Dropbox is a great service for backing up and sharing files, not used too much, a bit because it is not too well known and advertised and a little because there is no lack of similar alternatives. But DropBox lends itself to many uses and consumptions:
- It is possible to upload files and synchronize them between different computers so that they are always the same;
- You can create a repository of images and files for blogs and forums because each of them has its own unique and unchangeable link;
- You can make an online backup of important files so that you can recover them at any time
- You can share files with other people.
About this last feature, let's see here how you can receive files from other people on your Dropbox account .
If you need to receive a file, without having others subscribe to DropBox, they can use some online services that allow you to upload files to your Dropbox space .
It is a convenient alternative to sending attachments whereby any person can upload one or more file files to our Dropbox account, so that they are saved in a special folder of their choice.
These files can be sent via email or directly from the web browser.
UPDATE : Dropbox has implemented a new feature to make it easier for those who don't have an account to share important files with those who have a Dropbox account instead.
You make a request to send files to another person (who may not even have a Dropbox account) and who will use the link received from us to send us files that we will find saved in our cloud data archive.
This function becomes very convenient to request the sending of documents or photos by other people who will find the convenience of uploading them directly to our Dropbox without having to attach these files in an email.
A further advantage is that it is possible to send different files even at different times and to receive files from different people, which are automatically saved in the same location.
To use Dropbox "file requests" you need to open the Dropbox.com website, log in with the login and find the function in the left menu " File Requests ".
From here, you can view the requests already sent to see how many files have been received in each folder and you can add a new file request by specifying in which folder to receive them.
To send a file via Email, in Dropbox, and therefore also on your pc, you can use these services:
1) First of all, you can, with an extension, send and upload Dropbox files with Gmail
2) A secure and different type of online service is that of DropItTo because, instead of using the sending via Email, it allows anyone to upload files via the web to a DropBox account, only if they know the password.
During the registration procedure, in fact, you must specify both your own password to access the service and a password that must be communicated to the people from whom you intend to receive files.
In the end you get a link like //www.dropitto.me/pomhey from which, if you know the password, you can upload files to my Dropbox online space.
The limit is 75 MB which appears to be an internal threshold in Dropbox.
3) Send to Dropbox is a service that allows anyone to upload files to a Dropbox account via email from any computer .
After authorizing the service access to Dropbox with the wizard, a new Email address will be assigned which can be used to receive files.
All email attachments sent to that address will be uploaded to the corresponding Dropbox account .
You can configure the folder in which the received files will be saved and there are some options to automatically extract the .zip archives.
Compared to other similar services, this SendToDropbox does not require you to install a Dropbox client or any other software to use it.
This allows you to quickly receive files on Dropbox and send them from any public computer, without having to do any configuration.
SendtoDropbox could be used in communion with Email services which allow the sending of large files even if, I believe, there is a limit of 100MB.
4) The DBInbox web app is also excellent, allowing anonymous uploading of files to a Dropbox account.
Before using it, you need to connect the service to your Dropbox account by indicating the username on the page box.
After giving authorization, a new folder called dbinbox is created in Dropbox which will be used to save all the files received through the service.
In addition to sending files, you can also receive messages in text files.
This DBInbox is ideal for uploading files to Dropbox from a computer not ours, without logging into your account or if you want to receive a large file from a friend.
5) Without using external services, you can upload files to DropBox from Gmail or Hotmail with the Mail Attachment Download program.
You need to create a new Gmail mail account, install the program on your computer, and set DropBox as the destination folder.
By sending files attached to the new email address, they will be uploaded to Dropbox.
Clearly, receiving files and attachments via Email is more immediate and simpler, however, it must be considered that some email accounts, which are not Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail, may have limits on the maximum size of archived files.
In addition, with Dropbox it is possible to start an automatic synchronization so that all sent files can be received directly on your PC without the need for manual intervention.
To find out more, I recommend the article I wrote some time ago on the DropBox virtual hard disk.
