Dropbox – A beginner’s guide – What is Dropbox and How to use it

Dropbox is the simplest, yet, most powerful file backup and sharing service. Anyone can use it without any special knowledge of computers or internet. Dropbox helps in handling and sharing large files/documents. You can have a total of 2GB storage in your single account with Dropbox. Here is a short guide that shows how to use Dropbox.  

To get started with Dropbox, download Dropbox from its website http://www.dropbox.com .

After downloading, install the downloaded utility. If you do not have an active account in Dropbox, you’ll need to create one.

After completing the installation and account related formalities, you are ready to use Dropbox.

Now you can see the Dropbox icon in the right-side tray of taskbar as well as on your Desktop as a shortcut.. To upload a file, click on that icon and select the option Open Dropbox Folder. Alternatively, you may click on the Dropbox shortcut icon from the desktop to open Dropbox folder.

By default, there are Total Three folders available. First is Music, Second is Photos, and the third is Public.

Here, the contents of the folders Music and Photos are not visible by anyone on the internet. These folders can be accessed from the website of Dropbox by the user, or can be seen on your computer system. You can add your photographs and music to the relevant folders.

The Third folder – Public, is the most important feature of Dropbox. The contents of this folder are accessible for everyone, provided, he/she has a public link of the file. If you want to share file with others, you should add these files in this folder.

 

How to add files in Dropbox:

Copy the file from its original location.

Go to your Dropbox folder from the icon in the side-tray in taskbar.

Paste the file, according to its usage and privacy factors. If you want to share it, you should add the file only in the Public folder.

If you want to share an entire folder under Public folder, make a .zip or .rar file of that folder and after having a .zip or .rar file, copy it to the public folder.

After pasting your content in the public folder, it will take some time to generate and use the public link of individual file. The time is depended on the size of file, as well as, upload speed of your internet connection.

At the time of uploading, you can see a small blue sync icon that shows that the file is being uploaded.

As the file is uploaded 100%, the icon turns Green. 

Right click on the relevant file, select Dropbox option, and select Copy the Public Link.

Now, the public link of the file is copied. You can paste it anywhere in E-mail, chat message or anywhere you want to.

If you are giving the public ink to your friend, he just has to click on the public link, and the file will start downloading.

Advantages of Dropbox :

With the help of Dropbox, you can synchronize the contents between your devices like mobile phone, laptop and a Desktop PC, without any physical cable connection between devices.

Moreover, you can share the content with anywhere you want. 

Large attachments/files are not supported by most of the E mail services. You can upload it via Dropbox, and can paste the link of the file/s in the email. The recipients of email can download it with a single click-without any hassle.

You can run a small website by hosting the contents on Dropbox.

You can use any font as a web-font with the help of Dropbox.

Dropbox mobile apps are available for iOS as well as Android devices.

Standard Dropbox apps are available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you have any query / Suggestion, please feel free to contact me.