Top 9 benefits of Dropbox

In today’s work environment, storing all files on a single hard drive isn’t practical. A lot of people, whether for business or personal reasons, need to have access to files and information when they’re away from their desktop computers. They also need to share files and collaborate with others on projects. For business owners, working from cafès, in between meetings, or even on vacation means that files also need to be backed up in case something happens to their primary devices.

Dropbox provides a way to sync files between devices and back them up, making information accessible from anywhere. It also allows users to share files and collaborate with others. There are a lot of benefits to using Dropbox for cloud storage. Here are the top nine.

1. Mobility

The biggest benefit of Dropbox is having access to your files anywhere. If you install the Dropbox app on your iOS or Android device, you can access and work on files from your phone or tablet and share them with others.

If you don’t have your device with you, you can still log into Dropbox from any device with an internet browser and access your files. The latest versions are saved in the cloud, so if you’re on vacation but need to make changes to a document immediately, you can use the computer in the hotel’s business center to do it.

2. Security

Dropbox encrypts your files in transit (when they’re moving from your device to the cloud storage service and back), as well as at rest (when they’re being stored). Files stored in Dropbox are encrypted with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit protocol, which is designated as acceptable by the U.S. National Security Agency for storing documents that are classified as top secret.

You can also choose which files you share publicly; otherwise, your files can only be viewed by those you authorize.

3. File sharing and collaboration

If you need to share files with colleagues or other collaborators, Dropbox makes it fairly easy. As long as your collaborators have a Dropbox account, they can download and work on files with you.

You can password protect your files so that only the people who are supposed to have access to the files can work on them. Dropbox’s app, Dropbox Paper, lets you collaborate on projects and files with team members — even in the free version.

4. Backup

Dropbox automatically backs up the files you store. Simply set it up on your computer, drag folders with your important files into your Dropbox folder, and you’re all set. For example, you might use Dropbox to store all of your active projects. Should the hard drive on your primary device crash, you can easily access those files in Dropbox and continue working from another device.

5. Storage space

Dropbox only offers 2 GB of storage for free accounts, but for $16.58 per month, you can upgrade to 3 TB of space, which can store multiple backups of your hard drive.

You can move large files you’ve saved on your computer to Dropbox and delete the files from your hard drive to free up space. You can also store files from your mobile device, which likely has far less storage space than your desktop computer. For example, you could move all your photos from your phone to Dropbox to clear up storage on your phone.

6. Screenshot sharing

When collaborating with your team, sometimes you need a visual cue to avoid miscommunication. But taking screenshots, manually saving them, and then dropping them into Dropbox or sharing them via email can get a bit tedious. Fortunately, Dropbox offers a screenshot sharing feature on your Mac or PC that automatically saves your screenshots and copies a shareable link to your clipboard.

7. File rewinds

It’s surprising how often people accidentally delete files from their hard drives, especially if they’re cleaning out a large batch of files they think they don’t need.

One of the benefits of using Dropbox is that you can recover files that were deleted within the last 30 days (free version) or 180 days (paid version). For instance, you might clear out an entire folder, only to realize a week later that one of those files was critical for a project. Dropbox will let you restore that file.

8. Work on materials offline

Another benefit of Dropbox is the ability to save online materials to review offline. Being able to view files offline comes in handy when you’re running low on data on your mobile device or want to work on something while you’re on an airplane.

9. Automate your workflow

Whether you run a small business or a full-blown enterprise, time is money, so spend it wisely by automating your workflow. With online form builder Jotform, for example, you can use a Dropbox integration to send files to Dropbox automatically instead of manually transferring them. You can also accept files through your Jotform forms and even create a Jotform folder in Dropbox to store them all.

These nine benefits are just a snapshot of what you can do with Dropbox. Depending on whether you use a free or paid plan, you can take advantage of features like optical character recognition to scan documents or set up mobile offline folders. If you’re considering cloud storage, it’s definitely worth looking at Dropbox to see if it meets your needs.