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Dropbox: File Syncing, Revisions, Photo Albums

August 7, 2008 – 9:06 am by gabe

Similar to FolderShare, which I wrote about yesterday, Dropbox also allows you to sync files in a folder between computers and access them online. Unlike FolderShare, though, Dropbox has some cool added features:

• Public link sharing to share any file with anyone
• 2 GB of free online storage space for public shares
• Photo album sharing & viewing

Dropbox is a great way to quickly share any file — small or large — with anyone. Let’s say I want to share the downloadable Articulate Presenter help documentation with you. Here’s what I’d do:

1. Copy (or move) the file from my computer into my Dropbox -> Public folder (on my Vista machine, the path is C:\Users\gabe\Documents\My Dropbox\Public).
2. Once I drop the file in my public Dropbox, I’ll see a blue icon indicating that it’s syncing to the Dropbox servers:

   

3. When the icon changes to a green checkbox, I’ll know the file is on the server and ready for sharing:

   

4. Next, I right-click the file and select Dropbox -> Copy public link to copy the link to my clipboard:

   

5. Finally, I give you the link (here on my blog, via email, or in an IM). The link looks like this:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/64503/AP5_Help_Documentation.pdf

And there you have it: An easy way to share big files — that might be too big for email — with friends  or colleagues!

The revision feature of Dropbox is great, too — so that if you accidentally overwrite a file on your computer or decide you want to rollback changes, you can restore an older revision via Dropbox.

You can currently sign up for the Dropbox beta (and watch their intro video) on the Dropbox site, but you’ll get in right away if I invite you, so let me know if you want an invite.

(Thanks, Tom, for the Dropbox heads-up and invitation!)

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Posted in utilities