Key takeaways
- Dropbox shows total team storage under Storage details on the Admin console dashboard, and the Team storage report at Admin console > Products > Dropbox > Content lists every folder with its size in MB.
- The most direct way to copy the full file set is to sync the team folders with the Dropbox desktop app, because downloads from dropbox.com stop at folders of 250 GB uncompressed or 10,000 files.
- A departed member's files can be transferred only once, to one active member, and only within your version history limit; legal holds need the paid Data Governance add-on.
- You don't need to export anything to apply: have your size in GB, years of history and member count ready, and the data vendor anonymizes the records before any AI lab sees them.
01
What is Dropbox data, and why do AI labs and data vendors buy it?
The short answer
Dropbox data is the library of working files a company keeps in Dropbox's online file storage: contracts, proposals, drawings, spreadsheets and photos, arranged in the folders its staff actually used. AI labs (companies that build and train AI models) and data vendors (companies that anonymize business records and package them for those labs) buy a copy because the files, their folder paths and their earlier versions show how real work is produced and revised.
What a Dropbox team account records
Dropbox is a service that stores files online and keeps them in step across every computer that has its app installed. A company's Dropbox team is its managed account, in which an admin oversees all members. The team holds team folders, which belong to the company, and shared folders and private content that belong to individual members.
Folder paths and file names hold clues about clients, projects and stages of work. A path made of a client's name, a project and a year already says what a file is for.
Why files and their versions teach an AI model something
An AI model learns by studying a very large number of examples and finding the patterns in them, and those examples are called training data. Public documents are mostly finished and polished, while the files in a working folder include the drafts, the corrections and the signed final copy. Dropbox keeps version history, the earlier saved states of a file, so a draft sits next to the final version and shows how the work was revised.
AI labs now want to train AI agents, software that carries out a job step by step, and an agent learns a job from records of that job being done. A data vendor can turn anonymized files into worked examples that an agent studies like an answer key. The full mechanism is in AI training data: why AI companies want your company's data.
How Dropbox fits into a dataset
Dropbox is one of several apps in a company's dataset, which usually also includes email, chat and tickets. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to. The price covers the whole dataset, not each app on its own, and what your data is worth explains what moves it.
02
Where does Dropbox show how much data you have?
The short answer
Dropbox shows total team storage under Storage details on the Admin console dashboard, and the Team storage report breaks it down by folder. It is visible to admins on the Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus and Enterprise plans. The total is a size, so you report it in gigabytes (GB).
How to read your team storage
Dropbox measures files by the space they take. The steps below end in a size in GB, and each step names the menu you need.
- Sign in to dropbox.com with an admin account.
- Choose Admin console in the left sidebar and find Storage details on the dashboard. It lists the team folders that use the most storage, the usage history over time and the top 10 members by usage.
- Select See all members to see every member's exact storage used and storage limit.
- For a folder-by-folder breakdown, go to Admin console > Products > Dropbox > Content, choose Export storage report and press Start export, as Dropbox's team storage report guide explains.
- Wait for Dropbox's email, then open the CSV file it saved in your Dropbox Business reports folder. Every row shows a folder path, what kind of folder it is (a team folder, a shared folder, private content and so on), its size in MB, who owns it and how many files it holds.
Large teams can take a while: if the email has not arrived after an hour, run the export again. If you add the folder sizes up yourself, divide the MB total by 1,024 to get GB.
Which plans and roles can see it
Storage details and the Team storage report exist on the Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus and Enterprise plans. Several admin roles can run the report.
| Item | What applies |
|---|---|
| Plans | Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus and Enterprise. |
| Roles that can run the report | Team admin, User management admin, Reporting admin, Security admin, Support admin and Compliance admin. |
| What it lists | Folder path, folder type, size in MB, owner and number of files. |
What the storage figure covers
Team folders, shared folders owned by the team and the content owned by individual members all use the team's storage. Deleting a member does not free their space at once, because their content stays until an admin transfers or removes it, as Dropbox's guide to team storage describes.
Why the figure can fall short of the all-time total
Storage shows what the team holds now, not everything it ever held. Files carried over from an older file server may be older than the Dropbox account itself. Content that was permanently deleted is gone, and a departed member's files remain recoverable only within your version history limit.
03
What should you know about your Dropbox data before you apply?
The short answer
Have three facts ready: how many GB your team stores, how many years it has used Dropbox and how many members are on the team. They go into the data manifest, the written summary of which apps hold your records, how many years each covers and roughly how much. You don't need to run an export to find them, and applying through micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, shares no data.
The size in GB
The size is the team's total storage used, in GB, from Storage details. If you total the Team storage report yourself, remember it counts in MB, so divide by 1,024 for GB.
The years of history
The years of history run from the year the company set up its Dropbox team. If files were carried over from an older file server, say so, because the oldest files may be older than the account.
The number of members
The member count is the licensed members on the team, which you can count on the Members page. Leave out members who have been removed or deleted.
What you don't need to do first
You don't need to export anything to apply, and you don't need to clean or scrub an export. The data vendor anonymizes the records before anyone else sees them, and nothing moves until a lawyer-reviewed license is signed. The application, the intro call and each later step are laid out in how to sell your company's data.
04
How do you export your full Dropbox history?
