Setting Up Your Website's Dropbox Folder
When adding documents and files to your webpage, consider the available storage space, bandwidth, and download speeds. To reduce storage requirements on our web servers and to avoid long document download times for our users, we use Dropbox as our primary document storage option for MS Word, Excel, and PDF files that need to be public.
NOTE: One can edit and make copies of PDFs in your PRM-Web Dropbox folders even when not logged in. The original file is still maintained and not altered. This is a Dropbox feature.
The reality is that every PDF is editable with a PDF editor.
To block all editing on a PDF, you’ll have to PROTECT it within Acrobat prior to uploading it to Dropbox. Find out how to protect your Acrobat files on the official website.
**Special Note About INTERNAL DOCUMENTS**
These
PRM-Web-NAME Dropbox folders are intended solely for storing public
documents. Internal documents need to be transferred to an
internal storage option such as Microsoft SharePoint or a separate unit
Dropbox account.
Step 1
Set Up Your Georgia State Dropbox Account
The first step is to register/log into Dropbox (https://gsutech.service-now.com/sp?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=5689ab3adbc224102c5b9696db96190f&referrer=recent_items). Dropbox accounts are free for all faculty and staff, but you still need to register your GSU email account to gain access to your PRM-Web-NAME Dropbox folder.
Step 2
Let Digital Strategy Know You Need Access to Your Site's Dropbox
We are working with IT to set up website DropBoxes for all major colleges, schools, and units. These DropBoxes will only be used for documents (MS Word, PDF, Excel, etc.) and large image libraries for your public WordPress site(s). Your Communications Director will need to contact us to request access to your site's Dropbox.
Step 3
Add Your Site's Dropbox to Your Personal Dropbox folder
Once you have been added to your PRM-Web-NAME's Dropbox, log in to Dropbox (at https://www.dropbox.com/home) and look for the option on the left side labeled "Shared." Click on it. You will now see all the Dropbox folders you have access to.
Place your mouse over any folder you have not added to your Dropbox list yet, and the "Add to Dropbox" button will appear. Click on that button.
You can now see this folder under your "All Files" option in the left column.
Now you have access to your website's Dropbox and can add documents to it.
Step 4
Setting Up Your Website Dropbox - Best Practices
The Communications Directors can set up subfolders under their charge to keep items organized and properly sorted. Subfolder directories should be discussed and planned in advance to ensure they are organized and future-proof.
****We urge you to establish a clear, consistent naming and ordering convention (by category, date, etc.) for your folders that is easy for all users to understand and ensures that every file can be easily found within your Dropbox with minimal effort. ****
(NOTE: Dropbox has a feature where you can create automated folders and have uploaded documents auto-organized utilizing categories, renaming files, and adding tags, among other means.)
To add subfolders, click the Website Dropbox option in the "All files" folder where you want to add them, then click the "+Create" button and select "Folder".
You can then name the folder and select the people you would like to share it with. You can choose who can view or edit each folder. This feature allows colleges and schools to break up their main folder into separate programs by creating each program as a subfolder, then adding sub-subfolders to those programs for items such as CVs, Forms, student documents, and staff documents.
Once again, we ask that each Communications Director responsible for a College, School, or Unit plan their folders and subfolders before placing any document in them. This will hopefully prevent future naming and location issues.
NOTE: Comm Directors, you can organize your folders using multi-file options, set Naming Conventions, and add Automation. Each option is self-explanatory and easy to set up. These organizing options should be thoroughly evaluated to optimize setup and ongoing use.
Now you can populate your Dropbox folders with your documents (See our article on Sharing Your Dropbox Documents on Your Website).
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