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.
What’s included in my Dropbox plan? Plus edition
If you use Dropbox there are a ton of amazing features available to you, but different plans have different features so we want to make sure you know exactly what you have access to! This time, we’re going to focus on Dropbox Plus accounts - so listen up if you’re a Plus user. Here is a list of the features available to Plus users, that I’m sure most people are already aware of, or using regularly already, but it never hurts to be reminded! 2 TB (2,000 GB) of storage space. Shared folders and links - learn the ins and outs of links here. Dropbox Paper - this is a big one, so here’s a refresher on that. Anywhere access Integrated desktop experience Best-in-class sync technology Mobile offline folders Camera upload Send up to 2 GB per Transfer File requests Web previews and comments Viewer info Remote device wipe File recovery and version history - 30-day history Dropbox Rewind - 30-day history Full text search Plus button Web previews and comments Integrated cloud content 256-bit AES and SSL/TLS encryption So those are the ones you likely already know, but there are some new and exciting features for Dropbox Plus users this year as well, and now’s your chance to learn all about them. Dropbox Family The Dropbox Family plan has 2 TB of storage space that can be shared by up to 6 members, even grandparents or kids away at college. With Dropbox Family, you and your family can securely organize and share content, like photos, videos, and important documents. Dropbox Passwords: Dropbox Passwords lets you seamlessly sign in to websites and apps by storing your passwords. The Passwords app remembers your usernames and passwords on all your devices—so you don’t have to. Dropbox Vault: Dropbox Vault helps you secure and organize your most sensitive information in the cloud. Vault is a PIN-protected folder in your Dropbox account that you can access any time and on any device. There’s even more new features, including Computer Backup, Hellosign and the App Centre so you can get more details here. Support: If you need help with your Plus account, you have access to priority email support, the Help Centre, and of course the Dropbox Community is always here to help.Product updates: edit photos and PDFs
Want to hear about one of the handiest Dropbox features I use regularly? Check out howeasy 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!How to import your passwords to Dropbox Passwords from other password managers
You might have heard about Dropbox Passwords, (and if you haven’t, you can learn all about it here) but what if you already use a password management tool? We have good news, it’s simple to import your passwords from another tool. Follow the steps below to import your already saved passwords from LastPass, Dashlane, 1Password and other password tools. Import from LastPass Sign into LastPass.com or LastPass browser extension Click Advanced Options on the sidebar Select Export under Manage Your Account Enter your LastPass master password If you’ve signed into LastPass.com on web, you will see your passwords data on a new Tab. Copy the content and save it to a file. You can name it <name>.csv If you’ve signed into the browser extension, you will see a lastpass_export.csv automatically downloaded From your Dropbox Passwords app, click Add button under your avatar, select Import from…, select Passwords Manager and select the csv file from step 4 Delete the file from step 4 for safety reasons Import from Dashlane Launch Dashlane and log in to your account Select File > Export > Unsecured archive (readable) in CSV format Enter your Master Password (if required) Save the file in a safe place From your Dropbox Passwords app, click Add button under your avatar, select Import from…, select Passwords Manager and select the csv file from step 4 Delete the file from step 4 for safety reasons Import from 1Password Open and unlock 1Password. Select the vault you want to export. It’s not possible to export from “All Vaults”, so you’ll need to switch to a specific vault. Choose File > Export > All Items. If you belong to a team account, there may be some vaults where you don’t have the “Export items” permission. Ask your team administrator. Enter your Master Password. Choose a location to save your export to (such as your desktop), choose File format: “Comma Delimited Text (.CSV)” , “All Fields” , “Include Column Labels”, Click “Save” From your Dropbox Passwords app, click Add button under your avatar, select Import from…, select Passwords Manager and select the csv file from step 5 Delete the file from step 5 for safety reasons Import from other Password Managers find the option from other Passwords managers to export items to a CSV From your Dropbox Passwords app, click Add button under your avatar, select Import from…, select Passwords Manager and select the csv file from step 1 Delete the file from step 1 for safety reasons Now that you can transfer your passwords over with just a few clicks, it’s the perfect time to get set up with Dropbox Passwords and leave the dreaded ‘forgot password?’ button in the past.Dropbox “connect a computer” feature explained
What is Dropbox connect a computer? One of the easiest ways to get set up on Dropbox on your computer, is to use the aptly named ‘Connect a computer’ feature. Using this feature, you can use your mobile device to connect your computer, by simply following a QR code. When and how to use Dropbox connect a computer? You can use this feature when you want to connect a new computer to your Dropbox account, and have a signed in mobile device nearby. To get started, you can; Open the Dropbox app on your mobile device. Tap the icon of a person at the bottom right. (On iOS, if you connected a work and personal account, tap Personal.) Tap connect a computer. The app will ask if you're near the computer—if you are, tap Yes. Open a web browser on your computer, and navigate to dropbox.com/connect. You should see a QR code shaped like the Dropbox logo Use the Dropbox mobile app to scan this QR code. The app will tell your computer's browser to begin downloading the Dropbox installer Install the app. If you're not able to scan the QR code, you can instead complete the install directly on your computer. Don’t forget, if you have a question, you can always ask the Dropbox Community or check out the Tips and Tricks section too. Are there any other refreshers you would like to see?Make the most of Movebot and Dropbox
