One month down in 2025: How are your resolutions coming along? Check out how to get back on track here.
Understanding A, B, C, and D Drives: What They Mean and How They’re Used
Hey there, it's Theresa here 👋. You might see me around the Community, popping into different threads and joining conversations and I often notice users looking for the best ways to manage their storage effectively 🚀. By default, Dropbox saves files on your computer’s internal drive, typically the C: drive 👨💻. But sometimes, you need a little extra space, and the D: drive can be a great alternative. It helps free up valuable room on your primary drive while still giving you seamless access to your important files. If you want to learn more about setting up Dropbox on an external drive, check out this guide. But what about those other drives? The ones labeled A: and B:? Why don’t modern computers use them? And what exactly does the C: drive do? Let’s take a nostalgic and practical dive into the world of drive letters and what they mean in computing 💻. A: and B: Drives Ah, the A: and B: drives - ancient relics of computing! Back in the day, these drives were the VIP section for floppy disks, the original storage superheroes of the 80s and 90s. For those lucky enough to have never experienced floppy disks, let me explain: they were small, portable, and could hold a whopping 1.44 MB to 2.88 MB of data. That’s right, an entire three documents …if you were lucky 💾. Modern computers no longer come with A: or B: drives, as the floppy disk has been banished to the land of obsolete tech alongside VHS tapes and Blockbuster memberships 📼. However, those letters are still reserved for these iconic disks, almost like a tribute to the O.G’s of storage - here, computers have to pay their respects to the ancestors too. C: Drive The C: drive is the most important and commonly used drive in a computer system. It is typically the main hard drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) that contains the operating system (like Windows), applications, and most of your files 💻. In modern Windows systems, the C: drive is like your default "everything" space. It’s where the system stores its most prized possessions, from system files to personal documents to that folder full of memes you forgot about. Installing Dropbox on your C: drive is a great way to store your cloud files locally on your computer while keeping them synced across all your devices. So, think of the C: drive as the top drawer of your desk: it holds all the stuff you need every day, the stuff you’ll probably need soon, and the stuff you just threw in there to deal with later. Keep it clean…or don’t - but either way, the C: drive is where it all goes down 👩💻. D: Drive The D: drive is the unsung hero stepping in when you need a little extra space. It’s like the spare room in your house, or that second closet where you shove everything when company’s coming over 🙊. The D: drive is typically assigned to secondary storage devices. This could be a second hard drive, an optical drive (AKA CD/DVD drives ..remember those?), or even a partition on the same physical hard drive as the C: drive. And let’s not forget its role as the go-to for removable storage like USB flash drives or external hard drives. (Hint: Set up Dropbox on you D: Drive for those "I’ll definitely organise this later" files) 👨💻. So, whether you're optimizing storage, decluttering your digital space, or just taking a trip down memory lane, it’s always good to know what’s going on behind the scenes 😉. And hey, if you ever need help managing your files, you know where to find me 👩💻. I’ll be around the Community, diving into conversations and helping out wherever I can. Got any storage tricks, you or even fun computer nostalgia to share 💾💿📼? Drop them in the comments.. I’d love to hear them!From Musicians to Beginners, There's a Community Just for You!
