Its simplicity has made it one of the most popular online services in recent years. But what makes Dropbox even more powerful are the third-party apps available that extend its usage. For instance, some online bookstores deliver purchases right to your connected Dropbox account giving you access to your books on all your devices: phone, tablet, desktop, etc. The bookstores use an app to connect to your Dropbox folder and deliver the goods.
Dropbox is also continually adding new features.
Many in my family don't use Facebook, so sharing timely pictures can be a challenge (in other words, extra work!). I've started using Dropbox's picture sharing features to email links to photo albums to family members. Often my pictures are sent as soon as I've taken them. The recipients aren't required to have a Dropbox account to view my photos. Dropbox creates a unique, private link. Unless someone has that link, they won't be able to see my shared photos.
This feature comes in handy in sharing pictures directly from my phone to those who don't use social media. I use the Dropbox app on my Android phone to select which pictures I want to send and select email as the method of sharing. My email receipts receive a link to a page that displays all the pictures I selected.
In two seconds I've shared a photo album of new pictures without using social media, no uploading of image files to a computer and no need to ask anyone to sign up for yet another online photo sharing service. Photo sharing with no hassles or strings attached.
If you use Dropbox and need more space, check out this article: How to Get More Free Space from Dropbox
Here's a look at a few more Dropbox apps that extend its capabilities:
Email Files Directly To Your Dropbox
Send To Dropbox is a free service that gives you a special email address. Send any attachments to your designated email address and they are automatically saved to Dropbox.
The files are stored in new folder aptly named "Attachments" which is under the Apps folder in your Dropbox. You can set up subfolders based on the email subject or date (options pictured above) for better organization.
I find this one handy when people send me attachments I need to save, especially when away from the office. If I can forward an email attachment for saving and move an email out of my inbox from my phone when waiting for an oil change, it's less for me to do when I'm back at the office.
http://sendtodropbox.com
Dropbox Automator
This app can perform a number of automated tasks based on what you save in your Dropbox. Here is the current feature list
- Covert to PDF
- PDF to TXT
- Upload to Google Drive
- Send to your Kindle
- Upload to Slideshare
- Sign PDF (electronic signature)
- Convert eBook
- Upload to Facebook
- Upload to Flickr
- Upload to Google+
- Convert image
I'm sure you're wondering how it works. This setup video may shed some light:
http://wappwolf.com/dropboxautomator
DropVox
DropVox is a cool iOS app that records audio and saves it on your Dropbox. If you've used personal voice recorders in the past to capture ideas, reminders, then you understand how useful this is. I like to use voice recorders when traveling, especially after important meetings. I can summarize the meeting and my thoughts while en route, and when I arrive home I have a complete reference to use for action items or follow up.
The beauty of DropVox is that recordings are already on my desktop when I get home thanks to the Dropbox sync. Also, having recording available across all devices is very handy. I may get an idea and have the impulse to listen to a recording and take notes on my iPad while sitting in my garden. I can do so without having to move files around and losing a step. In the past, such inspiration would be snuffed out after realizing a file I want to use is on my desktop, then having to get up, go to my office, fire it up the computer, copy files and return to where I was. That's why I appreciate tools like DropVox.
Unfortunately, this app is only available for iOS devices at this time:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropvox-record-voice-memos/id416288287?mt=8
DropItTo.Me
Dropbox has sending to those who don't have an account covered, but what about receiving files? DropItToMe allows anyone to upload file to your Dropbox, even if they don't have a Dropbox account.
Once you sign up for DropItToMe, you're assigned a custom link made from your username, http://www.dropitto.me/username. You also need to choose a special password that will allow others to upload using your link.
Just give anyone your custom link and the upload password and they are free to send files to your Dropbox. DropItToMe is free but there is a limit of 75MB on file uploads.
http://www.dropitto.me
Run Multiple Dropbox Accounts At Once
Dropbox doesn't allow anyone to use more than one account simultaneously. If they did, you could get more free space by signing up for additional accounts. However, there are legitimate reasons to access more than one account at the same time. For example, I support clients who have corporate Dropbox accounts. Often I need to create shared folders to store content that requires more space than my personal account will support.
I usually just use the web interface to deal with this issue, which is not very convenient. There are a couple tools available that can help deal with this problem. There's one is for Windows and another for Macs:
- Windows: DropboxPortableAHK allows you to run multiple versions of a portable Dropbox app that can link to another account: http://nionsoftware.com/dbpahk/instructions
- Mac: Dropbox Encore can run a second instance of Dropbox on a single Mac OS X account: http://www.joyofmacs.com/software/dropboxencore/
Getting these to work properly may take some tweaking. Read up on the instructions and make sure you're up for the install before downloading.
IFTTT
IFTTT (If This Then That) is one of my favorite automation services. It can automate some of the tasks already mentioned in this article: saving email attachments to Dropbox, converting and sending files, saving social media photos.
The power of IFTTT is the number of services (called "channels") it supports.
So what can IFTTT do with Dropbox? Look at the all the channels above and use your imagination!
When you connect two or more channels and define how they interact, it's called a "recipe." To get you going on what you can do with IFTTT and Dropbox, here are some sample recipes submitted by users:
https://ifttt.com/recipes/search?q=dropbox
With any cloud service, be careful what you store, especially if you connect some of these apps. Don't rely on cloud services to store important files and limit your sharing to non-sensitive information. It may not be wise not to trust it for business or backing up critical information. That said, Dropbox is still a convenient, timesaving, productivity tool that you can take advantage of.
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