With Dropbox you can safely store your important documents online. But it doesn’t stop there; With the service, files are easy to share and you can simply edit Office documents online, even with several people at the same time.
Tip 01: Which subscription?
Dropbox is free to use and you also have 2 GB at your disposal. That is enough to securely store your important documents online, but much less than the competition offers. If you want to store many files online, you can choose from two subscriptions with Dropbox: Plus and Professional. Plus costs ten euros a month if you opt for an annual payment. With this you suddenly have 2 TB at your disposal. Professional adds another terabyte and provides you with a number of functions that can be useful if you use Dropbox every day. This way you have fast support with problems and files are saved for 180 days after deletion instead of 30 days. Dropbox offers both encryption during the transport of your files and encryption if your files are stored on Dropbox’s servers.
Dropbox Plus costs ten euros a month if you opt for an annual payment
Encryption
When choosing an online storage service you often see two different encryption options: “in-transit encryption” and “encryption-at-rest”. The first means that your files are sent securely from your computer to the servers of the cloud service. Encryption-at-rest means that your files are also encrypted if they are stored on the servers of the service.
Tip 02: Extra space
If you already have a Dropbox account, but would prefer to take out another plan, go to www.dropbox.com/account. click on Plan and then on Change plan. If you want to keep your existing subscription, but save money by paying annually instead of monthly, then choose Switch to yearly billing. You can get extra space from Dropbox by inviting others. Handy if you have a free subscription, because for every user who thanks to you log on to Dropbox, you get an extra gigabyte. You click Invite a friend behind Earn more space. If you want to change your payment details, add this Billing. You can also view your invoices here.
Tip 03: Security
To ensure that no one else can access your files, you must of course secure your Dropbox account with a good password. Then there are a few other things you can do for your safety. Dropbox has developed a security check, click Start checkup below Security. First of all, the service asks if your email address is still up to date. If this is not the case, change it immediately.
In the second step you check all the devices and browsers that have recently been used to log in to Dropbox. If you see a device here that you do not know or a location where you have never been before, then click on the cross behind the device or the location. Confirm the action by pressing Sign out to click.
In step three you can see which apps are all linked to your Dropbox account. Handy, because apps can copy data to your Dropbox account in this way. For example, if you have a website, it can automatically put backups in your Dropbox folder. Yet it is smart or occasionally to see if all these apps still need access. If you want to revoke the access, click on the cross.
2-step verification
It is of course the safest if you set up two-step verification for each service. Dropbox also offers you this function, you will find it at Security / Two-step verification. Turn on the slider to confirm your action with your smartphone every time you log in to the Dropbox website.
Tip 04: Dropbox on your PC
You can of course copy files to your Dropbox folder via your browser, but it is smarter to install the Dropbox app on your PC. Dropbox then creates a folder on your hard drive where you can drag files. Once you’ve dragged a file to your Dropbox folder in Windows Explorer, Dropbox will sync it with your online Dropbox folder. To change the location of your Dropbox folder on your PC, open the application from the taskbar and choose Preferences / Synchronize. You can then change your Dropbox folder here.
It is smart to install the Dropbox app on your PC
Smart Sync
With Smart Sync you can save space on your hard drive. You choose whether you only want to save certain files or folders online without taking up space in your local Dropbox folder. With the right mouse button you click on a file or folder and choose one of the three options: Online content only, Local Content or Folders with mixed content. The icon immediately shows whether your file is only available online or whether it is also stored locally. If a folder has both local and online items, you will see a white round icon with a green check mark. Smart Sync is only available for users with a paid subscription.
Tip 05: Dropbox on the road
Of course you can also use Dropbox on your smartphone. Install the app from the app store and log in with your account details. To upload a file, tap the blue button at the bottom right. Choose Create new folder if you want the file to end up in a new folder. The options Upload photos or videos and Upload files speak for themselves, but did you know that you can also scan a document with the app and save it in your account? Tap on Scan document and you see that the app tries to recognize the document by placing a blue window around it. Press the camera button and you will see a preview of your scan. If the scan is successful, tap the blue arrow at the top. If you are not yet completely satisfied, choose To adjust or To turn. In the next window, enter a name, choose the file type PDF or JPEG and choose in which folder the app should save the file.
With the app you can also immediately scan a document and save it in your account
Tip 06: Edit files
Not only can you edit files online with Google Drive and One Drive, Dropbox also has this functionality. As soon as you save a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document in your browser, you can continue working on it in your browser. Go to www.dropbox.com and click Traffic jams. below My Files you see your file structure. Move your mouse over an Office file and you will see that a menu is displayed. Click on Open with and select here for example Microsoft Word Online or Microsoft Excel Online.
If you prefer to work with Google’s office programs, you can choose the Google equivalent here. You can also immediately send a file via Gmail using this option below Send with to select. If you want to share a file, press the three dots on the right side of a file. click on Share and choose one of the options. Can view means that another person can only view the file, Can edit means that the other person can also perform operations.
If you have a large file, you can also send it to someone without a Dropbox account. Click on the three balls again and choose Send with Transfer. You can send files up to 2 GB in this way. By default, the download expires after 24 hours. If you have a Professional account, you can change the expiration date by clicking on the gear.
Tip 07: Copy photos
Dropbox can automatically copy all your photos taken from your smartphone to your Dropbox account. The service calls this option Camera uploads. In the app, tap the three lines, choose Settings / Camera Uploads and turn the slider on. Nice is that your photos do not count towards your overall number of gigabytes, you get another 3 GB free for your photos. Choose whether you want videos to also be uploaded by the slider at the back Upload video to turn on and tap the option Upload in the background to choose how much battery charge you have left before Dropbox starts uploading your photos.
It’s handy to slide the back Use mobile data leave out. For example, photos are only uploaded if you have a Wi-Fi connection. Bee Timeframe choose whether you want only new photos to be copied or Dropbox should also synchronize older photos from your film roll.
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