New to Dropbox or been around a while? Either way, there’s a spot for you here within the Dropbox Community ✨ We’ve got dedicated spaces where people with similar passions, professions, and goals come together to swap tips, tricks, and ideas 🤩. Let’s take a quick tour of our groups🚶♀️. Dropbox for Beginners Group New to Dropbox or just new to the Dropbox Community? Welcome 😁! The Dropbox for Beginners Group is where you’ll find all the advice you need to get started, from the basics of file storage to collaboration tips 👨💻. This is a supportive Community where no question is too basic, and everyone is eager to help. It’s the perfect place to get confident using Dropbox and to connect with others on the same journey 🙌. Photography Group For photographers who live for the perfect shot, this group is packed with people who “get it.” 😉 In the Photography Group, we exchange ideas on how to use Dropbox to manage, share, and backup high-resolution images with ease. It's a place to discuss editing workflows, storage tips, and strategies for getting the most out of your Dropbox space 💪. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, this is your Community for all things photography. Musicians Group Calling all rockstars, classical composers, and bedroom DJs! The Musicians Group is the spot where sound creators share how they use Dropbox for everything from file sharing to full-scale album production 😎. It's an ideal space for musicians to connect, learn new workflows, and discuss everything from collaboration techniques to file organization tips, so you can spend less time worrying about tech stuff and more time making music! Jump into these groups, say hello, and start exploring 👋. Whether you’re making music, capturing moments, editing videos, or just beginning your Dropbox journey, there’s a whole Community waiting to support you 🤗. And hey, if there's a group or space you'd love to see here, let us know, we're always open to ideas to make this Community even better for you 😃.
Updates Coming to the Folder Link Sharing Experience
Dropbox is moving to an updated shared link architecture where links are based on the content being shared rather than on the user doing the sharing. This new content-based link architecture is already in place for edit access links to folders and newly created links to files, and can be identified by the presence of an ‘rlkey’ parameter in the URL. Over the next few months, we’ll round out the shared link portfolio by bringing this new architecture to newly created view-only access folder links, or view folder links for short. With this transition we’re maintaining all the core functionality our users love about sharing with links, while making it even easier for content owners, collaborators, and team admins to manage their shared content easily and with confidence. Updates to Link Sharing Only Two Centralized Links per Item Securing your content and managing your shared links is now easier and simpler than ever. Basing links on the content being shared means there will never be more than one single edit and one single view link for each file or folder. Changing the settings on these links will universally apply to everyone with link access to that content. Because all collaborators on a piece of content share the same link, a change is that only content members with edit access are able to modify shared link settings or delete a shared link. URL Format Change Part of the new link architecture is the addition of an rlkey parameter. Query parameters are anything following “?” in a URL. It is this rlkey parameter which grants access to the content, and removing it will require visitors to sign in and request access. Visit this forum to read more about the new format, or this Help Center Article for details on forced downloads. Third Party Application Dependencies Due to the change in URL format you may notice some third party applications, websites, and custom programs that rely on pasting in a Dropbox link no longer function as expected. We have limited insight or influence on these third party use cases, but if you do experience issues, please contact Dropbox support or visit this community forum thread on this subject. Enhancing the Link Sharing Experience Quick, simple, stress-free file sharing is core to the Dropbox experience. Content-based links makes it even easier to share files securely and effortlessly in real-time, and we are excited to bring these benefits to all users across our full portfolio of shared links. If you have more questions, or find yourself needing support during this transition, please visit our Community Forums, reference our Help Center, or contact Dropbox Support.Product updates: edit photos and PDFs
