Goggle Drive Works Really Great For Sharing Chief Files

[dshall]

Many folks believe the "DropBox" files are only located out in the cloud but that is not the case. Yes there is a copy of the file kept on the DropBox server(s) but it is just that, a copy of the most recently updated local file, uploaded to the DropBox server(s) from whatever computer you where using when you last worked on that file. The DropBox application insures that the local files on your computers are kept in sync. A file changed on Computer A gets uploaded to the server, then downloaded to Computers B,C,D etc as needed.

Where on my computer would I find the file? I did not save it to a folder. Try this, open a new plan, draw four walls and save it to the drop box folder. Shut the computer down, restart the computer, I would venture to guess that the only place you will find that file is in the drop box folder.

If you do this test and find the file anywhere else than in the drop box folder, please let me know and I will fall onto my magical sword and swear my allegiance to you for the rest of my life....... or at least until tomorrow morning.

[fcwilt]

Where on my computer would I find the file? I did not save it to a folder. Try this, open a new plan, draw four walls and save it to the drop box folder. Shut the computer down, restart the computer, I would venture to guess that the only place you will find that file is in the drop box folder.

You will only find that file in your DropBox folder BUT as I said that folder and all the folders/files in it are normal Windows folders/files that are located on your local hard disk.

The ONLY thing that makes them "special" is the DropBox application has asked Windows to monitor those folders/files for changes and tell the DropBox application so it can upload the changed files to the DropBox server.

If you update a file, in the DropBox folders(s) on Computer A, any copies of that file on Computers B, C, D, etc are now out of date. The DropBox application on Computer A, informed of the changed files(s) by Windows, will upload those changed files to the DropBox server(s). The DropBox application on Computers B, C, D, etc will determine (by communicating with the DropBox server(s)) that the local files (on Computers B, C, D, etc) are out of date and get the new updated files from the DropBox server(s).

[dshall]

You will only find that file in your DropBox folder BUT as I said that folder and all the folders/files in it are normal Windows folders/files that are located on your local hard disk.

The ONLY thing that makes them "special" is the DropBox application has asked Windows to monitor those folders/files for changes and tell the DropBox application so it can upload the changed files to the DropBox server.

If you update a file, in the DropBox folders(s) on Computer A, any copies of that file on Computers B, C, D, etc are now out of date. The DropBox application on Computer A, informed of the changed files(s) by Windows, will upload those changed files to the DropBox server(s). The DropBox application on Computers B, C, D, etc will determine (by communicating with the DropBox server(s)) that the local files (on Computers B, C, D, etc) are out of date and get the new updated files from the DropBox server(s).

I assume that what ever you just said is true. I will not argue. I will say that I just opened a file at home from drop box that I edited at the office 2 hours ago, on a different computer, and it opened up to the latest changes I had made at the office. So if you agree with what I just said, and you believe what I just said, we are not in dispute. I truly do not understand what you are saying.

All I am saying is all of my files now reside in drop box, and no matter what computer I use to access those files, when I do access said files, they reclect the latest revisions, and none of the files are on any of my computers, they are on drop box. I have not files except those files which are on drop box.

Do you agree that what I just stated is true?

[dshall]

Did anybody try this test?

Try this, open a new plan, draw four walls and save it to the drop box folder. Shut the computer down, restart the computer, I would venture to guess that the only place you will find that file is in the drop box folder.

If you do this test and find the file anywhere else than in the drop box folder, please let me know and I will fall onto my magical sword and swear my allegiance to you for the rest of my life....... or at least until tomorrow morning.

[PhoenixConstruction]

Scott;

I just saw this thread, so if what I'm saying is redundant, my apologies - Your beginning assertion that drop box is not a folder on your hard drive, as you probably already know is in error, but to verify here's the way to check;

Click on "Computer" in your start folder, and then double click your main hard drive (usually MAIN (C: )). Go down to "Users" and double click, and then to [probably] your name "Scott", and double click. You will see a "Dropbox" file folder (right there on your main hard drive, in living color, just like all of the other file folders). If you double click it, you'll see all of the files you put there.

On your desktop, where the dropbox shortcut is, is just that, a shortcut as noted by the little blue arrow down in the bottom left corner, which means that that is a shortcut to a file that is on your hard drive, or any other drive for that matter. When you are on the desktop, you are actually in a folder that is called "Desktop", which has lots of other folders and shortcuts. By the way, you'll also see the "Desktop" folder in the same file location as your Dropbox folder.

Knowing how your computer uses files and folders, and how it manages them is pretty important if you ever need to hunt something down. If you have ten drives on your computer, and you want quick access to any file on any of them, for instance a plan file you're working on. just right click on the file and drag to your desktop, and then choose "create shortcut here", and you'll have desktop access to that file. Try this one for a project that you're working on a lot; open your dropbox folder, find the file, say the "SMITH JOB" - now right click on it and drag it to your desktop and then choose "create shortcuts here". Now, instead of having to find the file every time, you just double click the "shortcut" (SMITH JOB), and Chief will start up if it isn't already, and you have the smith job. any changes saved will save to the original [dropbox] folder, and when you close, it will be there. When you're done with the job, delete the shortcut, and there is no consequence to the actual file, and dropbox will do their job of synchronizing it to your other devices.

Hope this helps.

[fcwilt]

One other thing. You perhaps know that using Windows Explorer you can select a Folder, right click it and open the "Properties" dialog. From this dialog you can determine various things about the folder and perform various actions on it.

