In my last post of this series I talked about using Evernote to keep all of your notes synced up across your various devices. That’s all well and good, but how about keeping larger files synced up and accessible? That’s where Dropbox comes in. Dropbox is an online service with a small installer for Mac, Linux, and Windows that gives you the ability to drag and drop your files to a shared folder that in turn is updated through a web interface. Read on to see how you can get set up with Dropbox and decide if it’s right for keeping your files accessible from anywhere.
Installation
When you first visit http://www.getdropbox.com you’re prompted to download the version appropriate to your operating system. In this article, I’m mainly showcasing the Mac version, but the Windows and Linux installations are just as straightforward to get going. After installation is complete you must either login with the account you setup previously or create a new one. At this point you’ll find a new folder either in your documents or home folder called ‘Dropbox’ with a few subfolders where you can put the files you wish to share over the internet.
By default you’ll have a ‘Photos’ folder where you can put images in subdirectories to be turned into online, shareable photo galleries and a ‘Public’ folder that you can use to share with non-dropbox members online when large files are being used. Anything within dropbox though will be accessible to you on any machine you log into either through the web interface or the desktop application.
You’ll also notice in your system tray in Windows or in the Finder menu bar on a Mac that you now have a small Dropbox icon where you can perform common operations such as:
- Open your local Dropbox folder
- Modify your preferences
- Launch the web interface
- Upgrade your account
Speaking of that last option, it should be noted that the web interface limits you to 2GB as a free user, but they do have a neat option to increase your storage capacity by referring other users. Of course you can also pay to upgrade your account as well, but that ultimately depends on how many files you intend to send zipping over the interwebs.
Web Interface
The web interface pictured below does a great job at showing you recent changes to your files. Also, if needed you can restore a file that has been deleted from the ‘Recent Events’ tab if you accidentally erase something important.
Aside from the home screen where you can navigate your uploads you can also use the ‘Photos’ folder in your local dropbox to create slideshows. To accomplish this, just create a new folder within ‘Photos’ and drag in any images you want to share. Each sub-folder gets treated as a slideshow that you can view online or share with others.
Upgrading to Premium
As I mentioned before, you can upgrade your storage by referring people (speaking of which, if you’re feeling generous you can sign up under my referral link) or you can pay to upgrade to greater storage options.
So far using it has been pretty snappy. I’ve dropped some larger, 40MB+ files into my Dropbox on my MacBook and been pleasantly surprised with the upload speeds. it should be noted however, if you’re using it on a Mac you’ll have a better experience if you have Growl installed.
In the end, Dropbox is an excellent application that’s easy to install, fast, and very useful if you find yourself constantly shifting files from one machine to another over the internet.
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