Kaigin Development proudly presents;

The Drop Box Tutorial

This tutorial will guide you through the install process of Drop Box, and will then take you through the steps of setting it up, running it, and show you how to use the shared folder feature.

Creating Your Account and Logging In

So youre looking to start a Dropbox account? Well then youre in luck, this tutorial will help you through the process. The first thing you need to do is go to www.Dropbox.com and click the Login button. The page you are looking at will look identical to this picture once you click Login.

If you have already created an account then fill out the credentials you provided during the registration process. If you have not created an account before, click the create account link located right below remember me.

The next screen you see will have a signup form for you to fill out to get started on your journey into the wonderful world of The Cloud. Remember to use your preferred email address for signing up with Dropbox.

Once you click the Create account button the next screen you see will look like this (if your using firefox).

If your using Internet Explorer, you will be able to select Run instead of Save File and run it right away, once it is done downloading.

Once you have downloaded the Dropbox installer, locate your download if you clicked the save option and double click it to run it, or if you clicked ran then it will start automagically.

If a window pops up asking if you want Dropbox to make changes to your computer, click yes and then on the following window, click install. Dropbox will now begin installing itself, and once it is done you will be presented with a screen that looks like this. The next step is to now

sign in with the credentials you used to sign up. In the following window, enter your email and password and then click the next button.

Once this is done, you MIGHT be presented with the following picture, but this is depending on your firewall access or how you prefer notifications. Should this next picture pop up for you, just click allow access.

The next screen in which you will see is the select your plan screen. It is common to go for the 2GB plan (free). However, depending on your use of Dropbox, you can purchase a paid plan which includes a very nice low cost for more cloud storage

After you have chosen your plan, we will move on to the setup screen.

For now lets choose typical setup. Click the install button located in the bottom right corner of that setup screen, and Dropbox will finish doing its thing and will now present you with a tutorial window. It is completely up to you to read this or to skip it. What you decide to do is on you. We, however, encourage you to read it for a better, although brief, grasp on whats to come.

So I have Dropbox ready to go, now what?

Now that you have Dropbox installed, lets start using it. First you will notice that you have a new icon in the lower right corner of your computer screen (the task bar). This is the Dropbox icon. From this icon you can open your Dropbox folder, pause syncing, resume syncing, launch the website, and even get more space!

In order to use this icon, right click and select what you want to do. If you just want to open the Dropbox folder then it is as easy as double clicking this icon with the left mouse button.

So lets begin by double clicking this icon so we can open our Dropbox folder. Now my Dropbox folders content will look different than yours, because what you decide to put in it is all on you. So now we have our Dropbox folder opened and it looks similar to this picture.

Now like I had previously stated, my picture and what you see on your screen will not be identical, and that is PERFECTLY OK for this part. What you put into this folder right here will be uploaded to the cloud for your backup/retrieval later. Keep in mind though; you can still edit the files in this folder. So if you had an important business letter you were writing you could open it up through Dropbox, if it was already saved in there, and edit the paper then Dropbox will automagically sync it with their servers. Your probably wondering how you can tell if Dropbox is syncing your files or not. Thats as easy as remembering where the icon is located. If you look at your Dropbox icon in the lower right hand of your screen and see what looks like two arrows curved chasing each other, then its syncing.

If you see a green circle with a check mark in it, then that means it is done syncing.

What if I want to share a folder?

You want to share a folder huh? Thats simple. To share a folder, open up your Dropbox folder, select the folder in the Dropbox folder you want to share, right click it, have your pointer hover over Dropbox and then select Share this folder as seen in the picture below.

Once you click Share this folder, it will bring you to their website where you type in the recipients email address (as seen in the picture below), and begin sharing certain folders with them.

Now that we have sharing folders understood, we will give you a quick run through of what to do should a file you need gets deleted from Dropbox (very common, as it has happened to me many of times).

The first thing you would like to do is go to www.dropbox.com , login with your credentials, and you will be presented with a screen that is identical with the content as your Dropbox folder. Now you see how the cloud works? If you click the Show Deleted Files button, it will display in grey the files that have been deleted.

Notice how on mine I do not have deleted stuff now, but in the next picture I will have grey items (deleted ones I can recover). For now, also take note on the download folder option. This comes in handy if you need a file somewhere that doesnt have dropbox. Once you click Show Deleted Files you will get grey items in your list. Click the item you want to restore, then click the drop down arrow to bring up a list of options.

Clicking undelete will restore the selected item to your Dropbox folder, Permanently delete will make sure you never restore the file again, and previous version will roll back the selected file to a version of it from a previous date.

We hope this tutorial has been very helpful, and has helped guide you through the wonderful world of Dropbox. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. For information on contacting us, please visit www.Kaigin.com