Business and Enterprise accounts have access to unlimited storage for their enterprise.
However, Admins can limit how much storage is allotted to each user within their enterprise. Users will have to abide by this limit and will receive errors if they take any actions that result in exceeding it.
In the event that a user is attempting to upload content to a folder whose owner is approaching their storage capacity, they will receive the error below:
- Locate content in the account that is not required to be saved in Box.
- Move that content to the Trash.
- Navigate to the Trash on the left sidebar.
- Permanently delete these files to free up space.
- Attempt to upload the files again.
The other option is to have the Box Admin increase the user's storage allocation:
- Find who is the "owner" of the folder (co-owners don't count)
- Go to the admin console
- Go to the users & groups tab
- Search for this user & click on their name to edit
- Under the "edit user account details" section find the storage quota
- Increase the number or check off the box for unlimited
As the first option requires deleting content, we would recommend pursuing the second option before taking that step.
Root Cause
This error occurs when the size of the upload exceeds the available storage space of the folder owner. Even if the uploader has unlimited storage through a Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, or Enterprise Advanced Box account, the upload will fail if the folder owner has reached their allocated storage quota. This is because Box always checks and deducts storage from the folder owner's quota—not the uploader's—regardless of who is uploading the content. Additionally, enterprise admins can set specific storage limits for each managed user, which may restrict how much space a folder owner has available.