Google Drive is here!

I've been discussing all the marvels of Dropbox for four posts now, so it's timely that Google has released their new cloud based file sharing service, Google Drive.  Here is a quick video to give you an idea of what it's all about.

One of the reasons that I have preferred Dropbox to other cloud services for so long is that you don't have to have an internet connection to access your files.  Also, Dropbox syncs automatically so there's no risk that something you saved won't be there.

Now that Google has released this program, that concern is no longer valid.  In addition, my Gmail and Google Docs will automatically link up with Google Drive.  This means that when I open an email attachment, it will go straight to Google Drive for later use.  Brand recognition is going to be a big selling point for this program.  People are using Google everything these days, so why not add one more piece to the puzzle.  Apple has made millions with the idea of compatible devices and Google is doing the same.

Old habits die hard and I'm not quite ready to let go of Dropbox just yet, but I've already downloaded Google Drive to try out and the functionality is great.  I would bet that I'll be moving everything over to Google sometime in the near future.

Here's another video discussing benefits of Dropbox versus Google Drive.  Sounds like this guy might be making the switch as well.

My Ode to Dropbox- Chapter 3: Writing Awesome Grants

I can't believe we've made it to the end of the Dropbox series.  Just a couple of thoughts for today before we move on to something else wonderful.

The thing about Dropbox that separates it from other cloud storage services is that you don't have to be online to use it.  Let me say that again.  You do not have to have an internet connection to access your Dropbox files.  In a world of travel and smart phones and immediacy, this can be crucial.  Imagine that you are in a car travelling to a meeting and you want to review your Power Point presentation.  If you've saved it only in cloud storage you will not be able to access it and your travel time is lost.  If, however, you saved your presentation in the Dropbox, it will be there waiting for you.  Because Dropbox relies on both cloud and local storage, you always have your files.  Let me not mislead you.  You will have to have an internet connection at some point in order to access your stuff.  Data has to get from your work computer to your home computer somehow, and you need a connection to do this.  But, once you connect, your data will sync automatically without you having to do anything.  You can work on a file on your work computer and as soon as you get your laptop to a place with an internet connection the file will be there forever.


If you take one thing away from all of my ramblings about how Dropbox can make your life better let it be this.  No matter who you are or what you use a computer for, cloud storage is for you.  I use it for my music, videos, ebay records, audio books, school work, work work, to keep up with my tax returns, to track my household budget, to keep my favorite recipes handy.  I could go on and on.....


But I won't.  Instead, I'm going to tell you about a time that I wrote awesome and efficient grants with Dropbox.  Last year, I spend some time working in fundraising and general management at a charter school in Maryland.  Working in a school has a completely different dynamic than other nonprofits I am accustomed to dealing with. For one, you cannot pick up your phone and call someone if you have a question.  Sure, you can call the other folks in your office but teachers have to teach and administrators have to administrate.  People tend to respond to email, but not always right away.  Second, it can be hard to set up meetings with teachers and administrators, especially regular ones.  The school is hopping from breakfast until the last football player leaves the locker room and sometimes that can be the whole workday.  I was writing a grant hoping to get major funding for a bio medical program and having a really hard time getting everyone together to talk about what exactly the program was going to do.

Enter Dropbox.  Within a week I was able to upload the grant and give everyone small assignments to move us forward.  I created a calendar that we could all see and use to track progress towards small goals.  The bio medical teacher was able to access to Dropbox and upload a narrative about what her vision of the program looked like.  The principal could, at her leisure, review that narrative and make changes.  The teacher was able to complete a first draft of the proposal budget, and the finance department reviewed the budget and made necessary changes.  I had the ability to review files and make changes in real time to make sure that everything was cohesive.  All in all, the project was a huge success.  We had two conference calls towards the end where we all logged into our computers and reviewed the files together.  Not one piece of paper was printed until submission day, and I was freed from the burden of chasing after people trying to get things filled out to meet a deadline.  Life was good.  

This is just another example of how you can use this program to help streamline tasks at your nonprofit organization.  So often, one person is filling out a budget then printing it out and giving it to the accountant to review.  Or, they are saving drafts on their own computer then emailing a finished draft and nobody knows how much progress they have made or if they have even started.  Wouldn't it be great if you could review a group project as it is being completed, rather than having to take time to consolidate everything at the end?  As I've said before, donor dollars are precious, and this is another way we can make them go farther.

For now this is going to be the final edition of the My Ode to Dropbox series.  That's not to say that I won't discover some great feature in the future and feel the need to share it with you.  If you have suggestions of features you'd like me to cover, or questions relating to how Dropbox works, feel free to leave them in the comments below and we can certainly revisit this topic.  



Stay tuned for coming attractions including KeePass, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Twitter! 

My Ode to Dropbox - Chapter 2: A Tutorial

So we've already established that I'm a somewhat obsessed with Dropbox.  If you watched the video from my last post, you should understand a little bit about how Dropbox can make it easier to keep track of all of your files. You set up an account, download it onto all of your devices, and whatever you save in the Dropbox on one device appears in the Dropbox on all devices.  Pure genius.

When you download Dropbox, the icon to open it up will appear in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.  It looks like this.

You'll double click on the icon to open up your Dropbox folder.





