One month down in 2025: How are your resolutions coming along? Check out how to get back on track here.
Dropbox Basic: Learn the Basics
If you are reading this, chances are you are new to Dropbox. Welcome! Many of us begin our Dropbox journey with a Basic Account, which has so many perks, and of course, it is free! The basics of your Basic account: Users and Space The Dropbox Basic account allows for 1 user. This means you are the only person that can use this account. But don’t worry, one user doesn’t just mean one device - you can have 3 different devices connected to your Dropbox account. I connected my dropbox account to my phone, tablet, and laptop. When I was in Ghana, I was able to access all of my files from my phone, and to upload some photos. Want to learn more about connecting your mobile devices? Discover how to make the most of your mobile access to Dropbox. Using your Dropbox Basic account: So to get started, you can upload almost any file type to your Dropbox account and keep your important files safe! Whether it’s music files, pictures, media, documents, simply upload and you can access your files anytime, anywhere! With a Dropbox Basic plan you have 2GB of space to use. And of course, we keep your files safe! Dropbox uses multi-factor authentication to ensure that all of your files are secure. Check out how Dropbox uses encryption to provide security for your files. When I received my first multi-factor message I said to myself, “Come on Safety”. Dropbox Basic tools you might not know about: The tools within Dropbox are the real secret sauce. Here are some Dropbox features and products you might not know about, check them out below and find out if they can help you to make plans, organize files and save time! Dropbox Paper is a collaboration tool with endless possibilities! Charts, headings and formatting is made easy with one click, LITERALLY. This program is great for creating proposals, project plans and just quickly taking notes. The best part of it is that it takes up very little space in your Dropbox account. Trust me, I make paper docs for all of my todo lists, to plan family trips and to organize any personal projects. Paper has truly become one of my favorite products to use. HelloSign allows you to send 3 documents for eSignature per month. In the digital world we live in, this is a perfect way to get a signature from someone you may not see in person. Explore HelloSign, a simple and easy way to get documents signed securely online. I recently needed a contractor to sign a document that I drafted to fix my home and the document was signed and sent back to me within minutes. And of course, the signed docs are safe and secure too! Dropbox Capture is a tool used to Capture the attention of the person you‘re chatting to. With Capture you can share your thoughts with screenshots, GIFs, or simple videos recorded right on your screen. The upside is that you can clearly say what you mean without scheduling another meeting. Learn more about how to use Dropbox Capture. Having a Dropbox Basic account is more than just a space to store your information. Use Dropbox to manage and organize your files, whether it’s for a project, sharing memories or connecting with others. 😁 Will you use these tips to make the most of your Dropbox Basic account?
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!Notifications: calm or chaos? Tell us how you prefer to manage them
You know us, we are big fans of collaboration, but every now and then, we stumble across a topic that totally derails a meeting. While on a call, we noticed that someone on the team is walking around with over 94 unread texts, 50+ Slack notifications and a whopping 67,722 unread emails. We’re not going to name names though but when I picked myself up from the floor, it sparked a serious debate on our team and we came to the conclusion that there are two kinds of people, those who thrive in notification calm, and those who live for notification chaos - which one are you? In the interest of honesty, I am a firm believer that a clear notification screen is the only way. I avidly unsubscribe from emails I don’t want to see, I mark messages as unread so I can get back to them if needs be but I like to start my day with a clean slate. Our own Emma is a bigger fan of a well managed to-do list in Dropbox Paper, and you can read all about that right here. While it might make some people’s skin crawl, that means she can let her notifications pile up. I’m not convinced, but it works for her! To augment this ever fluid list, she’s a big fan of the Paper roundup emails and Dash to keep her on track with the many docs doing the rounds at any one time. To quote Emma herself on this, “every so often I'll clear them, but I have yet to miss anything with my chaos”. I also like how Drew (the CEO of Dropbox) has an OPP folder, which translates to other people’s priorities (or problems!)) to help manage those email notifications and understand what needs action on his part. You don’t have to take my word for it, check it out here. So, we want to know - how do you manage your notifications? Clear them? Keep them? Outright ignore them? Tell us in the comments below!Things you can do with Dropbox Paper
1. Holding brainstorms You’ve likely participated in your fair share of brainstorms, but what happens when your team is scattered across three offices and three time zones? Paper is designed to help you grow ideas with others, even if everyone can’t meet in the same room. Your team can easily add photos and videos, jot down quick thoughts, and add comments in the margins. Collaborators can use emoji and stickers to show how they feel about each idea, making comments feel like conversations. It’s the creative space for a brainstorm in the convenience of a simple doc. 2. Taking meeting notes Sometimes you need a doc with a bit more structure than a free-wheeling brainstorm, like when you’re taking notes for a meeting. Here, Paper makes organization and quick formatting a snap. Start a bulleted or numbered list on the fly, or share the doc with colleagues if you need them to jump in. Easily add headings and subheadings, and Paper will smartly organize each section in a table of contents on the left. When the meeting’s over, you can group the most important items in a table for quick reference, or add highlights to emphasize a few key lines—perfect for co-workers who missed the team sync. Discover more things you can do with Paper on our blog!Conquer 2023 - here's how Dropbox can help you kickstart your year
