Last year I wrote about my fondness for the online organizational tool Evernote.  I had planned to write about Dropbox later…and later is today 🙂  Dropbox is an online file storage and syncing service.  Dropbox is easy to use and free!  I’m guessing that 75% of my blog readers already use Dropbox, but if you aren’t you should really consider setting it up.

Let me quickly tell you the biggest benefit of Dropbox.  I have three computers that I use on a regular basis, plus an iPad, and an iPhone.  With Dropbox installed on each machine I am able to have access to my most important files on every machine where ever I am.  Yesterday I was updating a spreadsheet on my Mac in the office then while at home someone called needing some info from the spreadsheet.  I opened the file from Dropbox on my iPhone and had the answer for them in 15 seconds. I didn’t have to whip out my Mac or carry files around on a thumb drive, the files followed me and were available when I needed them.

Another big benefit of Dropbox is free offsite storage.  You start off with 2gb of storage which is more than enough space for all of the documents that a standard user might have.  If you haven’t been doing offsite backups of your computer then Dropbox is a dead simple way to start today.  Dropbox is secure, especially since they have added a two-step verification option.

Dropbox is also a great tool for collaborating with others on big projects.  Let me walk you through an example.  I created a folder for our summer session of church camp in Dropbox and loaded all of the files into that folder.  I then right-clicked on the folder and in the Dropbox portion of the menu I selected “Share folder…”  This brings up a dialog box from Dropbox where I can enter the email addresses of the people I want to invite.  As soon as those people accept the invite, we all have access to my folder of files.  They can add and edit files in the folder.  It is a great collaboration tool.  Sharing folders on Dropbox is also a great way to send large files that can’t be attached to emails. As a bonus, all files are encrypted when uploaded to Dropbox and then downloaded via an HTTPS connection, so it is very secure.

Where ever I find myself for the day, if I have a signal for my iPhone I can access and share my most important documents and data.  Dropbox starts you off with a free 2gb of storage space but you can earn more free space.  One of the quickest ways is using the camera sync option after you have installed Dropbox on your computer.  When you plug in a digital camera (or phone with a camera) a dialog box from Dropbox will pop up offering to sync your files.  If you allow it, Dropbox will automatically export all the photos on your camera (up to 3gb) into your Dropbox folder.  Once it is done you can leave the photos or you can delete them and enjoy the additional 3gb of storage space you received for free.  You can also earn an additional 500mb of free space when you refer friends.  (Use this link to sign up for Dropbox so I can get some free space.)

Dropbox is not a new service, it has been around for several years now.  The time has given them a good chance to work out any bugs and security issues.  This is a great tool if you are looking for an easy way to access your info where ever you are, need a simple way to backup important files, or need to collaborate with other people on projects.  Technology is pretty cool!  If you’re looking to take it further, this article from Macworld – “62 Things You Can Do With Dropbox” – has some cool ideas.

(Note: I am not being compensated by Dropbox, unless you use the referral link above.  I just really enjoy the service and wanted to share some information about it.)

Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a great weekend.  if you found this article helpful would you share it using the buttons below?