Once you have your Dropbox window open, you can add folders by clicking on Make a new folder.  Then, you can start adding your files to the Dropbox just by dragging them.  You can also save a file to the Dropbox by choosing the Save As Option.  Your Dropbox will be in your My Documents folder.


Now that you've added some files to your Dropbox folder, let's talk about how to access those files from another computer or device.  The first step is to download Dropbox on the other computers that you use.  You've already done this once so this step should be simple.  Second, you'll want to bring up your personal Dropbox cloud storage.  I know this sounds complicated, but it's not!  All you need to do is double click on the Dropbox icon, select File, Dropbox, Browse on Dropbox website.  This will take you to a webpage where all of your documents are stored.  You can log in to this webpage from any computer, anywhere to retrieve your documents, BUT, you have to be connected to the internet to get to this webpage.  You can organize your files here the same way that you would organize them on your desktop, and any changes you make will be reflected on all of your machines.


The next step (and the best one if you ask me) is sharing your files with your coworkers, friends, and family. I'm going to walk you through it, and you'll be storing your stuff in the cloud in no time.  To share files with others, go through the same steps I just mentioned to get to your Dropbox webpage, which will look something like this:

I bet you can figure out what happens next.  Go ahead and click on that happy rainbow that says Sharing next to it.  That will bring you to the sharing screen, which features all of your files organized into the folders we placed them in earlier.  Click on Options, and you'll be brought to another screen that will allow you to enter the email addresses of the folks you want to share your files with.  They'll have to have Dropbox too in order to access your stuff, but now that you're an expert you can help them get started.  It's that easy.

Stay tuned for how to use Dropbox to write better grants, as well as other exciting (and free!) programs for nonprofits.

So, how does Dropbox simplify life?

Good afternoon NPO/IT junkies.  Here's a quick video to continue the "My Ode to Dropbox" series.  It's a graphical representation of how file sharing works, and it's easy to understand if you don't speak tech lingo.




If you want to get started, visit the Dropbox homepage for your free download.  There's another short video on the homepage that I recommend watching if you still have questions.   Click on the Download Dropbox button, and follow the prompts on your screen.  It's easy!

Stay tuned tomorrow for My Ode to Dropbox - Chapter 2.

My Ode to Dropbox - Chapter 1

Dropbox is basically the best thing ever.  I'm on a personal crusade to get all of my coworkers to love it as much as I do.  It's so easy to use that even the most technologically challenged can maneuver through it.  The company's tagline is, "Simplify your life", and it does just that.

Dropbox is a file sharing software.  File sharing is a fancy term that means one user is giving another access to certain things on his or her computer. With Dropbox, users are able to share documents, spreadsheets, audio, and video, which more than covers the needs of the majority of nonprofit organizations.  There are three versions that range in price from free to $199.00 annually.  The change in price is due to increased file space in the more expensive versions.  The fact that there is no start up cost and a low annual fee makes this software a perfect match for any small nonprofit with budget constraints.

In addition to being able to share data with other users, you can also save files for your own use via Dropbox.  Imagine saving something on your work computer and being able to access it from home.  Even better, imagine being able to access it on the go from your mobile phone or tablet.  No more printing articles and memos to read at home, no more having to run back to the office to get a file that you need, and no more endless file folders to lug around with you.

Let me paint you a picture.....

Once upon a time there was a little girl chained to a copy machine in a big office.  She worked as staff liaison to an evil Board of Trustees who had long meetings where they demanded hot coffee with real cream, not that powdered stuff.  They made her write down their every word and so she would take pages and pages of notes until her little fingers hurt.  The little girl wanted badly to be promoted and knew that she had to keep the evil Board of Trustees happy if she was ever to escape their clutches.

Once a month the Trustees would send the little girl all of the files that they wanted the other Trustees to review before the meeting.  She would print the pages and stack them, sometimes as high as her desk.  Then she would carry the stack down to the copy room dungeon where she would have to copy the papers to be mailed out to the Trustees.  Each file was to be copied onto a different color of paper.  Some things were to be front and back, others single sided.  The whole process was exhausting for both the little girl and the trees.

This tale of woe does have a happy ending.  One day the little girl was introduced to a file sharing program called Dropbox.  Dropbox was organized, good at sharing, and easy to talk to.  At first, the Board of Trustees were apprehensive about having the files they so loved stored in Dropbox.  "But how will we communicate without our multicolored papers?" they asked.  And so the little girl prepared a tutorial that she presented to the Board of Trustees.  She taught them all how to upload their files and share them with the other Trustees.  They loved being able to have their files instantly instead of having to wait for the mail.  She even added a spreadsheet so that the Trustees could sign up to bring their own cream to the meetings.  The Trustees were so happy with this new adventure that they set the little girl free from her servitude.  She was promoted to the Data Management department where she got to hang out with Dropbox and his friends all day.  And she never had to make coffee for the evil Board of Trustees again.

This anecdote is based on a true story, and is just one example of what Dropbox can do for a small nonprofit.  Rather than making copies for a meeting, users can put their files into Dropbox for other users to access.  There's no waiting for copies to come in the mail, or having to make sure everyone's information is correct on the email list.  If one user wants to make a change to a file, everyone else can see that too- no more multiple versions.  Best of all, it's free!  Dropbox can save big bucks over the course of a year by the time you add up paper, printing, staff time, and postage.  And for any budget conscious organization, that's never bad news.

Coming soon: My Ode to Dropbox - Chapter 2