Recently I received my beta invite to try out Dropbox, an online storage solution that has received a lot of positive praise since it first arrived on the scene. Up until now I have tried various methods in sharing data across multiple computers such as USB flash drives, uploading/downloading files via ftp on my server and (shudder) emailing files to myself which usually ends up feeling more like a desperate cry for attention than a solution because my inbox is then full of emails that say from “me” to “me”. What I really wanted was a free, painfree solution that provided a way for me to share files and sync them with little to no effort. When I heard about Dropbox I got excited because it looked promising and now that I had access I’ve been trying it out for about a week.

Please note that my goal with this post is to share my thoughts on the Dropbox experience and to touch on some of it’s features. For a full walkthrough of what Dropbox has to offer, head over to their site and watch the excellent video they’ve put together.

The barrier to entry to Dropbox is dead simple. The first thing you do is create an account which consists of a username (email address) and password. Once that is created Dropbox then walks you through a simple 3 step process to get you up and running. The first step is to download a local version of Dropbox that runs on your Mac or PC. Once that is installed you then link your computer to Dropbox (you can link multiple computers, which is very powerful and where syncing becomes extremely handy), which is step 2. After your computer is linked you’re on to step 3 which is basically a “get started” step meaning you’re done. 

The first thing I did after completing the 3 step process was to run the Dropbox application that I had installed. At first I thought something was wrong because nothing happened when I double-clicked on it. It looked like it had launched but nothing popped up. After a little further investigating I found that the application runs as a background app and actually was working perfectly. A little icon had appeared in my titlebar and I had failed to notice it. A simple click on the icon pulls up this menu:

You’ll notice a small green check next to the icon. That signifies that you are successfully connected to your dropbox. The options are simple as you can see. I can “Open My Dropbox” which launches a window that looks like any other system window in your OS. I can see the folders contained in my dropbox and I can drag files in or drag files out. I can even drag files to my trashcan and they’re deleted. Everything acts just like a regular file window but with one major difference. If I drag in a folder or file an uploading icon appears next to it showing me that the folder or file is being added to my Dropbox. As soon as it has been added the same green check appears next to the file or folder icon. These are nice subtle visual cues that I think work much more effectively than an uploading dialog box that appears on your screen.

The next option in the menu launches my web interface and also tells me how much of my 2GB storage limit I’ve used. If I select “Web Interface” then I’m presented with my Dropbox in my browser and it looks like this (click for full resolution):

It’s a very simple interface which is exactly as it should be. Basically this is my home screen and shows me my recent activity in my Dropbox. At the bottom I see my files which looks and acts a lot like a standard file tree system. A click on one of the folder names expands that folder. This is quick and easy, but one of the drawbacks is that after expanding it removes the other folders and files that I didn’t click on. One would think “Okay that’s fine, I should be able to just click again on the same folder and it will collapse” but no. You have to actually click on the folder or file above it to go back up a level which is a little counter-intuitive.

A click on the small gray arrow next to your files and folders expands a contextual menu of options depending on which one you clicked on. For the folders the options are “share”, “upload here”, “download as zip”, and “restore files” and for a file you have “download file” and “revisions”. The “restore files” and “revisions” options are fantastic because it gives you the ability to rollback to previous versions. I don’t know how far back the revision history goes, but regardless it’s a very handy feature.

I haven’t tapped into the “share” feature yet, so I can’t speak to that. The photos feature is cool and works as you think it should. The photos you have in your “photos” folder are displayed as thumbnails and a click on them brings them up in the trendy “lightbox” gallery method where you can go back and forth through your photos. Dropbox also provides you with a link to your photos which you can share with friends so they can view your photos too. It’s quite slick.

Overall my experience has been positive and I’m finding that it meets my needs for sharing and syncing files remotely between multiple computers. Having this in place a few weeks back would have saved me the headache I experienced recently, but alas my invite didn’t appear until after I broke things.

This app is still in beta and so access is restricted to sign-up or invites at the moment, which brings me to my last point. You may have noticed this little piece of info on my Dropbox web interface:

I’d love to “Share the love!” and I have all 10 of my invites remaining. If you’d like to try Dropbox, leave me a comment and I’ll pass one along. I’m all for sharing, plus I’m interested to see if 1. I can get 10 comments which would be a record and 2. how many of you lurkers out there will show your face now that there’s free stuff being offered.