Want to hear about one of the handiest Dropbox features I use regularly? Check out how easy it is to upload, edit, send, and sign PDFs in one place. No technical wizardry, no back-and-forth file conversions, and no additional software to install. New PDF editing features let you add text and more Not PDFs are ready to go, there's usually some info you need to add or edit, and now, editing them is as easy as click, click, click. We’ve added more tools to our new PDF editing feature so you can do more without changing programs. Now, within Dropbox, you can: Add text to documents: Insert descriptions, dates, notes etc., anywhere on a PDF and modify text font, color, size, and emphasis Page zoom: Adjust the page view for easier navigation These features are useful for managing work-related and personal documents. Our own team makes the most of editing PDFs to organize and consolidate receipts at home. Learn how to get started editing PDFs now. Edit PDFs on-the-go Need to make changes when you'er away from your desk? No worries, you can edit PDFs directly on your iPhone or Android device. Edit PDFs on iPhone: Add text or a signature to PDFs on your iPhone with the Dropbox mobile app. Edit PDFs on Android: The Dropbox smartphone app makes it easy to edit PDFs on your Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, or any other Android device. Work from wherever you are, without needing to switch between devices or apps to get things done. Automatically add watermarks to multiple files No one likes to have their work passed off as someone else’s - and now you can make sure it doesn’t happen to you with a few simple steps. Save time, ensure confidentiality, and protect your brand by applying a watermark automation to a new or existing folder. Then, every PDF and image added to the folder will be automatically watermarked. We’re big fans of automations that truly make life easier, and this one makes us very happy! To create an automation and learn more about watermarking, visit our automations page. I’m definitely excited about these updates, and will make serious use of the PDF editing tools on a regular basis! And you can check out how Lauren uses PDF editing to improve her workflow too! I’d love to know how you will make the most of these new features - tell us below!Use Movebot to transfer files from one Dropbox account to another
Moving files from one place to another can be time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. We mentioned before how you can use Movebot to transfer from a file storage tool over to Dropbox, and well, we realise you might need to transfer from one Dropbox account to another, without worrying about any files being forgotten in the process. Well, the good news is, Movebot can make that easy too! Migrating files from one Dropbox account to another: Migrating between Dropbox accounts is the same process as migrating from another tool to Dropbox, or from an on-premises file server to Dropbox, only difference is Dropbox will be both the source and destination platform in the migration. You can also migrate between Dropbox Personal accounts and Dropbox Business accounts. How to start the migration: If running a simple user to user migration, then Movebot’s simple migration wizard is perfect. You will just need to configure Dropbox and the source and destination, select your source folders and where you want to migrate them to on the destination and then kick it off. Don’t worry, we have the steps outlined below. First things first, you need to get set up. Navigate to admin.movebot.io and create an account, on completion you will be taken into Movebot’s dashboard. Create a new simple migration From the dropdown select Dropbox Personal or Dropbox Business from the list. You should receive a pop-up to provide Couchdrop access (Movebot’s parent company). Once it has successfully connected Save and Configure Destination. You can now map what folders you wish to migrate from your source to destination and where you would like to migrate these folders to in the destination. Once you’re happy with your selection then Save and Finalize. You can now provide the migration a name (optional) and then start the migration by selecting Save and Kickoff and you’re set! The migration will start and vary in time depending on how much data there is to transfer, but once it’s finished, you will receive an email or if you are following the migration as it happens, you will see a screen similar to the below showing that status of the migration. There you have it, a simple way to transfer all your files from one Dropbox account to another. We would love to hear how this would help you - tell us in the comments below how you use Dropbox, and any other tips you might want to know about.Dropbox Basic: work outside the box
If you work with more than one person, you more than likely have needed to share a document or file to work simultaneously or receive feedback. With your Dropbox Basic account, you collaborate with friends and family and work outside of the box. Even if they do not have an account, you can still collaborate with them! Dropbox has made it easy to share files with friends and collaborate on projects. Share files with friends and family I recently learned that you can share files from Dropbox with friends or family that do not have an account. When you share a file or folder using Dropbox, the recipient receives an email with a link to the file or folder. The recipient does not need a Dropbox account to view or edit it though. Just this past week, I shared a Paper document with my sorority sister, and she was able to view and edit the file without any issue. On the file was a to-do list for the both of us and we worked together on the document. Learn more about how to add to-do list to your paper document. You can also control whether people can edit or view your files and folders when you share them and even after you share them. Edits and comments that’s made to a shared file or folder are updated live for everyone they’ve been shared with. This allows for any