You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
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!How have you used Dropbox lately?
So you might have seen our little exploration into how Dropboxers use Dropbox, from the small stuff like online games and to do lists, right up to the big stuff, like buying a home and sharing baby photos. In fact, I’ll be back soon to share how I recently used Dropbox to take the pain out of planning a wedding (tips and tricks incoming). Great and all as it is to hear how we use Dropbox, we want to know how you use it! Day to day, big projects, sharing files with friends and family - we want to know about it. Share in the comments below, and if your tips are truly inspiring, who knows, you might even earn the Mighty Badge and the extra space that comes with it!Integrating Dropbox Paper with Dropbox
Paper is a Dropbox product, but what's the relationship between Paper and Dropbox itself? We're here to tell you! Here are the basics... Can I access my Paper docs from Dropbox? You can access Paper by clicking thePapertab on dropbox.com or by navigating topaper.dropbox.com. If you don't see a link for Paper and you use Dropbox Business, your team admin may have disabled Paper. Contactyour adminto discuss access to Paper. Can I access my Dropbox files in Paper? While you can’t directly access your Dropbox files in Paper, you can link or embed a file from your Dropbox directly in a doc (for example, an image or media file): 1. Click an empty line in your doc 2. Click the Dropbox icon 3. In the pop-up window, select the file you'd like to add to the doc. Do I need to be signed in to Dropbox to access Paper? Yes, you must be signed in to Dropbox to access Paper. If you aren’t signed in to Dropbox, you are prompted to sign in when you visit thePaperhomepage. Learn more about using Paper and Dropbox together here. How do you integrate Paper and Dropbox? Do you use both? If yes, how do you leverage both for your own work or to collaborate with your team?How we use Dropbox: Susan
You might have seen our recent post about using Dropbox to help to get the most from your vacation (and we hope you use that information!) and we are delighted to share some more tips from our own teammate, Susan. In this ‘How we use Dropbox’ Susan discusses how she keeps track of her documents and photos from start to finish, from creating a Dropbox folder to store important documents, to sharing files so everyone knows the plan for the trip. Before my trip: Before I set out on holiday, I like to create a Dropbox folder for my trip. In it, I keep important documents like flight confirmations, hotel information, passports, and visas. That way, during my trip when things can tend to get chaotic or busy, I have a go-to folder where I can access all my travel-related paperwork. I also use Dropbox Paper to create itineraries that include daily schedules and lists of restaurant recommendations. I share these files on Dropbox with any friends/family that are coming on the trip with me. During the trip: Depending on the plan for the day, I will sometimes tag my friends or family members in the Paper doc itinerary and just double check we’re on the same page about the plan for the day. It’s easier to get that information sorted before we leave the hotel so I either do it the night before or the morning of so that we don’t have a moment of stopping in the middle of a busy street and being the tourists everyone hates. After the trip: And then, once I return from my trip, I like to create a subfolder and move all the photos I took while on vacation into that subfolder. Doing this helps me stay organized and save all my vacation memories in one place. It also makes it really easy to share those photos with the people from the trip - even if they don’t have a dropbox account. I love these tips - especially the ones to avoid being a hated tourist! We want to know so drop your tips in the comments and who knows, we could share your tips here too! Looking for further inspiration? See how Vicker organizes team files or how Emmet uses Dropbox to organize photos - especially useful if you have lots of pictures from your vacation.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 workoutside 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: 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 howDropbox 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!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 we use Dropbox: Paul
We’re back with another edition of ‘How we use Dropbox’ and I have to say, I’m really excited about this one. You’ve heard us talk about working from home, and Dropbox is a remote first company but we recently for back into the office, now known as the Studio - and the super heroes that updated the space and got it ready to welcome us back includes Paul. Paul and the team tackled a mountain of work to make that a reality, and they used Dropbox to do it, so here are some of the ways they did that, in Paul’s own words. Once everyone was set up to work from home and we were starting to understand the new normal, we started planning the office 2.0. From October 2020 my team and I were working on the Dublin Studio Project. Throughout this project, we had multiple workshops, kicking off with a group session featuring some internal and external stakeholders to help define the look and feel of our studio. We also planned our furniture itinerary and planting strategy via a virtual Miro Board, which was integrated with Dropbox so we all had access to the most up to date files and could work collaboratively in realtime, and asynchronously too. Once the decisions were made, we then used Dropbox Paper to transfer this all of this information into tables where we could track orders and quantities etc. I love how easy it is to move things around in the tables on Dropbox Paper, and our external vendor was able to edit and comment on the table and let us know of any tweaks that need to be made. Then as the furniture arrived and we organized the new space, we were able to tick off the sections one by one until we were ready to open! A lot of our role requires helping employees feel safe when they are at work and creating content to convey our health and safety policies. For example have used a Dropbox Capture to create our mandatory fire marshall training. We’ve also used this tool to help create video content for region wide meetings. Capture is fast, intuitive and a really smooth way of creating great content. We know as much as the next person that too many process docs can lose you! We use Dropbox for so many things in the process of running the day to day - planning events, managing files, working with all the different teams who come in and out of the Dublin Studio and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Having seen the proof of all this excellent work, I have to say, I am Paul (and the team’s) number one fan, and I love to see how Dropbox was used for something so tangible! Have you ever used Dropbox to manage a project with visible results before?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!
