Dropbox. It’s a great cloud-based storage service. You can backup, copy or sync your files to it; you can also share folders & files with someone else. A basic Dropbox plan comes with 2GB free storage, which really is not a lot but it’s great for sharing files temporarily.
Options for Shared Folders
What if you want to share a folder with someone else? There are a couple of options for folder or file sharing. But please be aware that shared folders count against the recipient’s storage space. If they do not have enough available storage in their account they will not have access to that folder.
Dropbox storage is calculated by adding the total amount of data in your Dropbox account. This includes all shared folders you are a member of and all files collected from file requests. For example, if you have a Dropbox Basic account, and you’ve used 1.5 GB of that space, you can’t accept a shared folder larger than .5 GB. So, what are your options?
If you need to view shared files that are larger than the remaining space in your account, you can:
- Ask the person who invited you to send a shared link to the folder instead
- Upgrade to Dropbox Plus or Professional
How to Share a Link
Links shared with you don’t take up space in your account, and you can download those files to your computer. If you download a file from a shared link, you can edit your downloaded copy. However, your edits won’t sync with the original file that was shared with you.
How to Share a Link from your Phone or Tablet
- Open the Dropbox folder on your computer.
- Right-click the file or folder you’d like to share.
- Click Share.
- If a link hasn’t been created, click Create a link.
- If a link was already created, click Copy link.
- The link will be copied to your clipboard. You can then paste it to an email, message, or wherever people can access it.
How to Share a Link from your Phone or Tablet
- Navigate to the file or folder you want to share.
- Tap “…” (ellipsis).
- Tap Share.
- Tap Create a link.
- If a link was already shared to this file or folder, tap Share next to Anyone with the link can view.
- Select the way you’d like to share the link from the options.
Do I need a Dropbox Account if I do not have an Account?
No, you definitely do need need to have an account to view shared files or folders. This will give you
Alternatives to Dropbox
There are other alternatives to Dropbox which includes Microsoft OneDrive, Box, Sync, and Google Drive. I’ll discuss those in future articles.