Working collaboratively has always been important for success in any project, yet now that working from home is much more prevalent, file sharing through online systems is increasingly important. The three main file sharing platforms are Dropbox, Google Drive and WeTransfer, though other platforms (which I will not go into here) include: Send anywhere, Hightail and Slack.
Dropbox, has been rated the best file sharing system in 2020 (Tech Radar, 2020). To use this service you will need to create an account, and with that account you get 2 GB of free storage. Their paid service starts at $9.99 per month, and allows 2 TB (2000 GB) of storage. Files can be shared using direct links, and these can be downloaded by the recipient without a Dropbox account. Additionally, password protection and time-limits for the files can be applied.
I used Dropbox extensively at university when working on a design project with other students - It was super helpful to be able to share the same Word document or power point so that we could collectively build the report.
Google Drive is also a great file sharing platform. Here you don't need to create a specific Google Drive account, but do require a gmail address - if you don't have one you'll need to create one to sign up. When you do, you get 15 GB of free file storage, and these files can be sent via email or through a link, however unlike Dropbox, these files cannot be password protected, or timed. To upgrade your storage, plans start at £1.59 per month, giving you 100 GB of storage.
I've only used Google Drive once, and it was to upload holiday photos to a group drive so that everyone who attended the holiday could see the photos. It was really useful to have them all in one place, and the lack of time limit meant that I could download the lot two years after our trip! (see photo below).
WeTransfer is easier to use than Google Drive, and you don't even need to create an account (though you will need an email address so that they can contact you - Tech Radar, 2020). Files can be sent through a link, and it stays active for a week. With a 'Plus' account, you can password protect your files, set other download time limits, and other things - Prices start at 12 euros per month.
I've used We Transfer through a built-in app in our work email system and its really useful to send secure files to colleagues. Knowing that the email will be deleted after a week is great for security when working on sensitive IP projects.
That's it for today - thanks for reading! Here's one of the snaps from my Scotland trip in 2018:
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