Thursday 13 January 2011

Dropbox - Sharing and Synchronising your Files for Free

I’ve had a request recently to explain the system I use to synchronise my own files across a number of PC’s whilst sharing some of them with my colleagues in the process. As well as Googledocs, which I’ve used for a while, the method I’ve been leaning more towards of late is using DropBox. Here’s why:

For synchronizing files across devices...

Dropbox allows you to synchronise your files online and across all your computers automatically.


· You get 2GB of online storage for free.
· You can synchronise files of any size or type, photos, documents, pdf files and more.
· You can synchronise files stored on all your Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.
· Dropbox automatically synchronises all your devices when new files or changes are detected.

File Sharing...

It makes sharing files with my colleagues and friends easy.

· Shared folders allow several people to collaborate on the same files.
· You can see other people's changes instantly.
· You can use your "Public" folder to link directly to files.
· You can control who has access to your shared folders.
· You can automatically create shareable online photo galleries out of regular folders.

Plus...

Mobile Device Access - You can get a free application for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android that lets you access and manage your Dropbox on the go.

Web Access - A copy of your files is stored on Dropbox's secure servers. This lets you access them from any computer or mobile device.

Online Backup - Dropbox backs up your files online without you having to think about it.

Security & Privacy - Dropbox uses encryption methods to both transfer and store your data.

This youtube video offers a demonstration of how Dropbox works. The video on the DropBox site also shows you how it works in a very simplistic way.

You can also download the software from here or watch a tour here that outlines its features in more detail.

(Hope this is useful to Savoy Centre staff who requested that I share details of Dropbox. Do let me know how you get on with it!).



To read more of Wobble click here.

2 comments:

Debb. x said...

Referring back to your post about the 'Superbook of web tools for educators', it may be worth mentioning here about the following site - dropittome - http://dropitto.me/

It allows other people to upload files to your Dropbox account without giving them access to the contents of your Dropbox account

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tip Debb, yes DropItToMe does look like a useful one to use with DropBox. Might give it a whirl!