changes to projects to be implemented right away and ensures everyone is on the same page. Ways to Collaborate Sharing files is usually top priority when working with others. With Dropbox apps and integrations, sharing, syncing and collaboration is made easy. Whether you are sharing a school project, presentation, bachelor trip details, or planning your 30th birthday party, it is likely that you will pass the file along to someone else for their input. As sad as this may seem, Summer vacation for students and teachers will be ending in about 1 month. The time will come during the school year where you will have to participate in the good ol’ school project. The conversation of how you will collaborate to ensure everyone is working together always comes up, and you can suggest using Dropbox. With your Dropbox account, you can collaborate with your school project team members that do not have a Dropbox account. You can use word processing applications such as G-Suite and Microsoft Office Online. Learn more about how to use these integrations. This will allow for an automatic sync after each team member contributes to the project. Your Dropbox account allows you to collaborate with multiple team members from multiple locations at one time. It’s a big year for celebrating! Gathering in large groups has finally become a norm since 2020. People have planned large parties and events to celebrate weddings and birthdays. To do this, you will likely collaborate with friends and family virtually. Don’t forget that you can use Dropbox Paper to create a guest-list, or a to-do list where you can tag the other party hosts. You can even create the invites with Dropbox’s Canva integration. The beauty of using your Dropbox account for tasks like this is that you can use 3 different applications and all users can access files in one place. Things to know when collaborating When collaborating on a file, Dropbox has features that allows the file to be shared and protected when multiple people are editing. Dropbox has collaboration tools for sharing work, and guards old documents by locking the file or creating a conflicted copy. Here are some tips and tricks you can use to collaborate. Create link: Create a link with Dropbox that allows you to easily share the files with friends and teammates. To create a link: Open the Dropbox folder in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac). Right-click or command-click the file or folder you'd like to share. Click Share…. If a link hasn't been created, click Create link. The link is copied to your clipboard. Create a to-do list: When saving, sharing and collaborating on files and folders, you can add a checkbox that becomes tasks for the people you are working with. When you or someone else with permission click a checkbox, the line of text next to it is crossed out with a strikethrough. Mention someone: To notify collaborators, click the @ icon. This allows you to insert the email address or name of someone in your Dropbox contacts. The person is notified by email and their Dropbox account shows that they have been tagged in a folder. This is a helpful and easy way to communicate asynchronously. Your Dropbox Basic account is a great way to work with family and friends. Leave a comment and tell us how you use Dropbox to collaborate with family and friends!Dropbox Basic: Let's Maximize Space
Try to think of your Dropbox cloud storage as a well organized bedroom. In order to maximize space, you want to be thoughtful about how you use each closet and section of the room. With your Dropbox Basic account you have 2 GB of storage. With this amount of storage its imperative that you are thoughtful about the files you save to your Dropbox account. If you know more about files sizes, you can make more informed decisions about which files you upload. In this article you will get a better understanding of how to maximize space with your Basic Dropbox account. What are the average file sizes of media we use daily? Images Many of use Dropbox to upload images, which come in several formats and sizes. These formats affect the amount of space the image may take up. Photos from our computers are usually in formats such as JPEG and PNG. This is great because these images often don’t take up as much space as larger format files. Image formatting (as in the space it takes up, not the dimensions of the photo itself) is based on resolution and quality of the pictures. I know this because I uploaded each type of image to my Dropbox Account and saw that the quality and difference in resolution affected the overall size. Larger pictures, such as raw camera footage (TIFF and BMP), should be converted to JPEG before uploading to your dropbox account. The rationale here is so that you save about 1000kB of space. Documents Documents overall take up the least amount of space. With your Basic account, you can save about 25,000 pages of word documents, depending on file size. If you use documents for planning and collaboration, I suggest you try using Dropbox Paper. Paper documents take up very little space on Dropbox. I would suggest placing homework assignments and projects that you may always need access to on your Dropbox account. I am currently working on creating my dissertation and have it saved on Dropbox - this document is super important to me and I need to ensure that I can access it from all of my devices. Media