A very convenient service for storing and exchanging data Dropbox has one small but very unpleasant drawback - it synchronizes files only within its home directory. Luckily, this can be easily bypassed with symbolic links, and next I'll show you how to sync any folder with Dropbox.

How to sync any folder with Dropbox on Mac OS X

On Mac OS X, just like on Unix-like operating systems, making a symbolic link is a snap and takes two simple steps:

1. Open application.
2. Run command: ln -s /path/to/folder-to-sync ~/Dropbox/folder-to-sync

Where /path/to is the path to the folder or file and folder-to-sync is the name of the folder or file we want to sync with Dropbox. Don't forget to escape spaces with a backslash: \ or enclose the path in double quotes "/path/with spaces" .

It's all. It remains only to wait until the new files are uploaded to the cloud and stored there safely.

How to sync any folder with Dropbox on a Windows PC

On Windows, everything is, as usual, a little more complicated. Symbolic links are not provided in Windows XP, but this is solved with the help of additional software, namely, you need to use Junction to create symbolic links.

Since Vista (that is, if you have Windows 7, then everything is fine), Windows has its own command for creating symlinks: mklink.

The process looks like this:

1. Run cmd.exe
2. Run command: mklink /D "C:\Users\Username\Documents\Dropbox\Folder to Sync" "C:\Path\To\Folder to Sync"

I use the Mac method to sync ~/Documents and ~/Pictures , and have had no problems in months of use. Haven't tested it on Windows, but it should work.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Not so long ago, I published an article, which now acts as a kind of l add-on (the "Files" tab in the web interface).

The piece is comfortable and I actively use it. But it would probably not be right to ignore the service that was first implemented by cloud storage idea and which, at the moment, has one of the largest user audiences, whose account is already in the tens of millions. I'm talking about of course dropbox.

The problem of exchanging files between computers, tablets and phones is solved by creating a folder on a cloud server on the Internet that will contain all the data that you upload to the Dropbox folder on your computer. Access to this folder can be obtained either through the web interface, or using the program installed on your other computers, tablets and phones.

Which is better - Yandex disk or Dropbox (after all, there are other storages, for example, or)? Let's answer this question for yourself by trying both cloud data storages and evaluating their functionality and convenience. The fact that many programs can use it to synchronize their data can speak in favor of Dropbox, or the fact that the bourgeois service maintains and stores a history of changes to all files (up to one month on a free account) and you can always roll back (this is convenient, especially when co-editing documents).

Create a cloud storage account

In order to try Dropbox in action, you first need to fill out a simple registration form on this page (unfortunately, so far this bourgeois service has not acquired a Russian interface, which is probably due to the small number of paid accounts registered by Runet users).

P.S. It is noteworthy that a week after the publication of this article, the Dropbox web interface and the program that you install on your computer became fully support the Russian language. Either they heard my groans, or a coincidence. Although, my megalomania votes, of course, for the first option.

If, in some incomprehensible way, Russian was not selected as the default language, then this misunderstanding can be easily corrected by clicking on the language selection button in the lower right corner of the Dropbox website window:

Well, actually, the registration form (already in Russian):

You can enter your data in Cyrillic, as well as later you can use Russian characters in the names of files and folders that will be synchronized and stored in Dropbox. In the future, the login will be the E-mail specified by you during registration.

After clicking on the create account button, you will be redirected to a page where, without any preamble, your browser will display a program download dialog to install it on your computer. Indeed, after all, someone may not notice the button for downloading the program, and so for sure. However, for your other computers, you you can download dropbox from this page:

At the first step, the installation wizard will ask if you already have a Dropbox account (second checkbox) or if you still need to create one (check the first line):

We have already created an account, so we mark the second option and click on Next. Next, you will be prompted to enter your account information and, if desired, change the name of the computer to which this version of the program will be linked:

After clicking Next, the program will connect to the service, checking the account data you entered, after which you will be faced with a choice - do not pay anything and have only miserable 2 GB cloud storage, or pay ten or twenty dollars a month for a hundred or even two hundred gigabytes on a paid account:

What Russian does not like freebies. This is probably why the owners of Dropbox were in no hurry to translate it into Russian. Of course, 2 GB is not enough, but it is possible to expand this space by performing a few simple passes, or by attracting new users to this cloud storage in your own way (on refs you can dial up to 16 gigs, which is already much better than two).