If you do this on your DropBox folder (or any other local folder) you will see, on the "General" tab of the "Properties" dialog the location of that folder.

[dshall]

One other thing. You perhaps know that using Windows Explorer you can select a Folder, right click it and open the "Properties" dialog. From this dialog you can determine various things about the folder and perform various actions on it.

If you do this on your DropBox folder (or any other local folder) you will see, on the "General" tab of the "Properties" dialog the location of that folder.

Come on Fred, more gobbledy goop, what are you saying? Is there a point you are trying to get to, or am I as dense as lead?

[dshall]

Oh, by the way, did you carry out my simple test? And if not, why not? And if you did, what is the conclusion you reached?

[fcwilt]

Oh, by the way, did you carry out my simple test? And if not, why not? And if you did, what is the conclusion you reached?

Your posting faster then I can keep up.

I did not perform your test because I know what would happen and why.

Your observations are correct - your conclusions as to how DropBox works are wrong - that's all.

[Dave Pitman]

Scott, try this.

Create a simple plan file and save to DB.
Close Chief.
Disconnect from the internet.
Open Chief and open that file you created.

You should be able to open the file even though you are not.connected to the Dropbox server.

It is a local file.

[dshall]

Scott, try this.

Create a simple plan file and save to DB.
Close Chief.
Disconnect from the internet.
Open Chief and open that file you created.

You should be able to open the file even though you are not.connected to the Dropbox server.

It is a local file.

Oh, now that is interesting, I will give it a try.

[dshall]

Oh, now that is interesting, I will give it a try.

Okay Dave, I just gave it a go, and you guys are correct, I was able to open some files that I guess were from drop box, however I could not save them back to drop box via the internet because I was offline. I could only save the edited file to my desktop.

But that is the problem, I have edited a file, saved it to my desktop, and I assume I can open the file back up on that particular desktop, but that is not what I want to do. I want to go to my office and now open the newly edited file, but I can't, because it has been saved on the desktop of my home computer.

Again, I am not sure if we are in agreement or disagreement, all I know is if I save my files to drop box, and if I only access them from drop box, I can rely on those files as being the latest and the greatest if I choose to access them from a different computer.

I suppose they virtually reside on my computer somewhere, but I have to go to the drop box folder to access them.

[fcwilt]

Your observations about what you see DropBox doing are correct. You work on files (in your DropBox folder) on Computer A and later those files (as edited) show up on Computer B.

That is the DropBox application at work. Monitoring files in the DropBox folder on each computer, uploading changed files to the DropBox server, downloading the changed files to the other computers as needed.

The only thing you are not grasping is that the DropBox folder and all the files in it are just like any other folder and files on your computer. The folders and files are all located on the hard disk of each computer.

It's the DropBox application on each computer that is performing the "magic" of keeping every thing in sync.

A change to a file on Computer A is noted by the DropBox application, the changed file is uploaded to the DropBox server, that file is later download to Computer B.

A change to a file on Computer B is noted by the DropBox application, the changed file is uploaded to the DropBox server, that file is later download to Computer A.

All local files, all local folders - with the DropBox application busily working behind the scenes to keep everything up to date on the various computers.


The reason there is a DropBox folder is simply to LIMIT that number of files that the DropBox application has to monitor and reduce the number of files replicated out to the server, etc. In theory the DropBox application could monitor your entire hard disk for changes and sync those changes to other computers BUT that would be a HUGE amount of data being moved around - it would not be efficient - nor is it needed - there are only so many files that you want to keep in sync on your various computers - thus the DropBox folder becomes the one place for you to put your files that you want to be available on your various computers - simple to understand - simple for the DropBox application to manage.

[dshall]

.......

The only thing you are not grasping is that the DropBox folder and all the files in it are just like any other folder and files on your computer. The folders and files are all located on the hard disk of each computer.

........

I think you are agreeing with everything I have said. However I am not sure if I agree with your statement above. The reason I disagree with the above statement is because I cannot find those files and folders on each and every one of my computers. There are not files and not folders on my computers. They are on drop box. Can you find those files and folders on your computer?

Let me ask that question again, if you open a new file, save it onto dropbox, can you find that file/folder on your computer?

Let me ask that question again, if you open a new file, save it onto dropbox, can you find that file/folder on your computer?

Let me ask that question again, if you open a new file, save it onto dropbox, can you find that file/folder on your computer?

Let me ask that question again, if you open a new file, save it onto dropbox, can you find that file/folder on your computer?

I think the answer is no. Now I will concede that when I open a file from drop box, it will be on my computer as I edit that file, but once I close that file, it is no longer on my computer, it is only on drop box.

Can we agree to the above statements?

I am not sure what we are even discussing. As Dave said, maybe this is all semantics, but I don't think so, you say the file and folder is on my computer, I say it is not, it is on drop box, and I can access that file from any computer I choose to use, but I cannot find the file and folder on my computer.

Oh heck, it's getting too late, you win Fred, the files and folder are on my computer somewhere, but I can't find them, but that's okay, as long as I know they are on drop box, I can get to them.

[kiwideziner]

Scott
Are you saying that with everything on DB your disk drive is empty??
I currently cannot use a cloud server due to slow internet, but I believe from what I have read is the cloud servers act like any backup software in that they compare date stamps etc, and make a backup of the changed file in the cloud. then when you open that file on another computer it does a check with the cloud to see if there is a newer version. it then downloads the new version for you to use. so you have a copy on computer A, the cloud, and computer B. which if both computers are online will mean 3 copies of the same file.
I may however be totally wrong.