Now that the dust has settled on the holidays, it’s time to start thinking about the year ahead. We’re big fans of January here on the Dropbox Community Forum, it’s a great time for change, new beginnings, thinking big and getting excited for the upcoming year! We’re sure most of you already have some sort of New Year’s plans in place — whether it’s a simple resolution, a big lifetime event, goals that you’ve set, or a plan for full global domination. Whatever way you plan to grab 2023 by the horns, we’re pretty sure you’ll be able to use Dropbox to help keep your plans organized and on-track. Here are a few ways you could kickstart your year with Dropbox. Get more organized in work Personally, I want to try to organize my work day a little better and keep on top of all of my to-dos with military precision this year. I’ll be using Dropbox Paper to help me with this. Every week, I’ll create a new grid, with a column for every day of the week. Each of these columns will then have 3 rows, one for morning, one for afternoon and one for evening. Here, I’ll be making lists of everything I’ll be working on throughout the day and arranging it, depending on priority, into different days and times. This will allow me to organize my weekly workflow and make sure I keep on top of everything, from the mundane daily tasks to the big important projects. Below my weekly grid, I’ll have 2 lists, my to-dos and my deadlines. The to-dos will be for actions I take away from meetings or anything else that pops up that’s not in my normal workflow and could otherwise go under the radar. My deadlines will be for anything at all that’s time dependent, whether it’s attending a meeting, submitting a report or finishing up a project. Then, at the end of the week, I can collapse it down and move onto the next week, leaving me with a pretty substantial record of what I’ve been working on at any given time. Moving house Moving house is a pretty stressful experience at the best of times, add a really competitive rental market and record high rent prices (like we’re currently experiencing here in Dublin) into the mix and it gets even worse. One way to try and make this a little easier is by renting a property with a couple of housemates, but to do this takes a lot of cooperation and synchronization. If you see a house you want, you need to be ready to move on it straight away and there are a lot of documents you need to have at hand to help get ahead of the competition. You’ll need passports, payslips, references, contact details and anything else a landlord may ask for. A shared folder on Dropbox means that you and all your potential housemates can have all of these things saved in one place, with easy access, so you’re always ready to make the first move after a property viewing. You can see more of how Amy, our very own Community legend, used Dropbox when moving a couple of years ago here. Get your study on If you’re a student or planning to return to education in 2023, having all your files, study notes and assignments saved in a secure and accessible place is really important. It will make your student life a whole lot easier if you know you can pull up a document, save some notes or get a reading done on the go, no matter whether you have your PC, laptop, tablet or phone. Group projects are another challenging part of life as a student. With shared Paper docs you can make sure your entire team have access to the exact same information at all times, so there’s no excuse for the lazy one, and there’s always one. Document history will even ensure you never need to worry about anyone “accidentally” deleting their work. Find out more about how our very own Alex used Dropbox in school here. Plan a trip For me, part of the beauty of January is planning a trip. Whether it’s a short city break or a longer trip somewhere sunny (we don’t see too much of the sun in Dublin), I always organize a trip away at the start of the year. It gives me something to look forward to and can be great motivation for some of the other goals I set myself. There are a million ways to use Dropbox when planning a trip, whether it’s a list of what to pack, making an itinerary or documenting all the photos you take, you can do it all with Dropbox. If you’re planning a trip with a group, a shared Paper doc is an ideal way to make sure everyone has all the information they need. Flight times, hotel name, restaurant recommendations, anything that’s important, simply add it to the doc and everyone will be able to find it when they need it. You’ll enjoy yourself a lot more, when you know everyone’s on the same page. See how Dropbox’s @Susan meticulously plans her trips here. Whatever your plans for the year ahead may be, we really hope you get everything done and smash your goals. If you plan to use Dropbox to help, or if you’ve found it helpful with any plans you’ve made before, we’d love to hear about them so please let us know below!Get summer ready with Dropbox Basic
It’s getting a little warmer, there are flowers blooming and buds on the trees, and as nice as spring is, it means summer is just around the corner. We all know that summer is as good as you make it, so putting the work in now means you can enjoy every minute. We’re not talking about putting in hours at the gym, we’re talking about getting organized so you can relax and enjoy. Your Dropbox Basic account might be more powerful than you think for making your summer unforgettable. Use Dropbox for your Travel documents: If you are travelling this summer, one thing we know that can help take the stress out of planning is having digital copies of all of your documents. Whether it’s your passport, your booking confirmation for a car or hotel, tickets to events - your info can be as mobile as you are. Check out how to use Dropbox on your mobile devices here. And don’t worry, if you don’t have a digital copy you can use the Dropbox Scanner App to copy in your physical copies too. Create To-do lists with Dropbox Paper: Dropbox Paper files take up very minimal space in your Dropbox Basic account, so make Paper work for you. If you have a list of attractions, places or events you want to get to this summer, make a to-do list with links and info in advance. And if you’re really organized, you can even link the maps to some of those spots too. And, don’t forget, Paper is a collaborative tool so you can make joint planning docs for you and your friends - so you don’t have to be in charge of every details, but you know things will get done. Make the most of Dropbox Passwords: We’re here to sing the praises of Dropbox Passwords once again, because nothing is more annoying than setting up a movie night with friends and forgetting the logins for all your streaming services. Dropbox Passwords allows you to seamlessly sign in to websites and apps by storing your passwords securely. It safely stores your usernames and passwords on all your devices — so you don’t have to keep them all in your head. Everything is seamless with Dropbox Passwords: Create secure, strong passwords that sync across your devices Lock the Passwords app automatically after inactivity or whenever your device is locked Unlock the Passwords app with Face ID or Touch ID on your iOS devices or fingerprint scanner on your Android device Summer project progress photos: It’s easy to get so busy that you can lose track of time, and forget to take a moment to appreciate your work. So if you’re planning some summer projects, why not take a weekly photo and upload it to a Dropbox folder to track your progress? ConF2_0, a Community member mentioned here that she used Dropbox to save photos of her garden to track how well her plants and crops were growing, which I now do myself! So, whether it’s a DIY project, a garden, or even a new pet that’s growing rapidly, you can track the progress, remember the early days and see how far you’ve come. So - how are you going to use Dropbox to make your summer amazing?