I have to use Google Chrome integrated into the browser, because in English I am extremely weak and helpless. By the way, he translates every year better and better.

Moreover, the referral program is very tricky. For each new recruit, you will be given an additional half a gigabyte of disk space in the cloud storage. However, the same half a giga will be received by the one who registered using your referral link. For example, I went to the Dropbox website via a reflink and after a while I received an email explaining that I now have as much as 2.5 gigs in cloud storage and suggested where I could get your referral:

Here is my ref. In general, they have everything thought out. Dropbox, by the way, is a very profitable company, whose revenues are measured in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and all thanks to a huge audience of users, a simple and intuitive interface, as well as high reliability and availability. Well, the referral program helps to increase these very incomes, which is probably not so easy to do lately, because several dozen analogues have appeared that are not inferior to Dropbox in functionality, and sometimes even surpass it.

Installing and configuring the Dropbox program on a computer

Okay, back to our sheep. At the final step of the application installation wizard, you will be prompted to change the location of the Dropbox folder on the computer ("Typical" by default, and "Advanced" - with the possibility of self-selection):

Personally, I try not to put anything extra on the system drive so that the image created in Acronis is not too large, so in this case I select the “Advanced” option and specify a different path for the shared folder (not on the system drive):

Next, you will be asked exactly which folders you want to synchronize with the cloud storage server and, accordingly, with all other Dropbox programs installed on your own computers. A check mark in the first line will mean full synchronization of all subfolders and files, and when checking the second position, you will need to uncheck those folders that you do not want to synchronize for one reason or another.

That's it, the installation wizard steps are completed, after which you will be offered to see explanatory pictures for working with this cloud storage service and its desktop part. By the way, it turned out quite clearly, the large green arrow that appeared was especially cool, which swayed and pointed to the Dropbox program icon blinking in the tray, double-clicking on which will open a window to the cloud storage:

If you right-click on the program icon in the tray and select the settings item from the context menu of the gear icon (you could bury it even further):

Then a window will appear where you can adjust something and see the percentage of fullness of your limit in the cloud storage. At the time of synchronization, the percentage of completion and data transfer rate will be displayed. Well, a list of files recently added to your cloud will also be displayed. We are still interested settings, so we choose "Options".

On the first “General” tab, you can disable the appearance of notifications about various events that have occurred in the cloud storage (adding a file, changing a document that you are working on with someone, etc.), and you can also disable program startup Dropbox along with Windows and turn off fast data synchronization with computers on your local network.

Let me explain the last point. If Dropbox is installed, for example, on the computers of you and your significant other, which sits on the same local home network, and you are logged into it under the same account, then the files placed in the shared folder first copied over the local network to the second computer, and only then they will be uploaded to the cloud storage via the Internet. This will significantly speed up the exchange of heavy files within the local network, thus eliminating the double download of files over the Internet.

The next tab in the Dropbox settings window is called "Account" and allows you to perform only one action - disable the program on this computer from your account in the cloud storage. On the tab "Traffic" you can limit, if desired, the speed of downloading and uploading files from the cloud and to the cloud during synchronization. It probably makes sense to do this with a common Internet channel for many users, for example, in a home or work network.

You can also set the proxy server settings if for some reason you use it to access the Internet. On the tab "Advanced" you will see all the same settings as when installing this program on a computer - the ability to change the location of the Dropbox folder and disable synchronization for individual folders in your cloud storage. It would be possible, of course, to choose the language, because recently there has been full support for the great and mighty Russian language.

How to use Dropbox?

After the installation of the program is completed, the contents of your Dropbox folder will open, where, in fact, there will be nothing except for the “Photos” folder and a brief manual. In the "Photos" folder you will find a folder with a demo album. Photo albums in Dropbox are formed based on folders created inside Photos:

After creating a folder for a new album and dragging new photos into it, a blue tab will appear to the left of its icon, which will change to green after synchronization is completed (uploading new files from your computer folder to the cloud storage).

