15 Hacks Every Dropbox User Should Know
15 Hacks Every Dropbox User Should Know
Posted 12/09/2009 at 9:00am
| by Alex Castle and Norman Chan
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When you get right down to it, Dropbox is a pretty simple app. It syncs folders—that’s it. But what makes Dropbox amazing is the sheer number of different ways you can use that functionality, by itself or in conjunction with other programs, to improve your computing experience. We like Dropbox so much that we’ve written about it several times before, and we still haven’t gotten to every cool thing you can do with the program.
That’s why, in this article, we’re going to share with you a whopping 15 things that we think everyone should know about Dropbox, from how to get extra storage for free to how to use Dropbox to control your Bittorrent client.
Run Dropbox as a Windows Service
If you use Dropbox on a server, like a Windows Home Server machine, it’s preferable to run Dropbox as a Windows service, so it starts up before a user logs in. Though Dropbox doesn’t officially support running as a service, you can hack this feature with Microsoft’s Srvany utility.
First, download both instsrv.exe and srvany.exe from the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit. Copy both files to your Dropbox application directory (ie. C:\program files\Dropbox) on your server, after you’ve already installed Dropbox. This may have to be done with a Remote Desktop connection.
Open up a command prompt as an Administrator, and execute the following commands (quotes included):
“C:\Program Files\Dropbox\instsrv.exe” Dropbox “C:\Program Files\Dropbox\srvany.exe”
reg ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dropbox\Parameters /v Application /d “C:\Program Files\Dropbox\Dropbox.exe”
reg ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dropbox\Parameters /v AppDirectory /d “C:\Program Files\Dropbox”
Next, cut and paste all files from C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\DropBox to C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Application Data\Dropbox
Finally, type net start Dropbox in the Command Prompt.
This works on any Desktop machine as well. You’ll also have to remove the Dropbox application shortcut from the Startup folder in your Start Menu.
For more information on the Srvany utility, head here.
Use Symbolic Links to Unlock Dropbox’s Potential
The biggest problem with using Dropbox to sync programs is that it only works for apps that allow you to change where configuration files and databases are stored—a minority of all software. Lots of popular applications like web browsers, email clients, and even Steam are pretty finicky over where they store their data—they give you little or no control over what locations they use. With symbolic links, a feature in Windows Vista and 7, you can take that control back into your own hands.
Mklink is a command line command short for “make link.” It’s used to create symbolic or hard links, which allow you to connect files and folder. It’s sort of like creating shortcuts, except that they’re handled at the operating system level, so they work with any program. You can, for instance, use mklink to fool Steam into thinking that a game on a different hard drive is actually in your Steam games folder. You can link files on a single computer, or across a local network. You cannot, however, link files across the internet.
To find out all about Mklink, and how to use it, check out our Mklink How-To.
The beauty of using Dropbox with symbolic links is that the principle drawback of each goes away. Dropbox can now sync any two programs, because with Mklink you can change the location of the programs data, whether it wants you to or not, and Mklink is no longer confined to your local network, as Dropbox can bridge the game to computers out in the wider internet.
Here's an example of how you can use this combo to cloud-ify your Firefox profile:
1. Find the directory containing your Firefox profile. A default installation places this folder in %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox
2. Copy that Firefox directory into your Dropbox folder.
3. Delete the original Firefox folder.
4. Use Mklink to create a hardlink between the new and original Firefox folders, If your Dropbox folder is in C:/ you can use the following command:
mklink /J %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox C:/dropbox/Firefox
Now any computer that you complete these steps on (and that has access to your dropbox account) will share the same Firefox profile. The same basic steps will work for almost any app.
Add files to Dropbox with E-mail
It’s the fifth-most requested feature in Dropbox—the ability to email a file to yourself that will automatically sync to your Dropbox account. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to do this right now. But if you’re willing mash up a few applications and services, you can make this feature work.
First, you’ll need to create a new Gmail account. This address will be what you use to temporarily store files to sync to your Dropbox. We recommend creating a new account that’s easy to remember, and not using your personal or main Gmail account.
Next, download GMail Drive, a shell namespace extension that links to a Gmail account and syncs attachments and emails onto a newly created system drive. GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem based on email sent to your Gmail account (with GMAILFS: in the subject line), and lets you browse them as if you they were stored on your hard drive.
Finally, using the mklink command, create a symbolic link between the folders in your GMail Drive and a newly created folder in your Dropbox. This means that any time you email an attachment to your dummy Gmail account with GMAILFS: in the subject line, the files will automatically be moved to your Dropbox. This only works if you have GMail Drive and Dropbox running on an active computer or server.
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