Another nifty use for Dropbox - doing the church bulletin on multiple computers

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I've already written about using Dropbox to put sermon audio online. Here's another nifty use for Dropbox.
The bulk of our church bulletin is prepared in my home pastor's study. It is then subject to final editing prior to printing at our church office. I used to update the bulletin and then email my version to the individual who finalizes it and prints it. She would copy it to her thumb drive and then take it to the church to print it.

These days I have separate Dropbox accounts for the church and for myself. Using the "share a folder" feature, I have a church bulletin/newsletter folder which is owned by the church Dropbox account that is shared with my personal Dropbox account.

It's as simple an arrangement as you can imagine. I open the bulletin, which is in the shared Dropbox folder, put my information in it, save it, and walk away. The church bulletin is automatically updated in both the church office and sanctuary computers. If the bulletin is updated at the church office, it's the same way. They save it and walk away. It's automatically updated on the other computers.

The sanctuary computer's copy of the bulletin is used for setting up announcements, etc. Most of the time it's just a copy/paste operation from the bulletin to the worship projection software.
Okay, here are the steps:

1. If you don't have one yet, get a free DropBox account. Install it on all your personal computers. If you use this link to sign up, you’ll score some additional storage for me.
2. Now, repeat the process to get a Dropbox account for your church. Install it on the church computers.
3. [Once you’ve installed that, I suggest you update to the latest forum build from this page - This isn't required but the forum build offers some features you might want to use later on.] NOTE: Dropbox has been updated and this step is no longer necessary.
4. Once you've installed Dropbox on the church computers, create a church bulletin folder and share a it with your personal Dropbox account: inside the Dropbox folder, create the new folder, right click on the new folder, pick Dropbox, then share.
5. Your personal Dropbox will inform you that you've been invited to a shared folder. Accept the invitation, put the bulletin file in that folder, along with any other documents, photos, audio files you want to keep in sync between the church and home study computers.

That's it. Create shortcuts to the bulletin, newsletter, etc. on each computer desktop and they are now automatically synced between the computers.

[Charlene Clevenger]

Does Dropbox change the formatting at all? Is it similar to using Word or MS Pub?

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Does Dropbox change the formatting at all? Is it similar to using Word or MS Pub?

Dropbox is just a folder on two or more computers that syncs files. You edit the file like you always do, then save it to that folder. The file is automatically updated on other computers that share that folder.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

Of course, you can do all the same with Google Docs. :-)

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Of course, you can do all the same with Google Docs. :-)

From my experience Google Docs doesn't handle columns nearly as well as Word does.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

From my experience Google Docs doesn't handle columns nearly as well as Word does.

I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about saving any file in the cloud (which is what I thought DropBox does). Whether or not you like the word processing of Google Docs was moot, as you can save any filetype you want in your Google Docs folder (I thought that's what you were talking about).

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about saving any file in the cloud (which is what I thought DropBox does). Whether or not you like the word processing of Google Docs was moot, as you can save any filetype you want in your Google Docs folder (I thought that's what you were talking about).

And I thought you were talking about doing the bulletin using Google Docs.

My article is for using Dropbox, but I'm sure there are other approaches that work as well or better.

[Charlene Clevenger]

I thought of Google Docs, too. I've had some trouble with formatting in GD.

[Rich Schmidt]

I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about saving any file in the cloud (which is what I thought DropBox does). Whether or not you like the word processing of Google Docs was moot, as you can save any filetype you want in your Google Docs folder (I thought that's what you were talking about).

As you can see from Scott's and Charlene's responses, most folks aren't aware that you can save any old file in your Google Docs folder. I don't remember when that feature was added (a quick Google search tells me it was this past January), but it wasn't part of the initial feature set. Many of us haven't yet shifted from our initial impressions.

Personally, I prefer Dropbox anyway. More storage space, automatic syncing across multiple computers (as opposed to having to intentionally upload files)... Dropbox gets my vote.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

As you can see from Scott's and Charlene's responses, most folks aren't aware that you can save any old file in your Google Docs folder. I don't remember when that feature was added (a quick Google search tells me it was this past January), but it wasn't part of the initial feature set. Many of us haven't yet shifted from our initial impressions.

Personally, I prefer Dropbox anyway. More storage space, automatic syncing across multiple computers (as opposed to having to intentionally upload files)... Dropbox gets my vote.

