If you haven't tried Dropbox yet, you're in for a treat!
Dropbox is just one of many "cloud-based" or hosted storage services. I've tried many of these, but Dropbox is the slickest by far. What Dropbox does extremely well is "file-syncing" between multiple computers. You just sign up for a Dropbox account and install the Dropbox application on as many computers as you wish. From then on, any files that you save in your local Dropbox folder automatically upload to the Dropbox online storage service and then download automatically to the Dropbox folder on any other computers using your Dropbox account. This all happens quietly in the background. Really slick!
Did I mention Dropbox is FREE? An account with 2GB of online storage is free, and you can purchase up to 100GB more. In addition, you can increase your free storage space by 250mb for every friend that you refer to Dropbox.
Dropbox also is great for:
Online backup: Any time that a file is changed or deleted, Dropbox archives a "version" of the file, so you can undelete a file or roll back to a previous version at any time.
Shared folders: You can create special "shared folders" that allow you to collaborate on files with other Dropbox users.
File Sharing with non-Dropbox users: Need to send someone a large file that is too large to email? Just throw the file in your Dropbox "Public" folder, right-click or control-click on the file, and choose Dropbox > Copy Public Link. Then paste the link into an email. Done.
Web access to files: All of your Dropbox files can be accessed from any computer, anywhere through Dropbox.com. All you need is your Dropbox login.
Mobile file access: There are Dropbox apps for iPhone, iPad and Android so you can access your files on the go. In addition, certain mobile apps such as the awesome GoodReader integrate directly with Dropbox files.
InDesign-InCopy workflow: Dropbox can be used as a virtual server for a seamless InDesign-InCopy workflow.
I've been using Dropbox for a while now on a combination of Macs, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers, and just love it.
Full disclosure: If you follow the links to Dropbox from this blog and create a Dropbox account, I'll receive 250mb of bonus free storage space...but so will you.
@Keith: Thanks for a great and very inspiring blog!
ReplyDeleteNext ... Dropbox is a great tool!
... but I have to mention that we have just launched Filecamp which is File Exchange, Digital Asset Management, Web-based Proof
+ some other pretty useful tools for creative businesses ... all combined in one very affordable solution.
You can try out Filecamp for free from our website: http://www.filecamp.net
Remember to write that you come from Keith's blog and I'll throw in some serius discount, if you decide to sign up!
Have a fantastic day!
Jesper
Filecamp.net
Could you tell me a little more about the dropbox indesign incopy setup? Is dropbox on a LAN server? How are you dealing with folks opening a file at the same time?
ReplyDelete@Reed: Anne-Marie talks a little bit about this workflow here: http://incopysecrets.com/?p=145p and also here: http://bit.ly/qPTP2x
ReplyDelete