Files Video is the largest file format but that doesn’t mean you can’t store video files in your Dropbox Basic account. To make the video more compact you can use an online compressor, or, like I’ve done in the past, edit the videos to make them shorter. I have also experimented with changing the format of the video to reduce file size. Remember to treat your Dropbox like your well organized bedroom. You want to shrink larger items if you can and want to organize items that you know do not take up much space. I use my Dropbox account to hold my important documents, vacation photos and files from Dropbox Paper. Now that I know how much space each file takes up, I do my best to maximize my space. Let’s maximize our space by using the tips and tricks above - and if you have any other space saving tips, share them in the comments below!Dropbox Basic: Apps and Integrations
Have you toggled between several applications to maintain your virtual workspace, but you still feel disorganized? Your Dropbox account serves as a hub to hold all of the files and documents that you work with daily, no matter the platformused to create them. With your Basic Account, Dropbox makes it seamless for you to collaborate with any team member or friend using several different tools and software. As a new user to Dropbox, you should know that it will sync with applications that you are familiar with and may use daily. I use apps and integrations for organization of files, planning and to help with my personal life. Organization of Files Dropbox apps and integrations help with the organization of your personal files. When I think of organization for my virtual workspace, I consider labeled folders, storing various documents in one space, and being able to easily access any of my important files from multiple devices. I also consider how I can use the applications that I love with ease. There are applications and integration that help make the most of file organization, such as Dropbox for G-Suite, Dropbox for Microsoft Office, and Adobe. With Dropbox for G-Suite, you can create, edit, and share Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dropbox. This integration has saved me so much time because I no longer switch between multiple tools and instead create new Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly from Dropbox. Note: To use Dropbox for G Suite, the email you use for your Google account must match the email you use for your Dropbox account. Find out how to change your Dropbox email address. Similar to Dropbox for G-Suite, Dropbox for Microsoft Office allows automatic sync when working in the Dropbox application. Already use Microsoft Office Online, this integration will be great for you. If you feel like you are working in silo with Microsoft office, you could use Dropbox to help your team continuously collaborate. Easily access, edit, and share Office docs online in Dropbox. Learn more about working with Microsoft Office files from your Dropbox account. Use Adobe Acrobat to create, convert, edit, protect, sign and save changes to PDFs in Dropbox. Editing a PDF just became more of a seamless process with the Adobe and Dropbox. Planning Creating a strong plan and staying consistent with follow up is often the hardest part for me in the planning process. Planning has been made easy with Dropbox Paper. I’ve used Dropbox Paper to plan events, meetings and even project proposals. The beauty of planning with Dropbox Paper is the consistent formatting, collaboration tools and the useful templates that you can access. Learn more about the templates that you can access here. One of my personal favorite templates to use for planning, is the Project Proposal Template. This template gives you the best of several worlds. If your work is mostly built around meetings, tasks and presentations, here are some apps and integrations to help you. With the Dropbox integration for moday.com you can manage work, meet deadlines, and build a culture of accountability and inclusion for your team. Use Trello boards to plan your weekly tasks. I used Trello when I worked at a high school. On our Trello board, there were links to documents that lived on Dropbox, making it super easy to keep up with all the moving parts that went into the busy school day. Prezi is a great program used to create presentations. When Dropbox is linked to your Prezi account, you can upload files and pictures directly from Dropbox to the Prezi presentation. Personal Life I’ve made it a point to highlight how we can use our Dropbox basic accounts to organize and plan by using applications and integrations. Dropbox is also a useful tool in personal life. Stay on your personal schedule with the Google Calendar and Outlook integration. Never miss a doctor’s appointment again. Learn how to add these integrations to your workflow. Exercise your creativity and use Canva to create beautiful graphics from your content on Dropbox. I’ve used Canva to create flyers for game night, custom menus for dinner parties and even to spruce up my instagram post. Virtual education is now a new norm since Covid-19 has affected the world. Explain Everything Whiteboard is a Dropbox integration that allows you to create a virtual whiteboard for your Dropbox files. Create videos, teach, and collaborate on an infinite canvas. Zoom was my favorite application for video conferencing during and after the pandemic. Stay connected with friends and family virtually with Zoom video call and Slack messaging. Automate communication using Dropbox and other applications with Zappier. Zappier will allow you the ease of sending out communication to your team or friends automatically. Dropbox apps and integrations are used for creativity and to sync files quick and easy. In our self-guided learning library, you can explore Dropbox features at your pace. With an eye to your own work, you can pick and choose topics that help you best learn how to make the most of your Dropbox account.How to leave a Dropbox shared folder
