dropbox's history and features

1. DROPBOX

2. FEATURES OF DROPBOX
• Share Screenshots Quickly
• Add Comments to Files
• View Any File Without Installing Extra Software
• Edit Microsoft Office Files Online for Free
• Use Selective Sync to Save Space
• Favorite Files to View Them on Mobile
• Go Back in Time With Previous Versions

3. HOW TO USE
THESE FEATURES

4. SHARE SCREENSHOTS QUICKLY
• Tired of taking screenshots, dragging them into Dropbox, and then copying the share
link?
• There's a quicker way: all you need to do is enable Dropbox's screenshot-sharing
feature on your Mac or PC. Open your Dropbox app preferences (click the Dropbox
icon in your menu bar, click the gear icon, then select Preferences), select the Import
tab, and check the Save screenshots using Dropbox box.
• Now, just take screenshots as normal, and Dropbox will save them to
/dropbox/screenshots and copy a share link to your clipboard automatically. You can
paste the link into your chat app, email, or wherever else you want to share it.

5. ADD COMMENTS TO FILES
• Sharing a Dropbox folder is pretty straightforward: you can right-click on any folder or file,
and either invite someone to join your folder or just share a link to the file. And now, with
Dropbox's new commenting feature, you can quit using email or chat to discuss your
changes to the file.
• To add comments to any file, just right-click on the file in your Dropbox folder and select
Comment on this file. Alternately, just open any file in Dropbox.com. Either way, you'll see a
preview of the file online, with a sidebar on the right to add comments. Type out your
comments, and add your colleagues' names with an @ symbol to mention them in a
comment. They'll get a notification in Dropbox or their email inbox, and you'll see the
comments appear in real-time as they're added.
• It's an easy way to keep the conversation about your files in the same place, so nothing
gets lost. Plus, as you work on the file together in Dropbox, the online preview will update
so everyone always sees the latest version.

6. VIEW ANY FILE WITHOUT INSTALLING
EXTRA SOFTWARE
• Speaking of previews, Dropbox's file preview tool is actually one of its more handy features.
If you want feedback on an Adobe Illustrator file, and the rest of your team doesn't have
Illustrator installed, no problem: Dropbox can preview dozens of file types online, so the
only software you need is a browser.
• You can read full PDF documents, flip through PowerPoint presentation slides, preview
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator designs, and watch full-length videos right from
Dropbox.com. There's a zoom tool to dig in deeper—especially handy for larger design
files—and even a print button to make a hard copy.
• Dropbox won't let you preview every file, but usually if Dropbox shows an icon or
thumbnail for a file online, just click it to see a full preview. You'll never again need to waste
space downloading Dropbox videos or installing apps you'll only use once.

7. EDIT MICROSOFT OFFICE FILES
ONLINE FOR FREE
• Need a quick way to edit Microsoft Office files right from Dropbox? The new integration
with Office Online—a free basic version of Microsoft Office that runs in your browser—is
just what you need. You can open and edit Office files from Dropbox, without installing a
copy of Office.
• Just select any Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file in Dropbox, then on the Open button you
can choose to open the file on your computer or in Office Online. Alternately, just go to
Office.com, select the Microsoft Office app you want to use, and browse your Dropbox files
for Office documents to edit.
• Office Online doesn't include every feature you'd expect in the desktop version, but you'll
find enough features to create new documents and spreadsheets, format text and images,
and crunch some numbers. You can even add comments and annotations to documents,
then preview them back in Dropbox along with any other Dropbox comments your team
may have added.

8. USE SELECTIVE SYNC TO SAVE SPACE
• With online previews and Office file editing online, you might find that you need fewer
of your Dropbox files actually stored on your computer. If you need some extra space,
you can use Dropbox's Selective Sync to store only your most important files on your
computer.
• Just open your Dropbox preferences, select the Account tab, then click the Change
Settings… button beside the Selective Sync entry. There, you can select the folders and
files you want to sync to your computer. Everything else will stay online, where you can
still view and comment on it.
• It's an especially handy trick if you're using Dropbox to back up your photos, videos,
and other larger files. You can upload them to Dropbox, then once they're finished
syncing just remove their folders via Selective Sync.

9. FAVORITE FILES TO VIEW THEM ON
MOBILE
• When you're on the go (i.e. using a mobile device), you might need access to specific
files even when an internet connection is nowhere to be found. Dropbox sync will keep
all your important files on your desktop and laptop just fine, but on a mobile device,
Dropbox relies on your internet connection to download files as you need them.
• But for must-have files, Dropbox includes a favorites feature in its mobile apps. Just
find the files you need to view offline, swipe to the right, then tap the star icon.
Dropbox will download the files to your device, and you can view them anywhere—
even offline—from the Favorites menu in your Dropbox app.
• Once you're done with the file, you can tap the star again to un-favorite it and clear up
space on your phone.

10. GO BACK IN TIME WITH PREVIOUS
VERSIONS
• There's a big difference between Save and Save As…, as anyone who's accidentally
overwritten an important document can tell you.
• Dropbox has your back with its Previous Version feature. Whenever you realize you've
messed up a file, just right-click on the file and select View Previous Versions. Or, if you
deleted a file and want to bring it back, find its parent folder in Dropbox.com and click the
View Deleted Files button in the top.
• Either way, you'll get a list of the older versions of your file, where you can restore the
correct version in a click.
• For example, if you shared your resume with via Dropbox link, but noticed a typo, you could
restore an earlier version even after hitting send; your potential new employer will see the
corrected document, not the one you sent at first.

11. HISTORY OF
DROPBOX

12. HISTORY OF DROPBOX
• Dropbox founder Drew Houston conceived the Dropbox concept after repeatedly forgetting
his USB flash drive while he was a student at MIT. In a 2009 "Meet the Team" post on the
Dropbox blog, he wrote that existing services at the time "suffered problems with
Internet latency, large files, bugs, or just made me think too much." He began making something
for his personal use, but then realized that it could benefit others with the same
problems.[9] Houston founded Dropbox, Inc. in June 2007, and shortly thereafter secured seed
funding from Y Combinatory. Dropbox officially launched at 2008's TechCrunch Disrupt, an
annual technology conference. Owing to trademark disputes between Proxy, Inc. and Evenflow
(Dropbox's parent company), Dropbox's official domain name was "getdropbox.com" until
October 2009, when it acquired its current domain, "dropbox.com". In an interview
with TechCrunch's "Founder Stories" in October 2011, Houston explained that a demo video was
released during Dropbox's early days, with one viewer being Arash Ferdowsi. Ferdowsi was "so
impressed" that they formed a partnership. In regards to competition, Houston stated that "It is
easy for me to explain the idea, it is actually really hard to do it."