Many of us are familiar with Dropbox and use it for file-sharing purposes. But is it really the ideal solution for work?
Our simple answer is no. We are not discounting the fact that Dropbox is a fantastic piece of software. But yes, it is not an ideal work or office solution. It is astonishing to us that so many offices are using it as a solution for their file-sharing needs. Especially when you are only a free-tier user, here are some points to highlight about Dropbox that, hopefully, make you understand what it is used for ideally.
Hacking into Dropbox
Is Dropbox an ideal work and office solution?
Dropbox servers are hacked on a regular basis. They are not secure and one should never make the mistake and assume that they are. Then again if you are a free-tier user, what is the point in complaining? However, if you are a paid user, you could be surprised to know that these breaches are regular and not only can the information in your Dropbox account be accessed from their servers, but they can be accessed very quickly through your computer as well.
So to attach or store sensitive information in your work or company Dropbox account is not advisable, so this already cements Dropbox as a platform that should never be used by professionals who wish to keep relevant documents and data secure.
Deleting Files in Dropbox
Is Dropbox an ideal work and office solution?
If you are a paid user of Dropbox, you should be able to get some support help from the support team (when they finally respond after a few days) to help you retrieve deleted data that was important to you. However, the rights of administrators or editors or developers to a Dropbox account needs to be in the hands of trusted users. Is a free account is under an administrator, there is a good chance that a file deletion by the administrator from the free user account may result in permanent deletion.
Even if you are a paid user as an administrator, the free user account is not, and that data could be lost forever once deleted. Another point we wish to highlight is, with some setup of Dropbox, accidentally deleting shared folder files on your computer could cache throughout all the computers connected to the same shared folder. And if nobody notices the deleted file, there is a good chance that the file is forever lost and forgotten. Out of the mind of sight after all.
Casual use only
Is Dropbox an ideal work and office solution?
The harsh reality is that Dropbox is a casual application for casual users. For keeping photographs, videos and other files that play no real importance to you. It is a great way to ensure data is backed up to the cloud so if your computer crashes, you can easily log back into your Dropbox account with your Facebook account and retrieve all that information back. It is a great free application, and if you are choosing to pay, it is best to shop around a little. There are other solutions out there. And for the casual users, we think Dropbox is one of the best, bar none.
Dropbox is too simple
Is Dropbox an ideal work and office solution?
Dropbox is a simple solution for simple users. It is effortless to use. If you log in to your Facebook account, you can log in to it. And once you are in, you can keep dragging your most updated file into your Dropbox folder, and it automatically updates the old version with the new version and the option even to view all the older versions that were uploaded before. Which is excellent for documents you are still working on and are continually adding. And great if you wish to retrieve a document before you amended and deleted some things from it.
So yes we do understand the arguments and points brought forward by users. It is easy, and it is simple. And there are other solutions out there, trust us, for real commercial use. The security we ought to never take for granted, but using a pop culture software does not promote professionalism either.
Thank you for reading 'Is Dropbox an ideal work and office solution?' and we hope you have a beautiful day.
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