The short answer
The most direct way to copy everything is to put the Dropbox desktop app on a computer with ample free disk space and sync the team folders you need. Browser downloads stop at folders of 250 GB uncompressed or 10,000 files. An admin can reach one member's files with Log in as member, and can transfer a departed member's files once.
Syncing the full file set with the desktop app
Dropbox recommends its desktop app for large downloads, because browsers and networks struggle with them. The app also lets you raise the bandwidth it uses, and it helps to download fewer items at once, as Dropbox's download guide advises.
- Install the Dropbox desktop app on a computer whose free disk space can hold the team folders you want.
- Sign in with an admin account and sync those team folders.
- Confirm the folders are fully on disk before you hand them over.
Downloading smaller folders from dropbox.com
The website packs a folder into a .zip file only when the folder is below 250 GB uncompressed and has fewer than 10,000 files, with nested folders counted toward that number. Individual files have no download size limit. The diagram sets the website and the desktop app side by side.
Reaching one member's files, or a departed member's
On Advanced, Business Plus or Enterprise, an admin can open a member's account by going to Admin console > Members, choosing More beside the member and selecting Log in as member. Choose Switch back when finished.
Files of people who have left are handled under Admin console > Members: pick Deleted in the Removed list, click More next to the name, choose Manage files and hand the files to an active team member. That handover happens once, to a single member, and must fall inside your version history limit; later, the files can no longer be recovered or moved.
Legal holds: an optional route for one member's content
A legal hold preserves a member's files so they can be exported, and it requires Dropbox's paid Data Governance add-on, which teams on Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus and Enterprise can buy. In Admin console > Products > Dropbox > Legal holds, set up a hold on the members you need and export its files into a folder in your Dropbox.
You can narrow a hold export by member, date range, file type and file version. Cloud docs, preview-only files and files the member could not edit are not exported, and anything created within 24 hours of the export may be absent. One hold spans at most 100 members, a team can keep 300 holds, and the add-on stretches version history to 10 years.
What to settle before exporting files
A team account can hold personal data, customer files and documents that belong to other companies, so the company's lawyer should confirm that licensing them is allowed under its contracts and privacy policies. Is it legal to sell company data covers the questions to ask. HR, payroll and members' private folders can stay out entirely.
How long an export takes
Dropbox gives no standard time for copying a team's files, because it depends on the amount of data and the connection. The Team storage report can take up to an hour on a large team, so run it early.
Sources: Dropbox Help Center, How to manage your team's storage space, How to create a team storage report and How to download a file or folder from Dropbox. Steps checked against these pages in November 2026.
05
What stays private when Dropbox data is licensed?
The short answer
The company decides which team folders are in scope, and the data vendor replaces names and other personal details with consistent stand-ins before an AI lab sees anything. The company keeps ownership of its files, and the license covers defined records for a defined use.
You choose what is in scope
HR, payroll and members' private folders can stay out of the export entirely. The data vendor also deletes records too sensitive to clean safely instead of anonymizing them.
Names are replaced before a lab sees them
Anonymization means replacing every detail that identifies a person or a client, such as a name in a file path or an editor's name, with a stand-in that is the same every time it appears. The file history still reads in order, so a lab can learn from it, but it no longer says who the people are. The diagram below shows one short history before and after.
The method, including what is deleted outright and how you review samples, is in how company data is anonymized for AI training.
Ownership and payment
Licensing gives the buyer limited rights to a copy, while the company keeps ownership of the originals. The terms that matter, such as exclusivity, permitted use and deletion, are covered in data licensing. micro1 pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data, usually as a single payment.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How do I check how big our Dropbox is?
Log in as an admin, open the Admin console and look at Storage details on its dashboard. A per-folder CSV comes from the Team storage report under Admin console > Products > Dropbox > Content.
Can we pull our whole Dropbox down as a single zip file?
Not if it is large. The website refuses folders at 250 GB uncompressed or 10,000 files, so a bigger team should sync with the desktop app or download folder by folder.
What about files that belonged to employees who left?
If the member was deleted, an admin can hand the files to one active member from the Removed list on the Members page. It is a one-time move that must happen inside your version history limit, or the files are lost.
Is a legal hold required to export our Dropbox?
No. Syncing the team folders with the desktop app is the simplest way to get everything. Holds are part of a paid add-on and help only when you want one member's files filtered by date or file type.
Which Dropbox plans can see the Team storage report?
Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus and Enterprise. Admins with the Team, User management, Reporting, Security, Support or Compliance role can run it.
Do we need to export Dropbox before we apply?
No. The application takes about two minutes and shares no data. You only need your approximate size in GB, your years of history and your member count for the intro call, and Storage details gives you the size. The full copy is needed later, when the records are transferred after you sign the license.
What is Dropbox data worth to AI labs and data vendors?
Dropbox files are priced as part of a whole dataset rather than on their own. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, and the price depends on the years of history and how completely the records show each job. What your data is worth explains the factors.
Bottom line
Know what is in Dropbox, then see what it is worth
You don't need to export anything to apply. Apply in two minutes, describe your records on the intro call, and micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, prices the whole dataset and sends an offer 1–2 days later.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures come from micro1's published pages and public reporting as of November 2026.