Dropbox 101

Ever since Peppermint shared on The Digi Show some of the ways she uses Dropbox, I have been hooked and use it for so much. It’s one of those things that I’m really not sure how I ever got along without it.

What is Dropbox?

Dropbox is added to your computer (Mac and PC) and looks just like a folder on your harddrive. You can access the contents of this folder from your computer it’s on, any internet browser, as well as any smartphone or tablet you install it on.

You can share folders or give access to any of your folders to anyone with a Dropbox account. You can also send links to contents in folders to other people, so they can download.

The Dropbox site also keeps version histories of files and folders, so if you accidentally delete or save over a file, you can restore it from the site.

How Much Does It Cost?

You can get up to 2GB of space for free. If you invite someone to share a folder or sign up for Dropbox and they sign up, you earn more space, up to 18GB.

Paid plans start at $9.99 per month or $99 a year for 100GB of space.

How Do I Start Using Dropbox?

Starting is really easy! Just go to the Dropbox site and download the application, run it, and you are ready to go. You will want to download the iPhone or Android apps if you have those devices. If you have a tablet, you will want to download apps for those as well (from your app store).

Setting up a FREE account is as easy as entering your email address and verifying your password. \

What Do I Need To Know?

If you share a folder with someone or invite someone to your folder, everything you do in that folder is live and will happen for them as well, until you unjoin or disconnect others. If you delete a file, add a file, unzip a file, etc. it is live for everyone that has access to that folder.

In order to share a folder, you need to log into your account online, it can’t be done from your desktop.

There is a GREAT help guide on the Dropbox site.

Some Good Uses For Dropbox

• Camera Upload – I have camera upload set up so anytime I’m connected to wi-fi and open Dropbox on my phone, it automatically starts uploading photos to my Dropbox photo folder.
• I save documents, logos, and contracts to my Dropbox folder so I can access them easily when I’m not at home. There have been many times a team member or programmer will email me while they are in the middle of a project and need just one thing. I’m always happy when I have it in Dropbox and can save it for them OR move it to our shared folder.
  • This came in really handy when we’ve moved and I’ve had to work on getting kids registered for schools. I was able to have our proof of residency and everything else I needed in Dropbox, just in case. There was more than one time that I was able to email a document to a school secretary while we were filling out paperwork.
• I have a shared folder set up with just about everyone that does any work for me so I can easily get files to them and from them without having to worry about file sizes.
• I have folders that I’ve shared with people that were at CHA and Disneyland this past January. Everyone added their photos and were able to grab everyone else’s pictures as well.
• I have folders shared with my family members so we can exchange photos.
• I used it to transfer files from one computer to another.
• I use it to store itineraries and information for vacations and business trips, so it can be pulled up on my phone or iPad easily as needed.
• Here’s a look at my folders:

Google Drive

Google Drive is very similar and offers many of the same options. It also seems to be less expensive for more storage. Although I’ve been using Google Drive for a very long time, I just recently downloaded the desktop application and am not as familiar with it.

What do you use Dropbox for?