I actually knew that you could save multiple file types to Google Docs, but since I was thinking in terms of syncing ("and walking away") I immediately assumed Jeremy was thinking about editing the file in Google Docs, which would also be "walking away." I think Dropbox, with it's syncing and incremental backup, is a more elegant solution, but can see that Google Docs could be used that way, as could Amazon's free web storage, Evernote, and other services.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

Personally, I prefer Dropbox anyway.

Yes, IMO, this day and age, most anything is based on personal preference than something actually being "better" (Android/iOS, Mac/PC, etc.). I prefer to have my things in one place. Since I do almost all of my processing and spreadsheeting on Docs, it makes sense for me.

How does DB deal with various software versions? This has always been the pain of MS Word for me in collaborating with other people. Docs has not this problem for word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

More storage space

This is true of the free beginning (DB=2GB, GD=1GB), but Google Docs' extra storage is way cheaper than DropBox. For example, DB wants $10/month for 50 GBs while Docs will give you 80 GB for $20/year. I think there's a referral program (or has been in the past) for DB though.

automatic syncing across multiple computers (as opposed to having to intentionally upload files)

True! But third-party apps are beginning to remedy this and I imagine that Google will soon enough as well.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Yes, IMO, this day and age, most anything is based on personal preference than something actually being "better" (Android/iOS, Mac/PC, etc.).

I know you're responding to Rich, but I think you are correct here. I once saw an answer to the question, "What is the best word processing program" and the answer was "The one you are used to using." If something meets one's needs and is accessible to them, that's the right one!

[Marsha Lynn]

Cool, cool, cool! So cool!

I missed this the first time around. I so need it.

Thursday evening was my monthly library board meeting. I started the agenda on a library computer and emailed it to myself. I continued it at home and printed it. When I got to the meeting I discovered I had left the print-outs at home. Argh! I found the draft on the library computer and printed it but forgot some items I had added. I also left another important paper at home, and I didn't have up-to-date financial files at the library because I had left my jump drives in a library computer and didn't have them to copy the official financial files off my home computer.

I'm constantly dealing with the file I need being on the wrong computer. I do music slides at home and transport them to the church every Sunday on a jump drive. It takes an extra step to make sure the church computer has an up-to-date slide library for all the songs we do so that no one needs access to my laptop to put together a song service. The official files for my SS lesson notes are on the home desktop. I often work on them on my laptop, but only if I'm within range of the home network. I have library policy files scattered between five computers and a couple of jump drives. The version on the website may or may not be the latest revision. Who knows where the latest version is for anything.

I used to use the Windows "briefcase" feature to keep my files in sync. I really liked it, but Vista broke that feature -- still officially available but impossibly slow. I hadn't found a good substitute.

Oh, yes, I need this. Thanks for sharing. I used your link. Not only did you get bonus memory space, but I did too.

Marsha

[Rich Schmidt]

How does DB deal with various software versions? This has always been the pain of MS Word for me in collaborating with other people. Docs has not this problem for word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

You have to use Dropbox's web interface to get to previous versions of any file... which is something I almost never do, thanks to the way it links in with the file system and syncs automatically in the background. Anyway, I tried it just now, and it's a snap. Select the file, select "previous versions" from the "more actions" menu, and bam -- you're looking at a list of previous versions of the file. Took me about 15 seconds, start to finish, and that's only because I wasn't sure what I was doing.

This is true of the free beginning (DB=2GB, GD=1GB), but Google Docs' extra storage is way cheaper than DropBox. For example, DB wants $10/month for 50 GBs while Docs will give you 80 GB for $20/year. I think there's a referral program (or has been in the past) for DB though.

I'm hoping to never have to pay money for this kind of service. I imagine there will always be someone giving away enough free space to meet my needs. Right now I have 5 GB of Dropbox storage, thanks to referrals, and I'm using 20% of it. If I ever needed serious online backup space, our church's webhosting company, Dreamhost.com, provides 50 GB of personal backup space... along with unlimited free hosting for non-profits. (I have a promo code for $50 off if anyone decides to go with them for personal/business use. Talk to me. )

BTW, it's Dropbox, not DropBox.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

You have to use Dropbox's web interface to get to previous versions of any file... which is something I almost never do, thanks to the way it links in with the file system and syncs automatically in the background. Anyway, I tried it just now, and it's a snap. Select the file, select "previous versions" from the "more actions" menu, and bam -- you're looking at a list of previous versions of the file. Took me about 15 seconds, start to finish, and that's only because I wasn't sure what I was doing.

I was asking about different software versions when collaborating with others. For example, suppose that you have Word 2003 and your friend has Word 2007. But now that I've thought about it more, I imagine that to be most fruitful, collaborators must seek the common lowest denominator (earliest version) to work together.

