins can set custom storage limits for individual team members. These limits apply only to a member’s own folders and help prevent accidental overages without restricting collaboration.

Per-user storage limits

• Apply only to folders owned by that team member.
• Don’t affect team folders, shared folders, or content owned outside of the team.
• Help admins manage storage without relying only on a single shared team storage pool.

Set a custom storage limit for all team members

1. Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
3. Under Products, click the dropdown next to Dropbox.
4. Click Settings.
5. Under Content, scroll to Storage.
6. Toggle Member storage limit to On (Keep syncing) or On (Stop syncing).
7. Enter a custom limit value using the dropdown next to Storage limit per member.
8. Click Save.

Edit a team member’s storage limit from the Members tab

Team admins can update an individual team member’s storage limits from the Members tab. Before you start, make sure Member storage limit is set to On (Keep syncing) or On (Stop syncing) in the admin console.

1. Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
3. Click Members
4. Select the team member you want to update.
5. In the Storage used column, click ☑ (edit).
6. Enter a new custom limit.

You can also update a member’s storage limits by selecting the team member directly in the Members tab and clicking Edit space limit.

How to optimize storage space for your team

Storage cleanup

If your team is approaching its storage limit, you can use the Manage storage cleanup tool to get an overview of storage use and recommendations on how to save storage space.

From the Manage storage cleanup tool, you can view files and folders, view how much storage they’re using, and take actions if needed:

1. Click ☑ (more options) next to the folder you’d like to manage.
2. Click More.
3. Click Manage storage.
4. Filter content by Largest or Last Activity.
5. Hover over the content you’d like to take action on:
   • To delete the content, click Delete.
   • To open the content in a new tab, click ☑ (open).

Learn how to recover deleted files and folders.

Manage offboarded members’ storage

Deleting users doesn’t instantly free up space. Files and backups remain unless removed, so it’s recommended to:

• Transfer ownership of user content before deletion.
• Permanently delete removed private content and backups.

Learn how to manage deleted team members’ files.

Upgrade or add more storage space

If you’re approaching the limit for your team, admins can:

• Upgrade the team's plan.
• Buy additional storage space.

Learn how to get more storage space.

How to troubleshoot storage space issues 

To resolve syncing or hard drive space issues, you can use:

• Selective sync: Choose which folders sync locally.
• Online-only files: Keep files in the cloud only.

Learn how to troubleshoot hard drive space issues.