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Amanda creates filing structures to access work and personal files with ease
Meet Amanda, who collaborates at work and at home with Dropbox. This is Amanda’s story… What brought me to Dropbox I started using Dropbox to share documents at work. I was either emailing documents back and forth (bloated inbox, totally inefficient as a filing system!) or using a shared drive that was only accessible from inside the office or via a VPN. How I use Dropbox Being able to share different folders with different people makes it easy to have a home folder where my husband and I keep notes and documents, and to use Dropbox for multiple collaborative projects. I try to create intelligent filing structures and primarily use Dropbox to share documents. My account syncs to my home computer, work computer and phone. I have a "Print Me" folder so if I need to print something I can just toss a PDF in there and print it when I'm at the office. I also have a "Travel" folder that has copies of any travel itineraries so I can always find my travel documents. Selective sync means my travel documents always sync to my phone, but I don’t keep my whole Dropbox on my phone. Tips for the community I have a "Miscellany" folder with yearly folders inside it. That means that random stuff that doesn't have a better home at least gets filed chronologically. It's okay to reorganize but be diligent about putting things in folders. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions forAmanda about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!How Abdelhamid uses a transparent structure to organize valuable design files
Meet Abdelhamid, a Graphic Designer who uses a transparent structure to organize design files with his team. This is Abdelhamid’s story. What brought me to Dropbox We had two major problems, the first of course was sharing big files among the team. The other, which compelled us to use Dropbox, was the fear of losing valuable files. While there were other options to send large files, keeping them organized and dated was not easy, especially for the not so organized people on the team. Also, the possibility of losing the design files due to a hard drive failure or something else could mean a complete shutdown of the business. How I use Dropbox With Dropbox things are way easier. We simply save a file and the team can access it safely. Also, the possibility to restore deleted files and old file versions brings invaluable peace of mind. The process we apply using Dropbox is completely transparent. We simply link our folders to the Dropbox folder and that's it! Everything is in Dropbox, from backing up important files to sharing the latest iteration of the design. We used to fear the loss of essential design files that we used to print artwork. Before using Dropbox, losing a hard drive meant losing years of work and could mean a catastrophe. We simply sleep better with our files in Dropbox! Tips for the community Your life will become easier if you organize your folders and save locations properly when you first setup Dropbox and related programs. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions forAbdelhamid about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!Anca never needs to worry about losing files on a crashed computer again
Meet Anca, an online education designer who uses Dropbox so she never has to worry about losing files on a crashed computer again. This is Anca’s story… What brought me to Dropbox My forever love relationship with Dropbox started during my second semester of my master’s degree. I was enrolled in an online course that was saturated in essays, reports, and all sorts of assignments that needed countless days of research and writing. This major report was soon due, and I was juggling this assignment between a teething baby, 40 hours of work, family time, and some sort of social life that was very short, let me tell you. The due date was so close, and I was feeling the need to ask for an extension. We were allowed two breaks during the course and I had never asked for one. I finally gave in, knowing that I was not able to finish in time and the professor was gracious enough to give me not 24 hours, as I had asked for, but a 48-hour extension. Ecstatic about my extra time, I started plugging along and my 20-page paper was finally coming to its final edits. There was very little to do, and my baby needed me. By the time I came back, my computer screen was blue. I never thought this could happen to me. I saw a lovely blue screen and the news that came later was also very blue. All that work, saved only in one place, on mycrashed computer! How I use Dropbox My lovely husband came up with a solution, to avoid ever losing a document again. He suggested I save everything on Dropbox. He told me I could work on essays from home or from work and it would all be saved in one place, with no chance of ever losing an essay due to a computer crash. My documents are now safely synced across all my devices. I do not have to track down my last draft. I know exactly where to find it. Tips for the community Plan out your folder structure. Create a consistent file naming pattern. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions forAnca about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!Jamie saved days of time by storing video production files in Dropbox
Meet Jamie, Head of Post Production on a Video Production team. This is Jamie’s story… What brought us to Dropbox We had no way to share files easily, but needed to share files in the office between our machines, to our home machines or portable devices, and with clients and freelancers. We would spend days sending drives, or uploading zip files. It made versioning problematic. How we use Dropbox Setting up shared folders has been revolutionary. We can have one for clients, one for freelancers, and above all we can keep files on cloud or local depending on the machine. For every video production we set up a folder with a series of sub folders. Different users then choose which of those are cloud based or local. For film shoots an entire project can upload to Dropbox servers overnight. This means our decade old worry of keeping footage secure and off-site is solved with a simple drag and drop. The footage is distributed to key sites automatically for each freelancer to work on. The footage is in our master folder, which is then referenced by editors, motion graphics artists and composers. It’s all seamless and secure. Tips for the community: Undeleting has been a savior. Going online to past projects to unearth a crucial file has saved my skin a few times! Comments and collaboration are so handy if a client is viewing on the go. No matter how big your files are Dropbox seems to Hoover them up. No more FTP or file sharing websites! Keep as much as you can in Dropbox. It’s the safest place for your work. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions forJamie about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!How Andy took his life off of flash drives with Dropbox Folders and Paper
