By now, most of us have used dropbox to sync and share files with others. In this post, I want to share with you five things you can do with Dropbox that you may not be aware of. Most of the tips I am going to share will require you to login to the web based version of Dropbox. To sign-in to the website, use the username and password you signed up with when joining DropBox.
The best first step is to install DropBox at home if you haven't already. That way you can keep all of your files between work and home synced. I find that using DropBox at work and home means I never have to carry around a flash drive.
A free dropbox account comes with 2 GB of storage. But after using the service for a year or more, you may be discovering that you are running out of room in your Dropbox. Luckily, there are ways to increase your space for free. First, you can share Dropbox with others. After signing in, you will see a "Get More Space" link at the top of the web page. If you click on the link, you will see instructions for sharing DropBox with others. Each person who joins earns you an extra 500mb. They also have a new photo upload feature in beta which can also earn you more space. You can read about this feature and how it can earn you more space at https://www.dropbox.com/help/287.
DropBox can also be used as an inbox for student assignments. Students can turn in assignments to you even if they don't have Dropbox. If you go to http://dropitto.me/ you can sign up for a free account. This allows students to send things to your Dropbox account and saves the hassle and waste of printing out assignments.
You can also use the service to share large files. Many email programs limit the size of an attachment, but Dropbox allows you to share any file with one simple link. There are two ways to obtain the link. The first is to login to the website and click on the file you want to share. You will see a link icon appear at the right. Or you can right-click on a file in your desktop folder and click on the Dropbox option. Then choose "Get Link." Now that you have a link to the file, you can email the link to another person and they will be able to download the file.
Finally, you can always restore a file that was accidentally deleted. In your account just click on the trash can icon to see a list of deleted files. You can restore any file in this list to your Dropbox folder.
I hope these tips help you get more use out of Dropbox.