To give the opportunity to view photos from your photo album to your friends or everyone, you can, by right-clicking on the album folder, select “Dropbox” from the context menu of this folder - "Share a link" (share a folder or file):

After that, you will be transferred to the browser, which is the default in the system, and you will see a window offering to send a link to view this photo album by mail (it can be seen in the background of this window) or copy the public link to it to the clipboard by clicking on the button "Get the link":

Any person who received this link from you or copied this link on the site will be able to view the list of photos in the album, download them all as one archive, or just view them in full screen mode by clicking on the screen with the left mouse button to load the next photo:

Dropbox allows you to share more than just folders but also individual files. For example, I applied everything described just above to the Getting Started.pdf file, which was present in the default cloud folder. Now this file is available to everyone via a shared link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pfmmievx9tshh05/Getting%20Started.pdf

Depending on the default settings of your browser, it will either be opened for viewing in a browser, or a dialog for downloading it to your computer will be activated.

A little higher, we made it possible to view the contents of the folder by all Internet users, without exception, who follow the appropriate link. But often there is a need to shared folder to work together with the files located there, and access to it should be limited.

To do this, you will need to select from the context menu of this folder the items "Dropbox" - "Access to the folder":

A window will open in the browser where you will need to specify the Email address of the person with whom you want to share files in this folder, and click on the "Grant access" button:

As a result, a letter from Dropbox of the following type will be sent to the specified mailbox:

Now the two of you can edit the files available there, add and delete them if necessary. Thanks to Dropbox's ability to rollback any changes and maintaining a detailed history of edits, you can be calm about inconsistent actions. We'll fix everything. You can, if desired, add the required number of users in the same way, who will be able to work with files in this folder.

View a previous version of a file in DropBox and restore it

How file changes rollback works stored in Dropbox cloud storage? Surprisingly simple. For example, I placed the Draft file in the “Public” folder and edited it in both accounts for which this folder was shared. Now right-click on this file and select View Previous Versions:

As a result, a browser window will open with the web interface of this cloud storage, where for this particular file all the changes made to it will be scheduled every minute, indicating the name of the person who did it. In addition, you can check the box next to the desired backup copy of the document and click on the "Restore" button to roll back unsuccessful or accidentally saved changes:

This is exactly why I love Dropbox. Now I have all the files that I periodically make changes to are stored in my local Dropbox folder, in order to be calm not only for their safety, but also for the fact that erroneous saving will not kill all the years of work. True, in a free account the history of changes will be kept for only one month and then removed.

If it is important for you to keep the history of changes longer, then you will have to activate the Packrat service by first switching to one of the paid tariffs. By the way, about the birds.

Cloud storage expansion through bonuses

In addition to the attraction of referrals described just above (this can be used to grind up to 16 gigs of additional space), there is a promotion Samsung + Dropbox, which in my case brought me immediately 48 GB additional space in this cloud storage for a period of two years:

I just installed Dropbox on my wife's mobile phone (Gnusmas Galaxy C3), logged into my account and received a letter of congratulations almost immediately. If you add all the other bonuses to the maximum, you get somewhere in the region of 64 Gigs, which is already comparable to the first paid tariff of 100 gigs, for which you would have to pay ten evergreens every month. Pretty nice hack.

By the way, in addition to referrals, it will also be possible to fill out a checklist on the page " Where to begin" , thereby adding a few more hard gigabytes to your cloud, especially since this will be the very “young fighter course”, after passing which you will completely get used to Dropbox. In general, combine business with pleasure:

Let's now take a look at online version of the service, which will be available to you always and without installing additional programs - through a regular or mobile browser. To access your cloud drive, you will have to enter the Email specified during registration and the password invented there.

Working with the Dropbox web interface

By default, the contents of the Dropbox folder are opened, where the entire folder and file structure you created on your computer will be repeated (due to synchronization). Actually, the web interface allows you to do everything the same as the desktop program, but at the same time you can work with cloud files from any computer - you just need to log in.

When you right-click on a file or folder, a context menu will open, allowing you to perform a number of actions on this object, shown in the screenshot (download for editing, delete, share, share the folder, move, copy or rename).

A little higher are buttons for uploading an edited or a new file, for creating a new folder, for sharing it (you will be prompted to either create a new folder and make it shared, or select from existing ones), as well as to show all deleted by you or other users file account.

On the tab "General access" all shared folders in which you work with files together with other invited Dropbox users (well, or with those who invited you) will be listed. And on the tab "Links" you will find a list of all public links to folders and files in your account:

There it will be possible to copy the public link again, or eliminate the possibility of public viewing of these folders and files using the crosses located at the end of the lines. On the tab "News" you will find an event log (protocol) where you can track over time all the actions ever taken by anyone in your account. We just talked about the purpose of the “Where to start” tab.

