Episode 13: Dropbox Public Folder
Channel: EdTechMoment
Date: 2012-03-12

http://www.edtechmoment.com

Have you ever wanted to be able to send a file in an email that was too big for an attachment? Or provide a link to a document in an online Gradebook or website? Today we're going to look at how you can do both those tasks for free with your Dropbox Public Folder. 

In a previous episode we talked about how you can use the Dropbox web service to synchronize files between multiple computers and devices that you have installed Dropbox on, but with the Dropbox Public Folder, you can produce a public link that will allow you to share specific files with others as well.

Let's take a look. 

Most items in your Dropbox are secure and accessible only by you, or someone with your Dropbox password, but specific items placed into your Public Folder can be accessed by anyone with a public link. 

First you will want to place the item that you want to share into the Dropbox Public Folder. It must be in this folder to be accessible by others.

Right-click (or control-click on a Mac) on the file that you want to share.  From the Dropbox sub menu choose the option that says "copy public link."

Now a public link has been generated to that specific file and has been placed on your clipboard ready to be pasted.  You can now please this link into any text file, like an email, chat room, class website, or online Gradebook. 

Other with that link will be able to access that file as long as it remans in the Public Folder.  When you want to stop sharing that file simply take it out of the public folder. 

You can also generate a public link though the Dropbox web interface. Log in through Dropbox.com. Navigate to the public folder and the file that you want to share, and click on the small triangle at the right of the screen that appears when you over over the file.  This will reveal a menu from which you can choose "copy public link."

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