[Rich Schmidt]

I was asking about different software versions when collaborating with others. For example, suppose that you have Word 2003 and your friend has Word 2007. But now that I've thought about it more, I imagine that to be most fruitful, collaborators must seek the common lowest denominator (earliest version) to work together.

Oops! You know, I read your comment/question that way the first time, and then for some reason read it the other way when I came back to it.

Yeah, when you're collaborating with others, it always helps to standardize on one program (and one file format). Whether that program is Word or Excel or Google Docs doesn't really matter. Though, as you pointed out, when dealing with multiple editions/versions of Word or Excel, everyone has to remember to save their work in the lowest-common-denominator file format.

But these things are true whether you share files with an online syncing solution or email or flash drives or whatever.

[Marsha Lynn]

I've now been using Dropbox for a few weeks and absolutely love it. I was sitting at our home computer last night and commented to my husband, "Hmm... the library must be closing promptly tonight." Dropbox had just informed me that the receipts file had been updated with the day's collections. I haven't had my jump drives out since I signed up for Dropbox. I love having the same files on every computer and knowing everything is backed up.

This morning, however, I have run across a slight flaw. I saved new data over what I thought was old data of the same format. It wasn't. It was manipulated data collected over several months. Oops. And all my computers now have the update. Being less than a month into Dropbox, I assume I have an older version somewhere but will have to dig for it. Lesson learned. Don't take risks with existing files when the Dropbox copy is the only copy.

Hmm... wait a minute. My laptop at the library is asleep. What if I take it out of the building away from the wireless internet connection and resave the old file before it gets a chance to download the new. Hmm...

There are lessons to learn but I still love Dropbox!

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I've now been using Dropbox for a few weeks and absolutely love it. I was sitting at our home computer last night and commented to my husband, "Hmm... the library must be closing promptly tonight." Dropbox had just informed me that the receipts file had been updated with the day's collections. I haven't had my jump drives out since I signed up for Dropbox. I love having the same files on every computer and knowing everything is backed up.

This morning, however, I have run across a slight flaw. I saved new data over what I thought was old data of the same format. It wasn't. It was manipulated data collected over several months. Oops. And all my computers now have the update. Being less than a month into Dropbox, I assume I have an older version somewhere but will have to dig for it. Lesson learned. Don't take risks with existing files when the Dropbox copy is the only copy.

Hmm... wait a minute. My laptop at the library is asleep. What if I take it out of the building away from the wireless internet connection and resave the old file before it gets a chance to download the new. Hmm...

There are lessons to learn but I still love Dropbox!

If you log into your Dropbox account via web browser and navigate to the file that way, you can find and restore incremental versions of the file. That capability is what brought me to Dropbox in the first place (after I lost a month's worth of devotionals).

[Rich Schmidt]

If you log into your Dropbox account via web browser and navigate to the file that way, you can find and restore incremental versions of the file. That capability is what brought me to Dropbox in the first place (after I lost a month's worth of devotionals).

Yep. I think I've only had to restore one file so far, after I accidentally saved over it. It sure is handy!

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Just a quick note that Dropbox has been updated. If you want to run the latest version (basically it contains the features I pointed to in step 3 of the original post to this thread) just download it again and install. It will update from there.

The regular Dropbox download is: here
If you don't yet have an account and use this link to sign up, you’ll score some additional storage for me.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

From My Church Tech Blog...


Syncing folders with Dropbox


I use Dropbox all the time. It's one of the finest services out there and it's free! When I got it, I moved many documents into the Dropbox folder, changed shortcuts, and changed the default save path for some of the programs I use. Some files, though, need to stay right where they are for their programs to use them.

There are some other solutions out there, but this is the hands down winner as far as I'm concerned. Install it and start using it...that's my kind of program! If you use Dropbox you want to install Dropbox Folder Sync. Then, you go to the folder that resides outside of Dropbox, right click on it, and select "Sync with Dropbox." Done!

As always, let me add that if you don’t have a free DropBox account account and use this link to sign up, you’ll score some additional storage for me.

[Marsha Lynn]

From My Church Tech Blog...


Syncing folders with Dropbox


I use Dropbox all the time. It's one of the finest services out there and it's free! When I got it, I moved many documents into the Dropbox folder, changed shortcuts, and changed the default save path for some of the programs I use. Some files, though, need to stay right where they are for their programs to use them.

