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Forum Discussion
risingfire
2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Files will not delete from DropBox--gives error message
I am having trouble deleting files from DropBox. Some folders contain thousands of files. I see from other discussions that DB does not handle large amounts of files well, and currently my DB has 2...
- 2 years ago
Thanks... yes, I've tried smaller batches, but that did not help. These are shared folders. One of the other DB members was able to move some of the folders to a sub-folder and I was able to delete each of those moved folders one-by-one. I also think that he may have been able to delete the files in the current recycle bin/deleted files folder, so that may have also helped. It's hard to say exactly what got us past the "can't delete files" error message from DropBox, but it does seem that we may be able to delete these large folders. There are still more to go, but we seem to be making progress.
Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi risingfire, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Are these files you're trying to delete in a private or shared folder?
Have you tried deleting the files in smaller batches?
This will help me to assist further!
risingfire
2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Thanks... yes, I've tried smaller batches, but that did not help. These are shared folders. One of the other DB members was able to move some of the folders to a sub-folder and I was able to delete each of those moved folders one-by-one. I also think that he may have been able to delete the files in the current recycle bin/deleted files folder, so that may have also helped. It's hard to say exactly what got us past the "can't delete files" error message from DropBox, but it does seem that we may be able to delete these large folders. There are still more to go, but we seem to be making progress.
- Jay2 years agoDropbox Staff
That sounds like good news. Just so you're aware, deleting files from the recycle bin/deleted files folder doesn't really affect the Dropbox account, since the space has already been freed up.
However, it's good news that progress is being made on your account. If you need any further assistance, please let me know!
- risingfire2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Thanks, that's good to know. I was not sure if the millions of files in the deleted files bin were contributing to the problem or not, so wanted to mention. Wish I could say how we exactly got past that error, but yes, I'm glad that we are making progress on removing these very large folders, too!
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