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.
🚀 Join us for an exclusive Dropbox & Microsoft integrations webinar! 🚀
Hello everyone, Are you ready to supercharge your productivity and collaboration capabilities? If so, we have some exciting news for you! Join Dropbox Product Managers Austin Nichols and Megane Racat as they walk through exciting new ways to store, organize, and share content across two of your favorite tools, so your team can get more done with less hassle. Date & Time: Tuesday, June 4, 2024 ,at 11:00 AM PT | 2:00 PM ET You’ll learn how to: Collaboratively editMicrosoft desktop, web, and mobile files, and save them to Dropbox with no interruptions or conflicted copies. Search, preview, upload, and share contentstored in Dropbox without ever leaving the Teams app. Bring media files from OneDrive directly into Dropbox Replayfor reviews and approvals. Use Microsoft Copilot on Dropbox contentin Microsoft Teams to answer questions, serve rich content or actions, and include sources. Don’t miss this opportunity to help your team stay organized and push projects and decisions forward in even less time. Followthis linkto register now!
Updates Coming to the Folder Link Sharing Experience
Dropbox is moving to an updated shared link architecture where links are based on the content being shared rather than on the user doing the sharing. This new content-based link architecture is already in place for edit access links to folders and newly created links to files, and can be identified by the presence of an ‘rlkey’ parameter in the URL. Over the next few months, we’ll round out the shared link portfolio by bringing this new architecture to newly created view-only access folder links, or view folder links for short. With this transition we’re maintaining all the core functionality our users love about sharing with links, while making it even easier for content owners, collaborators, and team admins to manage their shared content easily and with confidence. Updates to Link Sharing Only Two Centralized Links per Item Securing your content and managing your shared links is now easier and simpler than ever. Basing links on the content being shared means there will never be more than one single edit and one single view link for each file or folder. Changing the settings on these links will universally apply to everyone with link access to that content. Because all collaborators on a piece of content share the same link, a change is that only content members with edit access are able to modify shared link settings or delete a shared link. URL Format Change Part of the new link architecture is the addition of an rlkey parameter. Query parameters are anything following “?” in a URL. It is this rlkey parameter which grants access to the content, and removing it will require visitors to sign in and request access. Visit this forum to read more about the new format, or this Help Center Article for details on forced downloads. Third Party Application Dependencies Due to the change in URL format you may notice some third party applications, websites, and custom programs that rely on pasting in a Dropbox link no longer function as expected. We have limited insight or influence on these third party use cases, but if you do experience issues, please contact Dropbox support or visit this community forum thread on this subject. Enhancing the Link Sharing Experience Quick, simple, stress-free file sharing is core to the Dropbox experience. Content-based links makes it even easier to share files securely and effortlessly in real-time, and we are excited to bring these benefits to all users across our full portfolio of shared links. If you have more questions, or find yourself needing support during this transition, please visit our Community Forums, reference our Help Center, or contact Dropbox Support.Get to know Dropbox Replay
Update: We have some exciting new updates about Dropbox Replay, but rather than telling you all about it here, you can check out a new post here. You might have seen us mention Dropbox Replay before, but I don’t think we made it clear just how useful this new video editing tool is. So, here are some updates, some tried and true, some examples and some images to whet your whistle. Dropbox Replay makes it easy to consolidate comments, take action on feedback, and finalize your video and audio projects in one place. Here are some new updates to get you thinking about your own projects: Ability to set password protection on Replay files Right now, both view only, and view and comment shared links can be viewed by anyone with the shared link. Now you will be able to also have the option of adding password protection to your shared links. This means you can upgrade your security for certain files but ensures you can still share with the right people easily. Why not refresh on how to share links? Image and Audio feedback on Replay If you are a video editor, you might prefer to share images or audio for feedback from your clients as pasrt of your creative process. Upload Subtitles/Captions: Replay is launching the ability to support adding subtitles to videos. This will help you to ensure your videos are accessible and inclusive upon delivery. We’ll update you on the details of that soon so keep your eyes peeled! Those are the new features but of course, don’t forget you can