Zen Dropbox by Nicki
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with a product that you knew once you tried it you couldn’t live your life without, but I have. It’s called Dropbox, and if you’re not using it, I would just like to say – why not???
Let me break it down really simply.
One, it puts your stuff wherever you are. No, not physical stuff, but all those little files, photos, and documents that you use every day. The important stuff. The stuff that when you buy a new computer, you want to move over.
Aha!
Two, it saves old copies of your stuff. This is great because I’m certain I’m not the only person who forgot to Save As… when I took that old document or graphic file to make a slightly different copy of the original. Then you hit save and your changes…not gone with Dropbox!
Oooh…
Three, it’s free. 2 gigabytes, no charge. If you pass out your referral link and get other people to sign up as well you get rewarded with more space. If you want a ton more space, of course, you’re more than welcome to pay for it. But if not…
And finally…
Four – did I mention it puts your stuff wherever you are? I did mean where ever. At home on your desktop? Done. On your son’s laptop? Sure! Your iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry? Uh huh. Oh, and you’re at Grandma’s house sneaking in some writing during that sweet spot between Thanksgiving dinner and pie? Log on to Dropbox.com and get at your stuff there, too.
I love it. I use it every day I’m on a computer, no kidding.
I think by far my favorite feature is that it keeps a few old versions of the files I’m working on. I was working on an invitation for a work event once, and I always flatten my Photoshop files so it’s easier to email proofs back and forth to coworkers. Except instead of duplicating the file first, and saving the original, I saved the original, flattened the file, saved again…
Ohpoop.
I had changes to make and no way to make them without recreating the file, except…
At work we always work out of our Dropbox folder because our main file server is across town, and it’s very slow to access directly. Like molasses in the Arctic. Something tickled my mind. Didn’t Dropbox save old versions?
Yes and YES! I got the old file version back, my Photoshop PSD had layers, and five hours of recreating work was saved.
I’m glad there are products like this out there. It’s a pretty wonderful time to live, huh?
If you are using Dropbox, what’s your favorite feature or best Dropbox story?
