Never Email, Never Lose Another File

Have you ever emailed a file to yourself to work on later from a different computer? Have you ever delivered files on CD or DVD because they were too big to email? Yeah. Me too. It can be most frustrating trying to get a massive file to finally leave your outbox. With clients, I find one of the biggest challenges to working off-site is sharing large files.

We have 3 solutions in place for clients to send files to us, and one solution for 2-way file sharing. So here are some solutions that work for me:
Dropbox - Sync your files

  • FTP access
  • Custom PHP forms for client uploads
  • Dropbox.

FTP works really well for 1-way file transfer but it is sometimes hard to predict just what a user’s experience will be. Each browser seems to have its own way of handling FTP transactions. To simplify, we developed an online file-submission form.

We have 3 basic forms for file submission: for new clients, for existing clients with new projects, and for existing projects that just need a new file. They all perform the same magic but require varying amounts of data input. This is another 1-way solution which doesn’t help deliver files to clients. Enter Dropbox.

Dropbox offers file sync, sharing, and secure backup in one software application that integrates seamlessly with your operating system, and is also accessible from anywhere via the Dropbox website. With a user base that is growing by 200,000 people each month, Dropbox is the leading software of its kind on the market. I discovered Dropbox when my family needed a way for us to share vacation photos from 6 different cameras. We ended up with a shared directory where we could drop all our favorite pics. Since then, I’ve found a million great business uses for it, including syncing my desktop calendar and address book between each of my computers and my iPhone.

Dropbox is free if you have limited storage needs and there is a professional subscription level as well. Dropbox is an excellent solution that has worked flawlessly for my needs, personal and business.

—slw—————