Meet Andy, a Dropbox devotee who has moved his personal and work files from flash drives to Dropbox. This is Andy’s story… What brought me to Dropbox Before I used Dropbox, it was such a pain transferring files between by devices when I was on the go, or needed to do work somewhere that wasn't my main computer. I have a similar story to Drew, really. I never left my flash drive anywhere by accident, but it was a pain to carry flash drives or external hard drives around, and constantly copy data to and from them to transfer. With Dropbox, for both me, and our media production, I don't have to think about it anymore. How I use Dropbox Even for personal use, I've been using Dropbox for more than 8 years now, and Dropbox as a whole has just made everything so much simpler. Especially when collaborating, I find Paper to be a big help. I've used Selective Sync a bit, but as far as actual core productivity and help goes, the big two are just the application itself, and collaborating with Paper. In Dropbox, for the most part, I don't really have a structure. I have general folders for related things, but it's sort of all over the place, since it's all personal for the most part anyway. As far as Paper goes, I don't have a lot of structure. For work, everything tends to be organized into folders, and the main folder is shared between everyone. Because of how small our company is, we don't have a whole lot to organize. I myself don't have a lot of organization either. I certainly am glad Dropbox has the features it has, and I use most of them at least sometimes. Tips for the community Plan ahead and keep organized. Know what you want to do, and know your options before you actually do anything. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions forAndy about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!Pete, an IT Consultant, shares his tips for new Dropbox users
Meet Pete, an IT Consultant and advanced Dropbox user. Take a look at Pete’s tips for those of you who are new to Dropbox… What brought me to Dropbox I was seeking a secure and collaborative, cloud based solution that was reliable and fast. I needed a way to always have my files available on any computer or device that I was working on and also needed to make sure that my files were safe and always up to date. Tips for new Dropbox users I like to use Dropbox for business and personal Dropbox, both available on the desktop platform. This allows for a better flow and separation for business and personal matters. I also appreciate the admin console for better understanding the big picture from a dashboard environment. Keep in mind API limits, file system limits, and the fact that data bloat is creating more difficulty with laptop hard drive (local) and cloud syncing. Online only has assisted in this process, however, be sure to brush up on what you need versus what you think you need. Consider directory structure and organization up front. Like any file system, the more objective and clear the structure, the easier it is to work with, especially when problems occur. Consider long term data growth trends. I recommend putting together archival strategies and user license forecasting into the 6 month, 12 month, and 36-48 month future. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions forPete about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!Michael uses Dropbox Paper and folders to collaborate with his team
Meet Michael, a Process Engineer who uses Dropbox Paper and folders to collaborate with his team. This is Michael’s story… What brought me to Dropbox Initially my need was to have files accessible on more than one device. It was difficult to have information only available on my computer that could only be accessed when I was at my desk. I would need to keep extra notes when going into meetings just in case I needed any of the information. My need has since grown to sharing my work with others and having access to study and work materials quickly and easily. How I use Dropbox Dropbox folders allow me to share large files easily. Paper has allowed me to have a central place to collaborate with others. It keeps information flowing easily and everyone on the same page. I am in the beginning stages of getting my team to use Dropbox. Initially it started with me uploading the information and giving people the links to allow them to check for any files when they need them. I am trying to start a process using Paper to allow us to track projects, to do's, and updates all in one place. This paired with having the app on our phones lets us keep up to date wherever we are at all times. Tips for the community When you start using Dropbox, set up Selective Sync on multiple computers. Join the community forums and ask questions. There are plenty of people there that are willing to help! Figure out what organization system works best for you. You don't need to model it off of how someone else does it. Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions for Michael about their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!How Emma collaborates with remote teams and increases alignment using Dropbox Paper
Meet Emma, a Customer Success Manager who solved team misalignment with Dropbox. This is Emma’s story… What brought me to Dropbox Remote teams were finding it difficult to collaborate in real time. Good ideas, processes and information were either getting lost or not being shared. Overall, we saw repeated work, misalignment, misunderstandings, and missed opportunities for team collaboration. How I use Dropbox We use Dropbox Paper for sharing meeting notes and key processes, and keeping these fresh and up to date. Paper is known as the ‘go to’ place to find information. We use it in meetings to record actions against agenda items. Then, team members can edit and add a note to comment on items. Each team has a folder to file their Paper docs and we use permissions to keep things locked down where needed, but that’s rare as we generally want all users to have access to all Paper docs. We don’t set rules about how people should write a Paper doc, since it doesn’t affect our way of working if it’s done differently across the board. One really important use case for us is using Paper to request and track customer adoption of product features. Tips for the community Paper allows us a sense of organized freedom. Keep a tidy folder structure (but even if it doesn’t happen, you can still use the excellent search function). Do you use Dropbox in a similar way? Have questions for Emmaabout their workflow? Reply below with your thoughts!
