Dropbox Overview
Overview of Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage platform emphasizing file sharing and collaboration for teams. The Cloud Storage Guide will focus on Dropbox Business Accounts, as they're designed for teams and companies.
Dropbox Business allows for multiple users with shared storage among the team, along with the ability to link a personal account that belongs entirely to the individual.
Features Overview
Shared Content
Objects owned and managed by the organization
Known as Shared Folders
Individual Content
Personal user content
Called Private folders
Mailbox
Emails, contacts, and calendars
Not included
Versions
Historical snapshot of documents that can be restored
Versions for 30-365 days depending on the plan. Does not use storage space.
Document Collaboration
Real-time simultaneous editing
Text, video, and audio files (in Dropbox Paper format)
Account Administration
Managing users, account, and organization information
Managed through Admin Console
Auditing and reporting
Usage and access information
Available back to 2017 in Admin Console.
SFTP , FTP, AS2 transfers
Secure file transfer protocol support
Not supported natively; Supported via a 3rd-party solution like Couchdrop
Additional Features
Other features included with a subscription
PDF editor, e-signatures, media recording and editing
What makes Dropbox unique
As one of the original cloud storage platforms, Dropbox's emphasis is on storing and sharing files with people, no matter where they are. As a result, many of their updates have been around collaboration and the ability to work on files within Dropbox.
Productivity tools include a document editor, PDF editing, an image editor, and a video/screen recorder with collaborative editing. All of these are contained within the Dropbox ecosystem. For documents, Dropbox Paper is a proprietary document format that can't be opened outside the platform.
By default, Dropbox has several recovery features, including automatic backup, account recovery & version history for at least 180 days, and remote device wipe. Admins also have the ability to sign in as another user and have full visibility over activity in the organization.
How storage is allocated and handled
Dropbox Business plans on the Standard tier start at 15TB of pooled storage for the team, and 5TB of pooled storage is added for each team member.
For example, Advanced plans give 5TB per user. With 10 users, that would be 50TB for the organization. If 2 users use 20TB each (40TB total), there would be 10TB left for the remaining 8 users to share.
Version history and Shared links do not take up any available storage space. Shared folders only count once towards the organization's storage quota, unless the Shared folder originates from outside the organization.
Dropbox allows for 1000TB total storage in an organization, which includes paid add-on storage. Additional organizations will need to be added if there is over 1PB of data.
Proprietary document types
Dropbox's collaborative document editor creates files in the .paper proprietary document type. This format is similar to Markdown and allows multiple users to work in the same file at the same time.
Since Dropbox is the only application that recognizes this document type, they cannot be used outside of Dropbox without converting them first.
How content ownership works
Content created within an organization is owned by the organization. While individual users can have private folders that only they have access to by default, admins can override this behavior to access the files. They can also choose to log in as any user within the organization at will.
Because organization admins own and have access to all content, it is not recommended to keep sensitive personal files in a Dropbox organization account.
How sharing and permissions work
Dropbox has several pre-built roles to quickly assign users to permissions. Without using these roles, users can be assigned permissions individually or by being part of a group.
On the folder and file level, Dropbox has three main roles.
Owner is the creator of the top-level folder. Any subfolder created within a folder will have the owner of the parent folder set as the Owner, regardless of who created the subfolder.
Editors can add, edit, download, share, or delete files.
Viewers can view, download, share, and comment.
Download permissions cannot be restricted when sharing directly, but can be when using Shared Links to share.
Shared links are generatable links with customizable permissions and can be shared with external members. Admins can restrict access to external sharing and shared links.
How syncing with local storage works
Cloud file sync is a setting in Dropbox that allows users to locally sync, upload, and download Dropbox content. Files can be downloaded to local storage at any time, and edits made without internet access will be synced when the device is online once more.
The Dropbox desktop and mobile applications allow viewing the contents of cloud folders virtually. Folders and files are shown with their name and minimal metadata, and individual objects can be selected to sync in full when a local copy is needed. Selective syncing in this method lets users only copy what is needed, resulting in less local disk space usage.
How billing works
Dropbox charges per user up to the Advanced business tier. Enterprise tiers are customizable to fit the needs of larger organizations or organizations that require large amounts of storage.
1TB add-ons are also available for purchase on any team plan.
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