dropbox help

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Hello, I am desperately trying to figure out something. I am using Dropbox on my new MBA but it has only 128GB of HD. When I drop files in the desktop "Dropbox" folder, the files occupy the space on my HD and they get sink. But what if I don't want to keep a copy and have them only in the box? do I always have to log onto Dropbox website?
Please help thanks!!!;D
 

chscag

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Hello, I am desperately trying to figure out something. I am using Dropbox on my new MBA but it has only 128GB of HD. When I drop files in the desktop "Dropbox" folder, the files occupy the space on my HD and they get sink. But what if I don't want to keep a copy and have them only in the box? do I always have to log onto Dropbox website?

When you store files in the "cloud" (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc) a copy is also kept on your hard drive. The convenience of using Dropbox or any other cloud storage is that you can access those files from other devices such as your iPad, iPhone, or another Mac.
 
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Gday, and welcome to the forums.

What Dropbox does, is basically Sync (not sink) the files/folders you have on your Mac in the DropBox Folder, to the DropBox Cloud, where it will stay. This is where the 5GB free comes in. You can ONLY have 5GB worth of files on your Mac, and when its opened on another Mac, it will sync exactly what is in the DB Cloud.
Now you can use Selective Sync. Selective Sync gives you the control to ensure you have only the files you need on any computer.
From the MenuBar Icon, click that, then the gear icon, and select Preferences.
From the Preferences window, select Account, and click on Selective Sync ~ Change Settings. . . .

From there, you can choose what you want to to be synced, and accessible on your Mac.

HTH
 
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Thanks guys - that was very helpful. One thing though: if I want to SAVE the space of my HD and therefore keep the files ONLY in the cloud (Dropbox) is there a way to have a folder on my laptop where I can drop files and they "disappear" (they go in my dropbox but don't stay on my disk)? That is what I am trying to solve basically. I don't have another computer with larger memory.
Not sure this is doable though...
 

IWT


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@sharp01

As far as I know, what you seek is not possible. If I understand you correctly, you want to store something in Dropbox without there being any copy on your Mac. As TattoedMac (and chscag) explained, this is not what Dropbox does and, in a sense, defeats the purpose of having Dropbox. Its primary function is not as a backup storage facility, but as a means of working on Mac A, copying the work to Dropbox, accessing it on Mac B where you modify it, and the modification appears back on Mac A.

I sense that you are really seeking an online storage facility presumably for backup purposes? Or would you be happy simply transferring the files & folders to an EHD to free up space on your Mac? Does it need to be cloud-based?

Ian
 

dbm


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I think the only way to achieve what you want is the way you seem to have already identified:
Remove the Dropbox application from your Mac and just use the website to access your account. You will need to manually upload files via the site, but that isn't a massive time-sink if you create a Favourite for it and use cookies to stay logged in.
 
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Just for the record I have copied images from my phone to Dropbox and deleted them from my phone. They are still in Dropbox from where I can and do copy some, but not all, to my iMac when I need them. I can then do what I wish to the images on my mac but originals stay intact and unchanged on Dropbox. I don't recall changing any of the Dropbox setting since it was installed - it has just always worked like that.
 

IWT


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@Sawday

That's very interesting and enlightening because I have always been under the delusion (as I suppose it must now be called) that if you changed or deleted the original content on your iMac, this would be reflected in an identical change in Dropbox. Evidently not.

Which is good news for the OP. Although I have to say, I still feel that if the OP's aim is to free up space on his Mac, a better idea would be to use an EHD. Dropbox is really not designed for this purpose. Anyway, thanks for your input.

Ian
 

vansmith

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That's very interesting and enlightening because I have always been under the delusion (as I suppose it must now be called) that if you changed or deleted the original content on your iMac, this would be reflected in an identical change in Dropbox. Evidently not.
That would only be if you have the Dropbox app installed and configured to sync the directory that you are editing/changing/deleting files in.

I do something similar here - pictures are backed up to OneDrive but it's not synced to my computer. That way, I get backups but I don't use up space on my HD. The downside is that I have to login to the OD site to get all the pictures.
 
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I think the only way to achieve what you want is the way you seem to have already identified:
Remove the Dropbox application from your Mac and just use the website to access your account. You will need to manually upload files via the site, but that isn't a massive time-sink if you create a Favourite for it and use cookies to stay logged in.

That makes sense and I think it's the only way to do it to save space on my mac! The rest of the answers make lots of sense too though, in terms of using other services as "backup" services, rather than sharing. All right all this definitely answers my question, thanks guys.
 

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