Mar 11
8
Writers Toolbox – Dropbox for Collaborating
In my previous post about Dropbox, I talked about Dropbox as a tool for writers to backup their work and move projects across multiple devices. It is absolutely a great tool for this and with a “free” price tag for 2GB of cloud storage, it’s a no brainer to try.
But Dropbox can also prove a good resource for collaboration. In my own experience, I used it as a tool to work on active drafts of a couple of screenplays with a coauthor. The fact that those projects remain incomplete is certainly not the fault of the tool. (Side note: we haven’t killed one another and are still close friends.)
Within both the Dropbox desktop and web UI, users can browse the entire folder structure backed up in their account. But they also have the option to share folders within their account (and the contained files) with one or more users.
For truly public data, there’s a “Public” folder. This is a place you could place a large file you want to share with someone as a one-time download, which can be given a generic, easy to email, public URL. For longer term collaboration, like writing partnerships, you have the option to share specific folders with another user or set of users. These folders then get mirrored to your partners’ Dropboxes for collaboration.
As an example, consider a new screenplay called “Clowning Around” that I want to work on with you. I can create a “Clowning Around” folder within my Dropbox and copy my screenplay files into that folder. Within moments, it’s backed up for my own use. If I right-click on the “Clowning Around” folder, I can navigate to “Sharing Options” through the Dropbox UI and can share that folder with you by entering your Dropbox account information (email address) and inviting you to collaborate. Now any changes or new files that appear in my version of this folder appear in your version also, with all the same multiple-device benefits attached.
Meanwhile, the rest of my folders and files remain private or shareable with a different set of users. So I’m not giving you access to my entire Dropbox, just the portion that’s interesting to us both.
My partner and I found this to be a great way to share screenplay files. There was never a need to email things back and forth or to worry that changes been copied to our local hard drives. We were working on the same files, collaboratively. If a conflict ever arises, from changes in two different devices (or from two users) at the same time, copies are made with unique names that can manually be merged. Nothing is lost or overwritten.
Whether you’re a solo creator or part of a creative team, try incorporating Dropbox as a tool into your workflow. I’ve found it incredibly useful in mine.