Documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, email attachments, digital books, music and video files—how many different files do you create and access every day? Dozens? Hundreds? And how many different devices do you use to access these files? Work and home computers, a smartphone, a tablet, either yours or belonging to a friend or work colleague?
These days we insist, and in many cases absolutely must be able to, access all of our files on several different devices, at the office, home, or on the go. Which is why more and more of us are storing our data in the cloud. The three computer giants have stepped up to help make this happen. Google offers Google Drive, Microsoft has OneDrive, and Apple has iCloud. But the big granddaddy of them all, with over a half billion users, is still Dropbox.
I have been using Dropbox since just after its initial release in June of 2007. And to show how critical I believe this service is to my workflow, despite the fact that the big threes' offerings are all free, I am still willing to pay $99 per year for my Dropbox Plus account. If you want to understand why, one excellent place to start is a new offering from Judith Dixon, Drop into Dropbox, available from National Braille Press.
Dixon's book begins at the beginning, with choosing a plan and installing the software. Dropbox enables you to place files in a special Dropbox folder on one computer and access them from multiple devices that have the Dropbox app installed. The original files remain on your computer instead of being stored exclusively in the cloud, and they are copied in total onto other Dropbox enabled computers and optionally onto your phone or tablet where they do not have to be downloaded every time you wish to open or edit them.
Users can get 2 GB of storage for free with the Dropbox Basic plan. Signing up for the free plan can be a bit challenging, but Dixon takes the reader through the process step by step. She also outlines the various ways you can have additional storage added to your plan, both the free Dropbox Basic and Dropbox Plus, which offers a full terabyte of storage. There are also additional business and educational plans, with extra features such as the ability to comment on shared files and various administrative and extra security features.
These additional plans are given only cursory mention in Dixon's book, but the extra features are outlined on the company's website.
There are many reasons to use Dropbox. Dixon details a few of these, including:
- Sharing files with others in your office or across the globe.
- Rolling back to a previous version of a file because you cut out a paragraph, resaved the document, and then realized you'd made a terrible mistake.
- Sharing files, or entire folders, in real time with colleagues.
- Copying and making available photos and other data from your mobile device.
- Accessing files on the go.
- Transferring files from your computer to a mobile device.
Myself, I use Dropbox as one of my primary backup solutions. I set Microsoft office and other essential apps to use the Dropbox folder as my default "save as" folder. It happens so swiftly, I can literally be working on a file, save it, swivel my chair to a second computer and open the just-saved file to continue work.
One of the most useful Dropbox features is the ability to share and request files, no matter how large. In previous employment I would often need to share graphic files that were 30 and 40 Mb large with the magazine's photo editor. I could use YouSendIt or another file transfer service, but it was much easier to simply create a Dropbox link—Dixon shows you how—email it to the editor, and have her download the file directly.?Dixon also outlines the steps to have someone send you a large file using Dropbox, whether or not the sender has an account.
I also appreciate the Share features on the Dropbox mobile apps. I often find it easier to save an attachment to my Dropbox folder using my iPhone's Mail app then doing the same with Outlook on my PC. It's also a great way to send a link to a file to someone while you're on the go. And speaking of being on the go, if you're not at one of your own devices, you can still access the file via the Dropbox website. Again, Dixon takes you step-by-step through the process of locating a file, or tracking down a previous version, even a file or folder you recently deleted. As you can see, even if you only have a single computer it's well worth the effort to establish a Dropbox Basic account, at the very least.
As an access technology user herself, Dixon does an excellent job guiding the reader through the installation process and use of the desktop and mobile apps. She points out several accessibility glitches, such as the current lack of ability to read the "Go to My Dropbox" welcome screen—the contents of which she offers in the text—and a few buttons that can only be accessed with mouse hotkeys or JAWS OCR.
Dixon tends to be rather iPhone and Windows PC-centric. For example, while she demonstrates how to access the Dropbox Preferences menu via the System Tray icon on the PC, she does not describe the process using the Mac. Note: to reach the Dropbox preferences menu on the Mac, Press VO + M twice to reach the Menus Extra, cursor to Dropbox, press VO + spacebar to activate the menu and then cursor down to Access and Manage Your Dropbox Settings.
Judith Dixon has an exemplary track record of producing excellent accessibility guides on topics from The Abundant Bookshelf: Reading Books on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to Label It! Braille and Audio Strategies for Identifying Items at Home and at Work. We've reviewed several of her books here at AccessWorld; check the additional links at the end of this article. Judith Dixon's books are excellent resources for the novice user, and can still manage to teach us old dogs a trick or two.
Product Information
Drop into Dropbox: It's So Much More than File Storage by Judith Dixon is available from National Braille Press
Download braille, DAISY, eBraille, or Word file: $12.00
DAISY, eBraille, or Word file on a USB Drive: $14.50
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
Related articles:
- Book Review: Writing Your Way: Composing and Editing on an iPhone or iPad, by Judy Dixon, by Deborah Kendrick
- A Review of "Stress Less, Browse Happy: Your Guide to More Easily and Effectively Navigating the Internet with a Screen Reader," an audio tutorial from Mystic Access, by Jamie Pauls
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