You might have seen us talk a lot about sharing files and working together, but every now and then there comes a time when you need to leave a shared folder. It doesn’t have to be awkward, this isn’t a breakup. It’s probably just the end of a project, so here’s how to gracefully exit from a shared folder. (And don’t worry, much like a breakup, you can have some time to think about it too). How do I leave a Dropbox shared folder? To leave a Dropbox folder, you first need to make a choice, do you want to leave the folder forever? Want to temporarily remove a folder (with the option to add it back later) from your Dropbox account? Follow the steps below. When you sign in to dropbox.com, find the folder you want to leave and hover over the name and click "..." (ellipsis). Click Delete. But if you’re sure you’re sure, you can permanently remove the folder from your Dropbox account, by following these steps. Sign in to dropbox.com. Hover over the name of the folder you'd like to permanently remove and click the share icon (rectangle with an up arrow). Click [x] people have access. Click the dropdown next to your name. Click Remove my access. How can I get access to a deleted folder? If you mis-clicked or removed a folder accidentally, you will need to ask the owner of the shared folder to invite you again. If you’re doing a little off season spring cleaning, share your tips below!It’s time for real time editing, with Dropbox Paper
If you are collaborating with someone, whether it’s for work, school or a home project, teamwork is essential! Part of great teamwork is working efficiently and real time editing is key. Keep reading to learn how to make the most of real time editing! What is real time editing? The name is pretty self explanatory, but real time editing means that multiple team members can work on a single file simultaneously, and that any changes to that file update for every user, almost instantaneously. To make sure you and your team are on the same page, real time collaboration only works with online, cloud-based applications that allow any number of users to access and edit files synchronously from computers, tablets, or mobile devices. Our favorite has to be Dropbox Paper, so keep reading to learn how to edit in real time. Using Dropbox Paper for real time editing Not to repeat myself but I love Dropbox Paper. No, really, I LOVE Dropbox Paper, I have written about using Paper for personal uses and keeping yourself on track, but now we are looking at using Paper with other folks to make the most of your collaboration. First off, you can edit the text within your Paper doc at the same time as others, so if you’re working in a project for school or work, or just planning something together, you can work together in real time. That means you can ‘chat’ in the document without having to hop on a call. Or, you can work separately, at a time that suits you without having to email an updated version back and forth. Beyond simple text, you of course have the check lists and to-do lists that make Paper so useful! When working with others, it always helps to be clear on who’s in charge of what, and a check box and tagging feature makes that easy. As well as text and to-do lists, you can add so many different types of content to a document, so you can have all of your project materials in one place. Text files, to links, to checklists, even SoundCloud clips and YouTube videos. That means that you can see an entire project from start to finish in one place. Using real time editing with Dropbox Paper at a meeting When you do meet up in person, real time editing can be used to really make the most of your time together. Dropbox Paper has customizable agenda and meeting minutes templates. So, everyone starts on the same page and everyone can take notes in real time in the same place. No one gets stuck as the note taker - which means you can all pay attention and join in. You can also use Dropbox Paper to share the output of your meeting with a wider team - just share the doc with them, or tag then in it and they can join in. Real time editing with Microsoft Office and Google Docs files in Dropbox It’s not just Paper files that you can edit in real time with Dropbox. When you integrate your Dropbox account with Microsoft Office, you’ll also be able to edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files online, collaboratively. You can also collaborate on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly from Dropbox.com. So, even if you’re not as hardcore a Paper fan as me, (or you are but your team works on something else), you can make the most of real time edits too. Do you use collaborative documents? Share your favorite ways of working below, and we can share any extra tips we might have up our sleeves too!
