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.
Uploading the zipped file to dropbox and unzipping it inside would save a lot of time and traffic for users. Some of the web services already exist for that (like this one http://www.quora.com/Is-the...
It would be really nice to be able to go into the Dropbox website or other UI, select a folder or set of files, and do "compress" or "zip". I'm currently in the process of zipping a bunch of archival material in my Dropbox to reduce file count and that would be a huge help, insteading of having to re-upload a big zip file, then delete the old files.
I agree in full. I recently upgraded from Dropbox plus to Business to get access to smart-sync features. with over 550k files on dropbox, even on a mac pro 6 core with 64 GB memory, it's going to take 7-10 days to sort itself out (during which time, I'm going to sit through it, terrified and praying for an error-free transition). The only thing that I could possibly do at the moment (but can't unless I want to try and cowboy something with my ipad and iZip), would be to compress rarely viewed/used folders on dropbox ONLINE (local would just add to the chaos).
Even so, I would add to the above request (UPVOTING) that feature should allow:
a) Make ZIP of folder in web interface from selected files (result = original files + archive)
b) Move/Archive selected files to ZIP (result = archive only)
In a perfect world, and would expect no less from our friends at dropbox, who trump all other cloud storage frameworks in every way (expect for negotiating integration into MS Office!!), the contents of the Archive would be "viewable" in the web interface (kind of like archived mail) and would show up in the same way that smart-synced items do (or are supposed to... can't confirm until my dropbox has finished it's rediscovery process) in the local "copy" in the desktop app.
This isn't so much about saving space (yes, obviously and understanadably not in Dropbox's best interest to provide compression tools since they are in the business of selling cloud storage space!!), but a means of lightening the load when the 500k files threshold is exceeded.