There are some other solutions out there, but this is the hands down winner as far as I'm concerned. Install it and start using it...that's my kind of program! If you use Dropbox you want to install Dropbox Folder Sync. Then, you go to the folder that resides outside of Dropbox, right click on it, and select "Sync with Dropbox." Done!

OK, call me dense. I have read both your description and the one at the site you link a couple of times and still don't get it. (Does that mean I don't need it?) Can you give an example of when this would be useful?

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Marsha, you may not need it. Still, let's say you have a folder on your computer in which you keep all your spreadsheets. If you wanted to keep it backed up with dropbox you'd have to move that folder into your dropbox folder. Imagine that for some reason you didn't want to do that. Using the add on I described you could leave the folder where it is and use Dropbox Folder Sync. The folder, still outside of Dropbox would be synced by dropbox.

To be the greatest value of the add on is for data files for programs. For instance, Picasa wants it's data files to be in a particular place. You can use this add on to include them in dropbox. I'm also using it with the church SongShow Plus program. There's more to it that just this, but when they change the program order in SongShow, I can see it on my laptop, which comes in quite handy for doing the order of worship on the church bulletin each week.

If none of that plunks your twanger, you're okay to conclude that you don't need it.

[Zach Wingo]

I mentioned Virb almost a year ago after they re-launched as a website builder. They were one of the most successful social networks but when Facebook took off they decided to re-focus in a different direction rather than compete. They built one of the most amazingly simple website builders on the market and charge a flat $10 per month and discounts available if you pay in advance. The reason I'm mentioning them now in this thread is they finally added Dropbox support so you can simply save a file on your computer and have it available in their online file-manager for use on the website. This combined with their really nice media players could be very nice combination for churches. If you want to try them out, they have a 10-day free trial.

[Jon Twitchell]

Marsha, you may not need it. Still, let's say you have a folder on your computer in which you keep all your spreadsheets. If you wanted to keep it backed up with dropbox you'd have to move that folder into your dropbox folder. Imagine that for some reason you didn't want to do that. Using the add on I described you could leave the folder where it is and use Dropbox Folder Sync. The folder, still outside of Dropbox would be synced by dropbox.

To be the greatest value of the add on is for data files for programs. For instance, Picasa wants it's data files to be in a particular place. You can use this add on to include them in dropbox. I'm also using it with the church SongShow Plus program. There's more to it that just this, but when they change the program order in SongShow, I can see it on my laptop, which comes in quite handy for doing the order of worship on the church bulletin each week.

If none of that plunks your twanger, you're okay to conclude that you don't need it.

Just on a technical note... according to Dropbox, they are actually moving the folder to DropbBox, and then creating a SymLink (Symbolic Link) to the existence of the folder/file in dropbox. The data actually is moved to dropbox. (from the dropbox explanation of the utility: "Moves the original folder to dropbox and creates a symbolic link for the folder using the junction utility(installs automatically with the setup) from Sysinternals. Thus you can access the same folder from two locations.")

Functionally, it works the same, as that SymLink will redirect any references to the old location to the right location. This is particularly useful if you find yourself moving things in and out of dropbox, but wanting to maintain a particular file structure on your hard drive. Or, if you don't want to reteach your programs where to find default files.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

If you use an Andriod phone and have the Dropbox app on it, you can score 3 Gigs of extra Dropbox space by setting up the auto-photo upload feature.

https://www.dropbox.com/help/287

If you don't have Dropbox, and will sign up using this link, I'll get a bit more space.

[Jon Twitchell]

Scott... thanks! That was a pretty easy way to get another 500mb.

The way it works is that you get 500mb just for linking your phone and uploading one photo.
After that, every time you upload 500mb, you get an additional 500mb... up to 3GB.

For those who are wondering, there is a setting so that you can upload only when your phone is connected to wifi.

[Jon Twitchell]

By the way... I'm also using Dropbox to transfer audio files back and forth between my podcast techs.

I dump the raw audio in one dropbox folder... and when they're done, they drop the processed files in another folder.

We each empty our folders out by moving the needed files to our local hard drives... so we have plenty of space on Dropbox.

[Kevin Rector]

So has anyone ever considered that since Dropbox keeps a copy of your deleted files, you can actually store a file on Dropbox without using your storage limit by deleting the file and then if you need it later un-deleting it?

[Rich Schmidt]

So has anyone ever considered that since Dropbox keeps a copy of your deleted files, you can actually store a file on Dropbox without using your storage limit by deleting the file and then if you need it later un-deleting it?

How long do they keep it? 30 days? Something like that, I think.