Saturday, September 11, 2010

Dropbox - How to Share

Having problems getting a project from one person to another?  Need to get your powerpoint presentation to a colleague?  E-mail is a great way to send some files, but what if your files are larger than the allowed size?

Try Dropbox.  Dropbox is a free program that will run on your computer and allow you to store 2GB free in an area that you can access from other computers.  It even has an App for your iPhone or iPad.  You can store that presentation, podcast, or XL .pdf file, so that it can be retrieved somewhere else, or even by someone else.  If you know someone with a Dropbox account, you can set up a shared folder so that documents can be accessed by either of you.  2GB of free storage space is more than enough to move those big files without having to burn CDs or DVDs and the transfer is very fast and secure.

Dropbox also has a program that allows you to get free extra storage.  By getting your friends to use Dropbox, you can earn free space - up to 8GB of free space.  Try it out and invite some friends.




What if  you need to receive items from someone?  There is also a program that works along with Dropbox to allow people to send you files, even if they don't have a Dropbox account.  It is called AirDropper.  It allows Dropbox users to send an email request to the other person with a link to upload the file.  That person then uploads the file into your Dropbox folder.  Pretty nice when you are asking for a file that is too large to attach to e-mail.

I would suggest that you give Dropbox a try and pair it along with AirDropper to make your file-sharing experience a little less painful.