Let Anyone Upload Files to Dropbox without Sharing Folders with Anyone
I collaborate with all sorts of people -- writers, editors, video producers, musicians, you name it -- and I'm always looking for an easy way to share large files. More often than not, I need people to send files to me, and it's always a pain, usually involving the need to control sharing and permissions for online folders. Finally, I've found a much better way. Now I can send a file request and the recipient can upload files to my Dropbox account without any sharing at all.
The magic comes by way of a new service called AirDropper, which lets you request a file that gets uploaded to Dropbox.
To get started, you give AirDropper permission to connect to your Dropbox account. After that, to use the service, you simply fill out an online form requesting whatever files you need from your collaborator. They get an e-mail with a link they can use to upload the desired file to your Dropbox account -- without ever having to share the folder.
The service is free and currently in beta. It fills a genuine need, and I'm thrilled to have found it, but AirDropper needs some work. The request form, for example, is a bit frustrating -- forget to enter a field like your e-mail address, and it nukes the other fields in the request and makes you start over. And you need to fill out a separate request for each file you need, because each upload link only works once. If you need three files from the same person, you'll have to send three requests.
Frustrations aside, AirDropper is seriously handy for anyone who shares a lot of stuff in the cloud. [via WebWorkerDaily]
