How to Get 1GB of Free Space in Your Dropbox

Click here to learn how. I downloaded the app, got the space, and then just deleted the app because I don't use it but I still get to keep the Dropbox space! Handy. I use Dropbox all the time. If you don't, you might want to consider it.

How I Use Dropbox - Sharing Files on a Team

Oftentimes it is very handy for a team of people to have access to all the same documents.  For example, our school board and elder board need to have the ability to access and change documents that are  synced in real time to all the other people on the team.  Dropbox is great for this.  There are other ways to accomplish this but Dropbox seems to be quite simple and easy to use.

Create a folder and put all the files in it that you want to share.

Once you have the files that you want to share in the folder, you simply right click (PC)/control click (Mac) on that folder and choose "Share This Folder".

That will take you to the Dropbox website where you can simply add the email addresses of the people you want to have access to that specific folder.  Once they accept they will have this folder added to their Dropbox folder and everyone will have access.

If you download and install Dropbox using this link, email me, and I'll give you a free copy of my jazz trio EP.  

How I Use Dropbox - Sharing Folders of Large Files

Sometimes you'll want to share a folder full of files all at once.  This is a feature that I just learned (thanks Robb) that I am finding very handy.

So let's say I wanted to share my jazz trio EP with someone.  I can't email a whole folder full of WAV files.  It's way too big.  Here is how you do it (this is for mac users, not sure how to do this on PC).

Going off of yesterday's post, create a folder in your Dropbox "Public folder" of the files that you want to share.

Then right click (PC)/control click (mac) on the folder that you want to share and choose, "Compress".

This will create a ".zip" file of all that information directly below the original folder.  Don't worry about what "zip" specifically means, other than it compresses this information in a way that allows you to easily share it.  Now that you have this ".zip" file in your Public folder of Dropbox you can simply right click (PC)/control click (mac) on that ".zip" file and "Copy Public Link" and paste that link in an email, text, IM, etc.

Questions?  Let me know.  This is one of the ways that I am going to use Dropbox quite a bit in the future.  Very handy and not bad for a free service.

**For the first five people who download and install Dropbox using this link, I will give you a free download of my jazz trio EP, Songs in a Minor Key.**

How I Use Dropbox - Sharing Large Files

One of the best things about Dropbox is having the ability to share files that are too big to email.   Emailing files to people is probably one of the most common ways to share files but oftentimes those files are too big to email and the email will get rejected.  Dropbox gives you a very easy way to share those files.

For example, I like to share MP3s, WAV, or PDF files (music files) and oftentimes those files are too big to email.  So to share these files I have to drag them into my "Public folder".   So you have to click on "Open Dropbox Folder" and then place the files you want to share in your "Public" folder.

Once the files that you want to share are in your "Public" folder you can simply right click(PC)/control click (mac) on the item and select the Dropbox menu that you will see.  It's the third choice in the picture below.

Once you click on the Dropbox in the menu above you will see the following choices.  You will want to select "Copy Public Link".

Once you click on that option the link is copied to your clipboard and you can simply paste it in an email, text message, instant message, etc.  This link will allow that person to download the file that you want to share.  It's really handy.  

Tomorrow I'll write about how to share huge folders full of multiple files.  

You can download Dropbox on all your devices and get a free 2GB account.

How I Use Dropbox - Photo Sharing

If you have a mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android, etc) and a computer you'll probably be wanting to use Dropbox.  It one of the best free apps out there.  I want to write a short series of post on how I use it.

Today we'll discuss Dropbox and the use of photographs.  Dropbox is a great way to sync all your photographs on all your devices and share folders of photographs for people to see.

This demo will be in reference to the Mac but I assume it is somewhat similar on the PC.

Once you sign up for your free account and install it on your computer you will see the Dropbox icon up in the top toolbar.  It's the small blue icon next to the twitter icon.

When you click on it, it will open your folder like this and you will choose the first option that says, "Open Dropbox Folder".  This is your main portal into your Dropbox files:

Once you open it, it will show you a simple Finder window to navigate all your files.  When you install Dropbox it defaults to giving you a "Public" folder and a "Photos" folder.  For today, we'll talk about the "Photos" folder.  (This picture show other folders that I have created in addition to "Public" and "Photos".)

You simply can click on the photos folder and drag and drop pictures into it or create folders within your Photos folder for better organization.  Right now I have two folders with some great pictures of my kids that I want available on all my devices.  

So now this arrangement will show up on all my devices in the Photos folder for quick viewing and sharing.  It's pretty slick.

If I wanted to share these photos publically as an album it's easy to send a link to view these photos.  You have to do this by going to your Dropbox account online.

So you go to Dropbox.com and login.  Once you do that you'll get a view like this:

You'll want to click on the Photos folder and then hover your cursor over the different albums that you have created.  When you do that you'll see and option on the right that comes from the down pointing arrow that gives you the option to click on "Gallery".  

Once you do that it takes you to a page that is created for public viewing and you can copy the URL to send out to anyone you want to have access to view those photos.  

There are tons of other ways to use Dropbox but this is one of the ways that I use it that I find most helpful.  You can download Dropbox for free here.  You get 2GB of space for free.