If you do any kind of business online, chances are you use an online storage platform and sometimes, your needs change and you need to move your files. But don’t worry - moving from cloud storage platforms, or on-premise file servers to Dropbox couldn't be easier. The Data Migration Add-On, powered by Movebot, makes it simple, secure and affordable, without the need for software deployment or complex processes. Whether you are transferring a single drive, a team or an entire organization, Movebot's cloud migration tool has been built to make your Dropbox migration simple. Not only can you quickly and securely migrate files, you can also copy over all of the associated permissions from on-premise file servers and existing cloud storage solutions to Dropbox. So, what can I do with Movebot? Well, first of all, you can: Migrate home directories, folders, and personal shares to Dropbox Transfer sharing permissions from cloud and on-premises sources to Dropbox Monitor file transfer jobs in real-time with reporting, visualization, and event-logging Automate and expedite migrations with parallel loading, Dropbox API call optimization, and Movebot’s managed scalable technology Schedule migration jobs in advance — to run once or on a repeating schedule. But you don’t just have to take our word for it, Jack is a senior designer on the team over at Graphicks, a creative agency, who recently used Movebot to transfer their files over to Dropbox, and he said: Movebot and Dropbox have made our lives so much easier. We used Movebot to migrate around 2TB of data from a different cloud service to Dropbox and the process was very smooth. We work with a wide range of file formats and both platforms supported our every need. We deal with large design files on a daily basis, which makes the different sync options available on Dropbox vital to our workflow. Being able to collaborate easily as a team from different parts of the country is essential. As a creative agency we needed a more collaborative and cost-effective solution to managing our files. Dropbox was an easy choice as other solutions have fewer features and don’t handle larger files formats as well. The unlimited storage that Dropbox offers means that we can continue to grow as a team without the worry that we will run out of storage – something that our previous platform would constantly remind us of! Have you ever needed to transfer a large amount of files from one platform to Dropbox? Check out how the Dropbox Data Migration Add-On, powered by Movebot can benefit your business or talk to our team about using Movebot today.How we use Dropbox: Project management
When we hear about how other people use Dropbox, I have to say we scan for tips and advice that we can carry through to our own workflows and projects, from planning a wedding to organizing family photos.With that in mind, we loved hearing about how Project Manager extraordinaire, Libby, uses Dropbox to keep her projects, and more importably, the team, on track. Check it out below and let us know if you will take some of these tips forward😁 The key to a successful project is good planning and organization. Duh, but here is what I do to start off on the right foot there. Step 1: Create a shell of folders to start a project I create all of the folders to help manage the different stages of a project, which include: Ideation Planning Execution and closure And to go even deeper, within these folders we can have sub folders for different levels of approval. At this stage, I add everyone involved in the projects - and I BEG them to create their documentation within these folders. There is nothing worse than people creating rogue docs and forgetting to link it back so starting off in the right place makes it easy to keep us all in contact. Step 2: Create a Project plan I then create a Project Plan Paper doc, and this outlines the goals of the project, and this outlines the goals of the project, milestones, results and more. Now, this can seem daunting to begin with but luckily, we have a template to get you started right here. Within this doc, I can also tag people, create and add to-dos, link to other docs and of course, adding tables and images seamlessly. The perfect one pager, if you ask me. Step 3: Track the progress In theory, now everyone can get to work on their own sections of the project, and I get to observe, check in and remove any blockers. So I get notified when changes are made, I get tagged, I receive Capture updates. Whatever works for the team works for me! Step 4: Reporting and sharing wider Once the project has finished, and undoubtedly been a resounding success, it’s time to report back. So the results folder can contain Exel sheets of data, screenshots, and docs summarising the impact of the project. It’s great because everyone can contribute to this section as the results often come from varying sources. Once docs are ready for sharing wider, there are executive one pagers that can get workshopped internally and then a shared folder is created for the wider team. I enjoy how logical this process is, and as someone who can feel daunted about documentation, this seems really achievable. I also asked Libby for her best project management tip and this was her sage advice: Be flexible and work how your project team works. What works for one team won’t work for another. How do you manage projects? Do you have a different process you want to share?How we use Dropbox: Alex
We’re back again to share how some Dropboxers actually use Dropbox in our real lives. This time it’s my turn - if you haven’t seen my name around before, I’m Alex, and I’m part of the Community team. I was one of those straight A kids in school. The obnoxious one who always thought she had the answer and would be upset if she didn’t get the highest grade (sorry….not sorry). I was always the organized nerd and thanks to that, I’ve been using Dropbox since my student days. It has been an essential tool for storing my files in the cloud and accessing all my docs wherever and whenever I need. The more docs I could upload, the more prepared I felt in class. As you can probably tell, my love for the Dropbox desktop app was triggered by a desire to over-achieve. Back then, I remember syncing docs between my devices so I could look at them on my mobile phone when I couldn’t get my computer to school (I had a very large, and heavy, Asus PC!) I also used Dropbox in University for projects with my peers. I would share files with my team members so we could all contribute to the main project doc. In the past, I had often ended up doing almost all of the work on group projects, rather than risk a bad grade. I think we all know the pain of a group project with a few less than enthusiastic teammates, but thankfully, with Dropbox, there was no excuse. They couldn’t pretend they didn’t have the files, their names were next to the work they did, and there was even document history so no amount of ‘I did it, but it’s not there now, someone must have deleted it’ could let them off the hook. Now, whether or not I tidied up the end product, I didn’t have to do 90% of the work on my own! Later in life, when I became a real grownup, I decided to upgrade to the Dropbox Plus so I could upload even more files. And then, at my first job, I convinced my manager to give me some budget for a Pro account. I would lie if I said that I wasn’t influenced by my early experience with Dropbox as a student. For me, Dropbox stuck with me when I was a poor and awkward kid, so I stuck with it in return, and now I actually work for them! So, tell me, who else here is a meticulously organised nerd like me?