If you click on your name and surname, which are located in the upper right corner, then from the drop-down list you can select items to log out of your account (if you need to log into another one); to switch to another tariff plan (Expand opportunities); in order to download the latest version of Dropbox (Install), and finally, in order to get into settings of this wonderful cloud service(Settings):

On the first tab of Dropobox settings, called "Intelligence", you will be able to view your available disk space in this cloud service and how much of it is still free.

On the tab "Account settings" you can change your first and last name, linked email address, as well as connect your Dropbox account with Twitter, Facebook, Gmail or Yahoo. Well, and something else can be configured there, up to the complete removal of your account from this cloud (link at the bottom of the settings window).

DropBox Hack Protection

at the bottom of the window "Protection" you will find a list of devices from which this account has ever been accessed so that an unauthorized connection can be tracked, and just below there will be a list of browsers in which you worked with Dropbox using your login and password.

At the top of this window, it will be possible to change just this very password, as well as uncheck the boxes about notifications coming to your mail when a new device is connected to your cloud or any application accesses it.

Interestingly, there it will be possible enable 2-Step Verification, which can seriously increase the security of working with your account in this cloud service (read about similar ones). What it is?

Everything is simply banal. In addition to entering your login and password, now when you connect from a new device, you will be required to confirm by the mobile phone specified in the settings (either you will receive a code in an SMS message, or a code from a mobile application). When you log in again from the same device (computer, mobile phone, tablet), normal authorization will suffice. It is very convenient, and most importantly, it greatly increases the security of working with your files in this cloud storage.

So feel free to click on the link. "Change" and in the pop-up window, click on the "Getting Started" button. Since this is a very responsible matter, you will be asked to enter the password for your Dropbox account again. Next, you will be offered a choice of two options for working - either enter the code from incoming SMS messages, or install a special application on your mobile phone:

SMS messages are free, so I chose the first option without further ado, and at the next step I indicated the country and number of my mobile phone, which immediately received an SMS with a code that I had to enter in the next window of the two-step verification connection wizard. Next, I was asked to indicate a backup cell phone number, which may be needed if the first one is unavailable or lost.

Well, at the very end they offered remember (write down) the security code, which will help disable two-step verification if it is impossible to access your Dropbox account using it:

Now if anyone even learns your username and password from your Dropbox account, then when you try to log in, he will be very puzzled by a request to enter a security code that will be sent to your mobile phone:

How to use mobile versions of Dropbox

Let's now talk a little about the mobile versions of the Dropbox program, which will allow us to view documents and files from this cloud folder on a tablet or smartphone, as well as edit them or add our own. The principle of operation of mobile versions of programs is somewhat different from how the desktop version works.

The fact is that the default desktop version of the program tries to fully synchronize files from the cloud storage folder with files from the local Dropbox folder. This is quite logical and convenient, because the Internet for the vast majority of users of this program is unlimited, and hard disk gigabytes are such that the size of files downloaded from the cloud is unlikely to be too noticeable. However, you are always free to exclude unnecessary folders from the synchronization process in the settings of the desktop version of the program (see above).

Another thing is mobile phones or tablets, where the size of the data storage space can be significantly inferior to the size of your folder in the cloud storage. How to be here? The developers acted quite simply - by default, the files in the cloud are completely are not copied or stored on mobile devices. When a user opens one of the folders and wants to see a picture, an office document, or something similar, this file is downloaded to his mobile phone upon request.

If you need to have copies of files from the cloud storage on your smartphone or tablet that would be available offline, then you will need everything add such files to favorites. It is very convenient, for example, by connecting at home via Wi-fi, you can add to your favorites all the documents or media files that you will need on the way to work, and you will not be able to splurge on expensive mobile traffic, which is not always the case to be all in the same subway .

Well, if you have a Gnusmas (Samsung) smartphone based on Android, then by finding the Dropbox program on Google Play, installing it and logging into your account, you may well receive a bonus in the form of additional gigabytes to your cloud storage. Personally, I got about 50 gigs of freebies.

But this does not mean at all that it makes no sense for iPhone and iPad owners to go to the App Store and install a similar program - even without additional goodies, Dropbox will give you a lot of convenience and pleasant sensations.

