Here’s how you can create a share folder and share it with your friends. First of all, if you have not used Dropbox, download and install the desktop client, register a Dropbox account and get yourself started. Open your file manager and navigate to the Dropbox folder. Create a new folder that you want to share (let’s call it the Share folder). Right click on the Share folder. Navigate to Dropbox -> Share This Folder.
This will open your default browser and launch the Dropbox Web interface. Enter the email address(es) of the person(s) that you want to share the folder with. Optionally you can leave a comment or two.
Once the folder is shared, Dropbox will immediately sync it to your desktop. You should now see a new icon on the share folder.
The recipient will receive an email that looks like the following:
Clicking on the link will bring the recipient to the Dropbox’s site. If the recipient does not has a Dropbox account, he/she will be prompted to create one. Else, he/she can log into their account and find the shared folder in the Sharing tab.
That’s it.
What you can/cannot do with the share folder
You can’t share a folder from within your Public folder You can’t share a folder inside another shared folder. The folder is already shared Anyone you’ve invited to a folder can then add, delete or change files within that folder Anyone you’ve invited to a folder can then invite others to join the folder Only the creator of the shared folder can remove people from the folder If two people both open and edit a file in a shared folder at the same time, Dropbox will save both of their changes, but in separate files. It does not try to automatically combine or merge changes.
If you know of more tricks with Dropbox, do let us know in the comments.
