Utilizing Dropbox for Education

Have you heard of Dropbox? It’s a free service that lets you bring your photos, documents, and videos anywhere and share them easily. No need for e-mailing attachments or using USB drives since all your files are stored securely in the cloud.

You can watch a short video on their website about how it works – although in the most basic sense Dropbox is a folder on your computer which syncs your files with mobile devices, tablets, and other computers. Best of all, it can be used on any operating system: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Blackberry

You’re probably wondering, why is this beneficial to me? Here are a few ways to optimize Dropbox for school.

Sync with Mobile Devices

Dropbox has developed Android and Apple apps allowing you to view, edit, e-mail and send files directly from your mobile devices. You can e-mail a class paper to your professor, send notes to a friend, and upload pictures directly from your phone to Dropbox. Automatically, the uploaded files will appear in your Dropbox folder on your other devices as well.

Sync Microsoft OneNote Across Computers

If you are not already a Microsoft OneNote user, I’d take a look at this wonderful program. It’s a specially designed note-taking application that can be found inside the Microsoft Office program catalog.

Step 1: Open Microsoft OneNote
Step 2: File >> New >> Notebook
Step 3: Type in a Name for your notebook, click Next
Step 4: Select I will use it on this computer (*Even though you’re syncing it to another computer), click Next
Step 5: Save to My Dropbox (Path should look something like this: C:\Users\Greg\Desktop\My Dropbox\OneNote), click Create

Voilà! You’re done. Now you have properly sync’d OneNote with Dropbox allowing you to access your class-notes wherever you may go… as long as Microsoft OneNote and Dropbox is installed.

Extra Space with a .edu e-mail address

If you have a .edu e-mail address, you are entitled to more space at 500mb per referral. Go education!

http://lifehacker.com/5652031/dropbox-giving-edu-addresses-500-mb-per-referral

Check out more Dropbox tips and tricks (if you’re super nerdy)

http://web.appstorm.net/roundups/data-management-roundups/10-more-killer-dropbox-tips-and-tricks/

Happy Dropboxing!