Automatically save photos from your gadget to Dropbox

When you first start the program, you will be prompted automatically save all made by you on mobile phone or tablet Photo and video to a separate folder in the Dropbox cloud. At the same time, by default, they offer to automatically download footage only when connected to the Internet via Wifi, so as not to waste mobile traffic, but you are free to choose the second, more wasteful option:

This was a screenshot from the iPad, but on an android smartphone, the picture will be similar:

Here you will really be asked about the fate of the photos and videos already on your phone - when the checkbox is checked, they will all be merged into a cloud folder Camera Uploads. What is noteworthy, for each of your mobile devices will not create a separate folder - everything will be merged into one "Camera Uploads". But it's still very convenient.

Documents or files that you create in other programs on your mobile devices can be transferred to the Dropbox program, which will merge these files, in turn, into the cloud service, so that at home you can continue working on this document on your computer. As an example, there are a lot of use cases for Dropbox and not all of them are obvious. You need to install the program and try to understand the beauty of the cloud.

Program window on iPad you can see in the screenshot below:

At the bottom of the left column are four tabs: the contents of the Dropbox folder; photo and video storage for your iPad; selected files and program settings, which were just opened in the screenshot above. There are not many settings, but it's still something.

Any file from the Dropbox folder you can Add to favorites using the icon in the form of a star, which is located in the upper right corner of the screen. All files added to favorites will be stored in the memory of your mobile device and you can access them even when you are offline on the corresponding tab in the left column of the program window. When viewing files in the Dropbox folder, favorites will be marked with asterisks:

Just above the second tab icon in the left column of the program (your iPad photo and video storage) will show the number of new files that have not yet been uploaded to the cloud service. In order to correct this annoying misunderstanding, it will be enough to go to this tab and the file synchronization will start immediately (if you are connected via Wi-Fi). It is quite convenient to download media files captured on a mobile device to a computer in this way.

Approximately the same work is organized in the program for smartphones. based on android:

You can add individual files from the Dropbox folder to your favorites for storage in the device's memory and upload all the photos and videos captured by your mobile device to the cloud. Quite comfortable and unobtrusive. For example, in this way I transfer books to the iPad that are installed there.

Some mobile applications can use this cloud service to sync your files with desktop applications. Somehow I wrote about, which I now use in order to avoid stealing passwords from a computer by trojans (after that). So, Kipas stores passwords in an encrypted database, which, however, no one bothers you to place in the Dropbox folder, for its greater safety and accessibility from other computers.

Then on the iPad it will be possible to install, for example, the KyPass application, which can use the Kipas database downloaded from Dropbox. And there are many such programs. They can access your cloud storage and use it for their own purposes, some of which may be quite unexpected.

There are also desktop apps that can connect to your Dropbox account and use its folder to transfer files or data. For example, in this way you can monitor another computer - the program takes screenshots of the desktop at specified intervals and sends them to the cloud. There is a program that simplifies the synchronization of program settings on different computers by placing files with settings in a cloud folder, and leaves shortcuts in their place.

There are also programs that allow you to encrypt the contents of the Dropbox folder on the fly, and another program installed on another computer decrypts the whole thing on the fly. However, it seems to me more acceptable in this case to use a time-tested encryption program. For example, it is quite easy to create in a cloud directory, and put a portable version of the same program next to it so that this container can be decrypted on another computer.

There is even one called wp Time Machine, which can create and place your blog in the folder of this cloud service (wp-content directory and database dump). You will only need to specify the login and password from your Dropbox account in the plugin settings and name the folder where the backups will be stored.

In general, there are a lot of opportunities and I will be glad if you share your work on using Dropbox.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

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Yandex Disk - how to enter and create your page, how to upload photos and videos, as well as 7 reasons to use this particular cloud
Clip2net - how to take screenshots and post them online for free How to search by file content in Total Commander

Selective sync lets you free up space on your hard drive without deleting files from your Dropbox account.

How does selective sync work?

When you upload a file via , it is automatically saved both in your account and on your hard drive. With selective sync, you can select folders that will be removed from your hard drive but remain in your online account.

If you have a Dropbox Plus, Dropbox Professional, or Dropbox Business account, we recommend using , which is a more advanced version of selective sync.

Video: How to use selective sync

Watch this step-by-step video to learn how to use selective sync.

How to enable selective sync

By enabling selective sync, you can decide which files to remove from your hard drive.

