Why did dropbox say "Deleted files don't count against your storage quota, so permanently deleting them won't free up space"?
Dropbox said this because when a file is deleted, it is moved to the Trash folder rather than being completely erased from the account. Files in the Trash folder do not take up space in the account's storage quota. Therefore, even if you permanently delete a file from the Trash folder, it won't free up space since it wasn't occupying any space in the first place.
No, It did free up space on my account.
I apologize for the confusion. It's possible that Dropbox has updated its policy since that statement was made. According to Dropbox's current policy, permanently deleting a file does actually free up space in your account. When you permanently delete a file from Dropbox, it is removed from all devices and cannot be recovered. This action also frees up the space that the file was occupying in your account's storage quota.
Dropbox said "Deleted files don't count against your storage quota, so permanently deleting them won't free up space" because Dropbox offers a feature called "Smart Sync" on certain plans. With Smart Sync, files that are marked as deleted are still visible and accessible in your account, but they don't take up any storage space on your device.
When you delete a file in Dropbox, it is moved to the "Deleted Files" section where it can be recovered for up to 30 days (or longer on some plans). During this time, the file doesn't count against your storage quota, meaning it doesn't contribute to the amount of space you have available.
However, even though a deleted file doesn't count against your storage quota, it still occupies space on Dropbox's servers. Permanently deleting a file from the "Deleted Files" section will free up that space on Dropbox's servers, but it won't affect your storage quota since the file was already not being counted towards it.
Dropbox says "Deleted files don't count against your storage quota, so permanently deleting them won't free up space" because of the way files are stored and managed on its platform.
When you delete a file in Dropbox, it moves to the "Trash" or "Deleted files" folder, instead of being immediately erased from your account. This means that the storage space taken up by deleted files is still accounted for, but it is not counted towards your overall storage quota. In other words, deleted files do not count against the amount of storage space you allocate for your Dropbox account.
The reason behind this approach is to provide you with a safety net in case you accidentally delete a file and need to recover it. By keeping the deleted files in the "Trash" folder, Dropbox ensures that you have an opportunity to retrieve them before they are permanently erased.
However, if you want to free up space in your Dropbox account, you need to permanently delete the files in the "Trash" folder. Only when you choose to permanently delete the files will the occupied storage space be freed up and become available for new files. Until then, the deleted files will continue to be part of your allocated Dropbox storage.
To permanently delete files in Dropbox, follow these steps:
1. Open your Dropbox account on a web browser.
2. Navigate to the "Files" tab.
3. Click on "Deleted files" or "Trash" on the left sidebar.
4. Select the files or folders you want to permanently delete.
5. Click the "..." (ellipsis) button and choose "Permanently delete."
6. Confirm the deletion when prompted.
By following these steps, you will permanently delete the files from your Dropbox account and release the occupied storage space.