Goggle Drive Works Really Great For Sharing Chief Files

[Dave Pitman]

Pretty simple.

Right click on the DropBox icon in the notification tray.
Click on the little gear top right.
Click on Preferences.
Click on Account.
Click on Unlink this Computer.

Done

You can delete all the files, and DB won't delete them anywhere else.

[perryh]

Yes, but does it delete them once you turn it back on?

[HumbleChief]

Sweet Dave. Good question Scott.

[dshall]

Yes, but does it delete them once you turn it back on?

If I had to guess, it would probably populate the computer that was newly linked. Thanks Dave,

[HumbleChief]

Yes, but does it delete them once you turn it back on?

Good question too. Seems like it would - guess you better get them on another computer before turning synch back on.

[Dave Pitman]

Yes, but does it delete them once you turn it back on?

If I had to guess, it would probably populate the computer that was newly linked.

That is exactly what would happen.

[mehen]

The unlink gadget works really well. I gave my mac to a college student and simply unlinked the computer and all of the files were gone like they never existed. The slick thing about DB is that when I got my new computer, I turned it on, downloaded the Dropbox App, enter user info & password and Shazam ! All of my files were back on the new computer.

[perryh]

What if you have no internet connection? You won't have any files either I guess

[HumbleChief]

Wow you guys are really opening up some possibilities I hadn't thought of - feels good to be part of the 21st century.

[mehen]

The files will be on your hard drive in the Dropbox folder. The entire file not a link to a cloud version. Occasionally I will take my computer to the park to work and I will make sure the "green arrow" is showing then leave the house, go work, update the file and come back home. When I turn on the computer DB will automatically see that a file was modified and update it to all of the linked computers and in the cloud.

[sutcac]

Well, I just signed up on a new Google account for 100GB at $4.99/mo. We'll see how it goes. Reading up on it it sounds like it does pretty much everything Dropbox does.

[Dave Pitman]

Well, I just signed up on a new Google account for 100GB at $4.99/mo. We'll see how it goes. Reading up on it it sounds like it does pretty much everything Dropbox does.

For me, it doesn't work quite as well in regard to how the desktop program works. It often stops syncing, and when queried, says that it can't connect when there is no problem with the connection. After some searching, I find others have the same problem. Perhaps it is a product of my less than stellar internet connection, I don't know.

I don't have the same problem with Dropbox. Drive does have other elements that I like better than DB, especially on a mobile device.

[sutcac]

Yeah, I am just going to see how it does. I am already quite familiar with Google Docs, so I figured that gave me a head start on the learning curve. I am just going to experiment and can back out if I feel it's not working for me. I do have a very good internet connection, so maybe that will help. But I am glad for this, and the other similar threads. It gave me the kickstart I needed.

[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.

[dshall]

Thanks Reed, I now get it, I was a bit slow on the uptake. A client came in yesterday, and he uses drop box, and he was more confused that I. So thanks to you guys, I was able to set him straight.