1. Make sure you're using the Dropbox desktop app.
2. Click the Dropbox app's icon in .
   • On Linux, you may first need to click on the up arrow ("") to see the Dropbox icon
3. Click on your profile photo or initials.
   • Skip this step if you are using Linux
4. Click the "Options..." button in the menu.
5. Click Sync.
6. Select "Selective Sync..." (on Linux and Windows computers) or "Select folders to sync" (on Mac computers).
7. Uncheck the boxes to the left of all folders that you do not want to store on your computer's hard drive.
   • Please note that all folders marked with a green check mark are currently downloaded to your computer.
8. After that click "Update".

What happens if you uncheck the box next to the shared folder?

If you uncheck the box next to a shared folder, that folder will no longer sync with your computer, as will any subfolders it contains.

You will still be a member of this public folder, and it will appear in your account on the site. In this case, the folder itself will remain active for all other users who have access to it.

Who will surprise you with cloud storage today? Many people use these services on a daily basis. However, any data storage service can be used in very unexpected ways: for synchronizing settings between computers, storing notes, remote PC control, hosting Git repositories, and many other, sometimes completely non-obvious things.

There are already several hundred services that allow you to store data on a cloud drive (have you ever heard of Seafile, for example?). However, in this article we will talk about the most popular and versatile of them - Dropbox. It works everywhere and on everything and is supported by thousands of apps and web apps. And if you don't have a Dropbox account, then you spent the last ten years in a cryogenic chamber.

1. Personal iTunes

Let's start with the simplest - storing music. For this purpose, Dropbox is just perfect: just put the MP3 in the Dropbox folder on your computer, and then listen to it on another machine or mobile device using the official app or on dropbox.com.

But this approach has its own problems. The mobile version of the Dropbox app for any platform just doesn't have the ability to automatically sync the entire drive. Of course, you can mark the file for offline access, but this will have to be done for each track separately. And listening to music directly through the Dropbox client is not only strange, but also terribly inconvenient.

In this situation, a player with built-in support for Dropbox will not interfere. There are many of those. If you have Android, install AirBeats or . iOS? Your option is Jukebox. Windows Phone... we won't criticize your choice, but there is an application for you, it's called Smart Player.

All of them are able to download information about music from Dropbox, catalog, combine into albums and even listen offline (download in advance). If you really appreciate your favorite player and do not want to change it, then there is another way (at least if you are an Android user) - the Dropsync application. It's kind of like the desktop version of the Dropbox smartphone client. It automatically synchronizes the cloud drive or individual folders with the smartphone's memory card.

2. Sync books and reading positions

The same Dropsync is convenient to use to synchronize an archive of books between a computer and devices. A similar function is supported by many book readers. For example, FBReader can save every book you open on your device to Dropbox or Google Drive, so that it becomes available on all other devices.

Many book readers, including the same FBReader and Moon Reader, use Dropbox to synchronize reading position. So you can start reading a book on your tablet at home and continue on your smartphone in the subway.

3. Synchronization of configs

Let's say you have several machines: a home computer, a laptop and a netbook. All have the same operating system installed, and you would like the settings of installed applications to be automatically synchronized between all machines.

If you use macOS or Linux, then synchronization will be easy to organize with your bare hands. It is enough to transfer the application settings file to Dropbox, and then create a link to it inside Dropbox in place of the original file. For example, synchronizing Bash settings is done in three commands:

$ mkdir ~/Dropbox/configs $ mv ~/.bashrc ~/Dropbox/configs/ $ ln -s ~/Dropbox/configs/.bashrc ~/.bashrc

If you run these three commands on the donor machine, and the last one on all other machines (removing the original config if necessary), then any changes to the Bash settings will automatically be synchronized with the rest of the machines.

In order not to bother with manually transferring settings, you can use the Mackup script. It supports a huge number of applications, and all you need to do to sync your settings is install it.

$ brew install mackup // macOS $ pip install mackup // Linux

Now enable sync.

$ macup backup

It does the same thing as the described commands, that is, it simply transfers the settings to Dropbox. On a new, not yet synchronized machine, run the macup restore command.

But what if you're using Windows? In this case, everything is very sad. Here, applications can store settings anywhere, from their folder to the registry, so it will take a long time to figure out where everything is and copy the files by hand.

4. Notes

Dropbox can be a handy place to store notes. Not only because it is available from any device, but also because you can edit notes in your favorite text editor. On a phone or tablet, you can, for example, use for Android or Drafts for iOS.