already use Replay to: Create a virtual viewing room: Let everyone watch and mark up the same video at the same time—with smooth, high definition video playback that stays in sync for all viewers. Simplify video sharing: Send video and audio out for review with just a link—no more exporting compressed versions and cluttering your hard drive. Get feedback from anyone: Browser-based reviews let anyone provide frame-accurate feedback and on-screen markups—no special software or Dropbox account needed. Take action on feedback: Send revised versions out for review and respond to comments directly from editors including Adobe Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve, LumaFusion, and WeVideo. Keep versions under control: Track every version of your video project—including comments and markups for each—in one place. So, let’s imagine you are working on a promo video, no matter what you’re into, gaming, your small business, a recipe - anything at all. Chances are, you will want some feedback before you push it live, so you upload your video and send a link to your friends, family or colleagues. They can come back in their own time with specific feedback, and see each other’s comments (or audio and image feedback now as well) too so it’s a collaborative effort. All of your feedback and updated versions can live in one place, and ensure you push the correct version live when you’re ready. You can even password protect this file to ensure no one sends on the wrong version, and add captions to your files too. Sounds like a good process to me - and trust me, I have definitely clicked send on the wrong file more than once! But you don’t just have to take my word for it, here is a quote from Rachel Jedwood, the Production Officer of the National Rugby League: “We use Replay for our content that requires lots of feedback and iterations, like campaigns with our players and commercial marketing materials. With Replay, we can share our feedback in one place, keep all the conversations documented in the comment threads, and have everything we need for edits and final delivery.” Still need some more convincing? Our own Super User, Lukeyo uses Replay to keep his documentary edits in line too. "Getting towards the end of a recent project, I needed some really specific feedback on very specific sections of the film, and Replay kept that all in one place. I really like ti when something works that simply. When you tick off the feedback in Replay, it‘s ’like ticking off a real life to-do list - when I go shopping and I’ve bought the milk and I never need to think about that again, so it’s finished.” I have to admit, I love the simplicity of that lukeyo! Are you using Dropbox Replay yet? We want to know about it! Tell us in the comments below
Office Downloading Files Even Though Locally Synced through MacOS App
One thing our users have noticed is that in order to take advantage of the Co-Authoring ability, Word or Excel files need to be opened through File ➜ Open ➜ Dropbox (Beta) and navigating to the file. This causes Office to then display a "downloading" window and download the file even when it is already locally synced on the computer via the Desktop app. When users open up a document from the Finder, Co-Authoring is not available. Are there any plans to add the ability in the office plugin to detect when a file is already local and just open the file? Or to be able to add Co-Authoring from locally open documents? Most users have "muscle" memory to navigate to the file on their desktop/Finder and open from there vs the File➜Open menus in Office.Want to share your feedback?
Welcome to the Microsoft co-authoring beta for Dropbox space. If you’re here, you might already know that we are looking for feedback on our new desktop co-authoring tool. Any feedback you can share with us will be invaluable as we continue to work on this experience, so you can have your say now. If that sounds interesting to you, below are some of the guidelines for how to enable co-authoring and how to report your findings. How to Enable To get started, add Dropbox as a Place (Windows) or Storage account (Mac). To do so: Open Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel on your desktop. Click File. Click Open. Click Add a Place (Windows) or Manage Storage Accounts (Mac). Click Dropbox (Beta). Log in with your Dropbox credentials. Click Log in. This will now add Dropbox as a location to open and save files. Co-Authoring Requirements You will need the following in order to use the co-authoring function: Office 365 Business license is required Perpetual licenses (e.g., Office 2016, 2019 etc.) are not supported. Customers must be on a Dropbox Standard, Advanced, Business, Business Plus, or Enterprise plan. How to Submit Bugs? If you notice any bugs while testing, please submit them to this address: https://www.dropbox.com/support/email. Known Issues We’re aware of some issues already, listed below, so no need to share these ones, but if you see anything additional or have feedback on these, please report that: Files larger than 100 MB will be slow – especially if you have many other programs open at once. You cannot open files larger than 250 MB. If you’re collaborating with external partners (or anyone without co-authoring), they need to have co-authoring enabled to edit on web. If not, they’ll be able to open a “view-only” copy. If there are issues opening files directly from File Explorer or Finder, please try opening files inside Office 365 apps to start co-authoring. After adding Dropbox (Beta) - all other open Office applications should be restarted (to avoid necessity of signing-in multiple times) OAuth flow on mobile is a bit tricky. It will try to open the Dropbox app after you enter your email. You need to hit cancel in the top left and continue the OAuth flow inside the office app If Dropbox (Beta) is not present on mobile devices (iOS, Android) after successful sign in to Microsoft account - please restart application. For co-authoring Word Doc on MacOS - there is some lag for live edits (by other authors) to be shown regardless of the file size. This is especially true when just starting a session. Once users connect Dropbox storage inside Office 365 apps to enable co-authoring, Dropbox Badge will no longer be supported Joining Beta Waitlist If you and your team are interested in the Microsoft Co-Authoring beta, please submit this form to be added to the waiting list. We truly appreciate you testing this beta, and please share any and all feedback with us so that we can make desktop co-authoring experience the best it can be. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.Product updates: edit photos and PDFs
Want to hear about one of the handiest Dropbox features I use regularly? Check out howeasy it is to upload, edit, send, and sign PDFs in one place. No technical wizardry, no back-and-forth file conversions, and no additional software to install. New PDF editing features let you add text and more Not PDFs are ready to go, there's usually some info you need to add or edit, and now, editing them is as easy as click, click, click. We’ve added more tools to our new PDF editing feature so you can do more without changing programs. Now, within Dropbox, you can: Add text to documents: Insert descriptions, dates, notes etc., anywhere on a PDF and modify text font, color, size, and emphasis Page zoom: Adjust the page view for easier navigation These features are useful for managing work-related and personal documents. Our own team makes the most of editing PDFs to organize and consolidate receipts at home.Learn how to get started editing PDFs now. Edit PDFs on-the-go Need to make changes when you'er away from your desk? No worries,you can edit PDFs directly on your iPhone or Android device. Edit PDFs on iPhone:Add text or a signature to PDFs on your iPhone with the Dropbox mobile app. Edit PDFs on Android:The Dropbox smartphone app makes it easy to edit PDFs on your Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, or any other Android device. Work from wherever you are, without needing to switch between devices or apps to get things done. Automatically add watermarks to multiple files No one likes to have their work passed off as someone else’s - and now you can make sure it doesn’t happen to you with a few simple steps. Save time, ensure confidentiality, and protect your brand by applying a watermark automation to a new or existing folder. Then, every PDF and image added to the folder will be automatically watermarked. We’re big fans of automations that truly make life easier, and this one makes us very happy! To create an automation and learn more about watermarking, visit our automations page. I’m definitely excited about these updates, and will make serious use of the PDF editing tools on a regular basis! And you can check out how Lauren uses PDF editing to improve her workflow too! I’d love to know how you will make the most of these new features - tell us below!Use Movebot to transfer files from one Dropbox account to another
Moving files from one place to another can be time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. We mentioned before how you can use Movebot to transfer from a file storage tool over to Dropbox, and well, we realise you might need to transfer from one Dropbox account to another, without worrying about any files being forgotten in the process. Well, the good news is, Movebot can make that easy too! Migrating files from one Dropbox account to another: Migrating between Dropbox accounts is the same process as migrating from another tool to Dropbox, or from an on-premises file server to Dropbox, only difference is Dropbox will be both the source and destination platform in the migration. You can also migrate between Dropbox Personal accounts and Dropbox Business accounts. How to start the migration: If running a simple user to user migration, then Movebot’s simple migration wizard is perfect. You will just need to configure Dropbox and the source and destination, select your source folders and where you want to migrate them to on the destination and then kick it off. Don’t worry, we have the steps outlined below. First things first, you need to get set up. Navigate to admin.movebot.io and create an account, on completion you will be taken into Movebot’s dashboard. Create a new simple migration From the dropdown select Dropbox Personal or Dropbox Business from the list. You should receive a pop-up to provide Couchdrop access (Movebot’s parent company). Once it has successfully connected Save and Configure Destination. You can now map what folders you wish to migrate from your source to destination and where you would like to migrate these folders to in the destination. Once you’re happy with your selection then Save and Finalize. You can now provide the migration a name (optional) and then start the migration by selecting Save and Kickoff and you’re set! The migration will start and vary in time depending on how much data there is to transfer, but once it’s finished, you will receive an email or if you are following the migration as it happens, you will see a screen similar to the below showing that status of the migration. There you have it, a simple way to transfer all your files from one Dropbox account to another. We would love to hear how this would help you - tell us in the comments below how you use Dropbox, and any other tips you might want to know about.Dropbox Basic: work outside the box