Dropbox for TV devices
Dear Dropbox community, I would like to share my latest project with you, namely Dropbox MSX. Dropbox MSX is a service that allows you to access your Dropbox files (i.e. videos, audio files, and images) through TV devices. It uses the Media Station X application for visualization and the latest Dropbox API to browse and access files. I hope you enjoy using it and I would be very happy to receive feedback and ideas for improvement. For screenshots and more information, please see the showcase Dropbox MSX on this page: http://msx.benzac.de/info/?tab=Showcases Alternatively, please have a look at this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T5XjKig6Jw Best regards, benzacGet to know Dropbox Replay
Update: We have some exciting new updates about Dropbox Replay, but rather than telling you all about it here, you can check out a new post here. You might have seen us mention Dropbox Replay before, but I don’t think we made it clear just how useful this new video editing tool is. So, here are some updates, some tried and true, some examples and some images to whet your whistle. Dropbox Replay makes it easy to consolidate comments, take action on feedback, and finalize your video and audio projects in one place. Here are some new updates to get you thinking about your own projects: Ability to set password protection on Replay files Right now, both view only, and view and comment shared links can be viewed by anyone with the shared link. Now you will be able to also have the option of adding password protection to your shared links. This means you can upgrade your security for certain files but ensures you can still share with the right people easily. Why not refresh on how to share links? Image and Audio feedback on Replay If you are a video editor, you might prefer to share images or audio for feedback from your clients as pasrt of your creative process. Upload Subtitles/Captions: Replay is launching the ability to support adding subtitles to videos. This will help you to ensure your videos are accessible and inclusive upon delivery. We’ll update you on the details of that soon so keep your eyes peeled! Those are the new features but of course, don’t forget you can already use Replay to: Create a virtual viewing room: Let everyone watch and mark up the same video at the same time—with smooth, high definition video playback that stays in sync for all viewers. Simplify video sharing: Send video and audio out for review with just a link—no more exporting compressed versions and cluttering your hard drive. Get feedback from anyone: Browser-based reviews let anyone provide frame-accurate feedback and on-screen markups—no special software or Dropbox account needed. Take action on feedback: Send revised versions out for review and respond to comments directly from editors including Adobe Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve, LumaFusion, and WeVideo. Keep versions under control: Track every version of your video project—including comments and markups for each—in one place. So, let’s imagine you are working on a promo video, no matter what you’re into, gaming, your small business, a recipe - anything at all. Chances are, you will want some feedback before you push it live, so you upload your video and send a link to your friends, family or colleagues. They can come back in their own time with specific feedback, and see each other’s comments (or audio and image feedback now as well) too so it’s a collaborative effort. All of your feedback and updated versions can live in one place, and ensure you push the correct version live when you’re ready. You can even password protect this file to ensure no one sends on the wrong version, and add captions to your files too. Sounds like a good process to me - and trust me, I have definitely clicked send on the wrong file more than once! But you don’t just have to take my word for it, here is a quote from Rachel Jedwood, the Production Officer of the National Rugby League: “We use Replay for our content that requires lots of feedback and iterations, like campaigns with our players and commercial marketing materials. With Replay, we can share our feedback in one place, keep all the conversations documented in the comment threads, and have everything we need for edits and final delivery.” Still need some more convincing? Our own Super User, Lukeyo uses Replay to keep his documentary edits in line too. "Getting towards the end of a recent project, I needed some really specific feedback on very specific sections of the film, and Replay kept that all in one place. I really like ti when something works that simply. When you tick off the feedback in Replay, it‘s ’like ticking off a real life to-do list - when I go shopping and I’ve bought the milk and I never need to think about that again, so it’s finished.” I have to admit, I love the simplicity of that lukeyo! Are you using Dropbox Replay yet? We want to know about it! Tell us in the comments below