By the way, Windows desktop users will do well to keep their Documents folder in Dropbox. To do this, right-click on the folder, select "Properties" and specify the path inside the Dropbox folder instead of the standard path.

Continued available to members only

Option 1. Join the "site" community to read all the materials on the site

Membership in the community during the specified period will give you access to ALL Hacker materials, increase your personal cumulative discount and allow you to accumulate a professional Xakep Score rating!

Smart Sync is a Dropbox feature that helps you save space on your computer's hard drive. You will have access to all the files and folders in your Dropbox on your computer, and they will take up virtually no space on your hard drive. Smart Sync is available for Dropbox Plus and Professional users and members of Dropbox Business teams. With Smart Sync, you can:

• Set preferences for individual files and folders so that they are only available online or saved on your device (offline mode)
• Set default sync settings for new files and folders that are shared with you

When you start using Smart Sync:

• no changes are made to files already stored in the Dropbox folder on your computer
• new files created on the site or on another device will only be displayed online and will not take up space on your device

When Smart Sync is used, the data on your computer is available either online only, or offline (stored on the device's disk), or in folders of both.

	Data only online Online-only data appears in the Dropbox folder on your computer, but doesn't take up as much space as regular files would. You see the files, but they will only be fully downloaded to your computer if you need them. In the meantime, you only downloaded data about the file (for example, its name, location, last modified date).
	Offline Data Offline data is downloaded to your computer and stored on your hard drive. They can be edited directly from programs on your computer. In addition, this content is also stored in Dropbox.
	Folders with mixed status Folders with mixed status contain both online-only data and offline data.

Start using Smart Sync

To start using Smart Sync, you need to. If you're prompted to turn on Smart Sync during installation, follow the on-screen instructions to enable the system extension from Dropbox. You can also enable a system extension later.

To connect a system extension:

1. Log in to your account on the site site.
2. Click your profile photo in the top corner of any page.
3. Click Settings and, if required, select General.
4. Scroll the screen to Dropbox system extension.
5. Slide the switch to position On.

How to check if Smart Sync is enabled:

1. Click on the Dropbox app icon in
2. Click on your profile photo or initials in the top right corner.
3. Click Options…
4. Select General.
5. If you see the message "Smart Sync is not enabled", tap Turn on.

Please note that if you are a member of a Dropbox Business team, your administrator can disable Smart Sync for the entire team.

Click on your operating system to learn how to use Smart Sync:

1. 1. Click on   in the menu bar.
   2. Click on the folder icon.
   3. Select Open folder.
2. Select Smart Sync.
3. Select Only online.

You can, as usual, open any file through the appropriate program or Finder, and Dropbox will download the entire file to your computer.

1. Open the Dropbox folder on your computer.
   1. Click on   in the menu bar.
   2. Click on the folder icon.
   3. Select Open folder.
2. Find the data you want to sync with your computer.
3. Click on the relevant file or folder with the right mouse button, or click on it while holding down the Ctrl key.
4. Select Smart Sync.
5. Select Auth. mode.

1. Click on   in the menu bar.
2. Options... in the popup menu.
3. Click Synchronization.
4. :
   • Default Administrator
   • Auth. mode
   • Online only

1. 1. Click the Dropbox icon in .
   2. Click on the folder icon.
   3. Select Open folder.
2. Find the data you want to make available online only.
3. Select Smart Sync.
4. Select Only online.

How do I sync online-only data with my computer?

You can, as usual, open any file through the appropriate program or Windows Explorer, and Dropbox will download the entire file to your computer.

To sync a file or folder without opening it, you can take it offline:

1. Open the Dropbox folder on your computer.
   1. Click the Dropbox icon in .
   2. Click on the folder icon.
   3. Select Open folder.
2. Find the data you want to make available online only.
3. Click on the appropriate file or folder with the right mouse button.
4. Select Smart Sync.
5. Select Auth. mode.

How to choose appropriate default settings for new data?

1. Click the Dropbox icon in .
2. Click on your profile photo or initials and select Options... in the popup menu.
3. Click Synchronization.
4. Select your work Dropbox account.
5. Select the desired option in the section Smart sync by default:
   • Default Administrator: The default settings defined by your team administrator.
   • Auth. mode: All data is downloaded to your computer.
   • Online only: You can manually download files to your computer when you need them.