If you work with more than one person, you more than likely have needed to share a document or file to work simultaneously or receive feedback. With your Dropbox Basic account, you collaborate with friends and family and workoutside of the box. Even if they do not have an account, you can still collaborate with them! Dropbox has made it easy to share files with friends and collaborate on projects. Share files with friends and family I recently learned that you can share files from Dropbox with friends or family that do not have an account. When you share a file or folder using Dropbox, the recipient receives an email with a link to the file or folder. The recipient does not need a Dropbox account to view or edit it though. Just this past week, I shared a Paper document with my sorority sister, and she was able to view and edit the file without any issue. On the file was a to-do list for the both of us and we worked together on the document. Learn more about how to add to-do list to your paper document. You can also control whether people can edit or view your files and folders when you share them and even after you share them. Edits and comments that’s made to a shared file or folder are updated live for everyone they’ve been shared with. This allows for any changes to projects to be implemented right away and ensures everyone is on the same page. Ways to Collaborate Sharing files is usually top priority when working with others. With Dropbox apps and integrations, sharing, syncing and collaboration is made easy. Whether you are sharing a school project, presentation, bachelor trip details, or planning your 30th birthday party, it is likely that you will pass the file along to someone else for their input. As sad as this may seem, Summer vacation for students and teachers will be ending in about 1 month. The time will come during the school year where you will have to participate in the good ol’ school project. The conversation of how you will collaborate to ensure everyone is working together always comes up, and you can suggest using Dropbox. With your Dropbox account, you can collaborate with your school project team members that do not have a Dropbox account. You can use word processing applications such as G-Suite and Microsoft Office Online. Learn more about how to use these integrations. This will allow for an automatic sync after each team member contributes to the project. Your Dropbox account allows you to collaborate with multiple team members from multiple locations at one time. It’s a big year for celebrating! Gathering in large groups has finally become a norm since 2020. People have planned large parties and events to celebrate weddings and birthdays. To do this, you will likely collaborate with friends and family virtually. Don’t forget that you can use Dropbox Paper to create a guest-list, or a to-do list where you can tag the other party hosts. You can even create the invites with Dropbox’s Canva integration. The beauty of using your Dropbox account for tasks like this is that you can use 3 different applications and all users can access files in one place. Things to know when collaborating When collaborating on a file, Dropbox has features that allows the file to be shared and protected when multiple people are editing. Dropbox has collaboration tools for sharing work, and guards old documents by locking the file or creating a conflicted copy. Here are some tips and tricks you can use to collaborate. Create link: Create a link with Dropbox that allows you to easily share the files with friends and teammates. To create a link: Open the Dropbox folder in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac). Right-click or command-click the file or folder you'd like to share. Click Share…. If a link hasn't been created, click Create link. The link is copied to your clipboard. Create a to-do list: When saving, sharing and collaborating on files and folders, you can add a checkbox that becomes tasks for the people you are working with. When you or someone else with permission click a checkbox, the line of text next to it is crossed out with a strikethrough. Mention someone: To notify collaborators, click the @ icon. This allows you to insert the email address or name of someone in your Dropbox contacts. The person is notified by email and their Dropbox account shows that they have been tagged in a folder. This is a helpful and easy way to communicate asynchronously. Your Dropbox Basic account is a great way to work with family and friends. Leave a comment and tell us how you use Dropbox to collaborate with family and friends!