Video: How to use Smart Sync

Watch this video to learn how to use Smart Sync.

How to automatically save hard drive space

If you have not opened files and folders for several months, they will become available online only. To change this setting:

1. Click the Dropbox app's icon in .
2. Click on your profile photo or initials.
3. Click on the menu Options…
4. Click Synchronization.
5. Select your work Dropbox account.
6. Put the switch ON/OFF In chapter Save hard drive space automatically to the right position.

Please note: This feature is available on Dropbox and . Dropbox Business admins can subscribe their teams to this feature through a section in the admin console settings.

What are the system requirements for Smart Sync?

Smart Sync works on Microsoft Windows 7, Mac OSX 10.9 and later systems.

Using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to access Smart Sync files is not supported. Crashes may occur and documents may appear empty if you try to open files available online only.

How long does it take for Smart Sync to free up space on your hard drive?

Typically, when you make certain files available online only, it takes a few minutes for your hard drive to free up space (assuming your computer is connected to the web and can sync with Dropbox). However, there is a certain limitation for the macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) operating system:

Apple's macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) operating system uses a new type of file system called APFS. When using APFS, the operating system takes snapshots of the file system and available hard drive space, and these snapshots may not update after you turn on Smart Sync and make your Dropbox files available online only. Thus, if the corresponding snapshot has not been updated, the hard disk space freed up by Smart Sync may not be immediately displayed or made available.

Eventually, the operating system frees up space, but for varying lengths of time. This is not due to a feature of Dropbox, but to this particular feature of macOS.

Some of my folders are set to selective sync, how do I make files in those folders available online only?

Use these instructions to change in your folders. When selective sync is no longer used for these folders, they will automatically become online-only.

If I make a file available online only, will it be removed from my Dropbox?

No, making a file available online only will not remove the file from your Dropbox. When you make a file available online only, the content of that file is deleted from your computer, but the full version of the file will still be available in your account on the site and on your other devices.

Do online-only files take up space on your hard drive?

Online-only files take up a tiny amount of space on your hard drive: information about the file (such as its name and size) is stored there. But such information takes up less space than the entire file itself.

Some of your programs may need to re-sync files to your hard drive in order to work properly (for example, programs that have a "Recently Viewed" menu). In some cases, Dropbox will try to make the file online-only again at the first opportunity to save space on your hard drive.

Will I be able to access online-only files when I'm not connected to the Internet?

No, it won't, online-only data is not stored offline on your computer's hard drive. To access them, you need to connect to the Internet.

Can I move online-only files inside my Dropbox folder?

Yes, you can move online-only files inside the Dropbox folder on your computer and the changes will sync across your other devices. If you move online-only data outside of your Dropbox folder, the data will be downloaded to the appropriate location.

What happens if I delete an online-only file or move it to the Trash?

Any changes made to an online-only file are synced to your Dropbox account and to the accounts of anyone who has shared the file. Since such a file has not been stored on your computer's hard drive, its contents will not be available in the Recycle Bin. Such a deleted file can be restored in your Dropbox account on the site.

Can I find online-only files and search their contents using the search function on my computer?

With the search function on your computer, you can find online-only files and folders by name. But online-only files are not entirely stored on your hard drive, so you won't be able to search their content.

Can I set different Smart Sync settings on different devices?

Yes, Smart Sync settings are specific to each device you connect to your Dropbox account.

Can I store offline-accessible (entirely saved to my computer) files in online-only folders?

Yes, if the folder itself is available only online, you can download individual files inside it to your computer.

Can I completely delete data from a device without deleting it from my Dropbox?

Yes, if you do not want any files to be stored on your device, use . By enabling selective synchronization, you can choose which files will appear on your computer and which will be available only on the website.

Can I use Smart Sync on my personal Dropbox account?

Smart Sync is available for Dropbox Plus, Professional, and Dropbox Business users. If your personal (Basic) account is connected to your work account, Smart Sync will not be available from your personal account.

Do I need to install any driver to connect Smart Sync?

Yes, for Smart Sync you need to connect a specific driver (or system extension) in order to integrate with the file system of your operating system.

On Mac and Windows computers, drivers are typically used to communicate with peripherals (such as a mouse and printer). With our driver, Dropbox can sync files to your file system when you open them (this applies to online-only data). This driver is only designed to provide the necessary integration for Smart Sync. The driver only interacts with files in Dropbox.