The questions have been well answered in a number of replies, but I thought I would add my $0.02 anyway. The primary intent of Dropbox is to be a file sharing and synchronization tool. Once Dropbox is installed on your PC, then a folder called Dropbox is placed on your PC and any files you place into the Dropbox folder are quickly copied to the Dropbox server in the sky. The files in your Dropbox folder on the Dropbox server in the sky can then be connected with other machines. Most typically, the other machines you are synchronizing with would be machines that you own and control, such as your desktop computer and your laptop computer. But a very wide variety of devices are supported. For example, I have my iPhone connected to my Dropbox folder in the sky. You can also connect your Dropbox to machines owned and controlled by others - friends, relatives, and/or professional or genealogy colleagues. I've never had reason to investigate very deeply the security setups for this kind of arrangement. But for example, your Dropbox folder can have subfolders and you might share one subfolder with one of your own devices or one of your colleagues, and another subfolder with another. There is also a mechanism for a public folder where you can place files that anyone can download. When you make a change on your PC and the file is synchronized with the Dropbox server in the sky, the file is also immediately synchronized with any other machines that are connected to the same Dropbox older. I can edit a file on my laptop and walk to my desktop, and by the time I get the the desktop the file is already there. This is obviously assuming that the desktop is turned an and connected to the Internet, which mine always is. I tend to use Dropbox as if it were My Documents folder. I simply store everything in Dropbox, and hence I don't have to copy anything into Dropbox to do a backup or to share. Other users keep much less in Dropbox all the time and only copy files into Dropbox when they want to back them up or share them. And hybrid approaches are certainly reasonable. For example, some users might choose to keep their RM database outside of Dropbox but their RM backup files inside of Dropbox. It's an incredibly flexible tool. Dropbox accounts are free up to a limit, which the last time I looked was 2GB. The way I work, I need about 20GB so I pay for my account but I consider the price to be extremely reasonable. The best I can remember, it's about $60 per year (or about $5 per month) for 50GB, but they are always tweaking the pricing and the free limits, so check their Web site for the most current information. I certainly would suggest starting with the free version. No credit card is required for the free version, and you don't have to reinstall to upgrade to the paid version. The free version has all the features as the paid version. The only difference is the limit on how much space you use. The way I have always used Dropbox with multiple PC's, there are complete copies of all my files on all my PC's (well, that makes it sound like I have a lot of PC's, but it's only two - a desktop and a laptop). But you don’t have to share all your data with every machine. You could have some data shared between machine A and B, and also some data share between machine A and machine D, and it wouldn’t have to be the exact same data. The way the iPhone and iPad app works is that it doesn't really store the files on the iPhone or iPad. Rather, it just keeps a file list on the iPhone or iPad. When you open a file on your mobile phone, it downloads the in read-only mode at that time. So you can't edit a file on your mobile device and have it synched back to your PC. Or at least that’s the way it worked the last time I looked. I can’t swear that a new update might have provided a mechanism to edit files on your mobile device and have the updated files synched back to your PC. I'm assuming that everything I've said about the PC version is equally true of the Mac version, but I don't have a Mac so I've never tested the Mac version. Having said all that (and despite Dropbox being primarily a file sharing and synchronization tool), Dropbox is also a wonderful backup tool. Because your files that are in the Dropbox folder are sent immediately to the Dropbox server in the sky, that constitutes a backup. I would always counsel against only having one backup. For example, have Dropbox plus make CD or DVD or USB flash drive backups. Or have Dropbox plus Carbonite plus USB flash drive backups. Etc. But Dropbox is an excellent backup tool. Finally, I think it goes without saying from the way Dropbox works, but you are never actually using the Dropbox files in the sky. You are always using files on your local hard disk. There are cloud based storage solutions where the files really are in the sky from the get go. But Dropbox is not such a solution. And I think that the Dropbox design is a much better design for most purposes than where your data really is edited while it's still in the sky. The only caution is that if you and a colleague wish to work on the same RM database at the same time using Dropbox, you really can't. You would have to make arrangements where your Dropbox's were connected, your RM database were in the common Dropbox, and you solemnly promised each other never to be working at the same time. For example, you might have to all each other before working on RM. Or you might have to agree that you would work on RM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and your colleague would work on on RM on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Or something like. It's fraught with danger, and I simply wouldn't do it. A true multi-user genealogy database solution does not presently exist, in my opinion. Jerry

For example. I share my rootsmagic backups folder on dropbox with my sister, That way she can always get a current version of the database, but she CANNOT change the database itself. Also share dropbox folders with photo and documents that are attached to the database. Dan On 1/20/2013 12:15 PM, Jerry Bryan wrote: ou can also connect your Dropbox to machines owned and controlled by others - f riends, relatives, and/or professional or genealogy colleagues. I've never had reason to investigate very deeply the security setups for this kind of arrangem ent. But for example, your Dropbox folder can have subfolders and you might sha re one subfolder with one of your own devices or one of your colleagues, and an other subfolder with another.

Jerry Bryan wrote: Finally, I think it goes without saying from the way Dropbox works, but you are never actually using the Dropbox files in the sky. You are always using files on your local hard disk. I must be doing something wrong because my files disappear from my desktop when I move them to Dropbox. I have to go to Dropbox to retrieve, open, and alter them. What am I doing wrong? Nancy M. -----Original Message----- From: Jerry Bryan <c24m48@hotmail.com> To: rootsmagic-users <rootsmagic-users@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sun, Jan 20, 2013 12:17 pm Subject: Re: [RMagic] A More basic question about dropbox The questions have been well answered in a number of replies, but I thought I would add my $0.02 anyway. The primary intent of Dropbox is to be a file sharing and synchronization tool. Once Dropbox is installed on your PC, then a folder called Dropbox is placed on your PC and any files you place into the Dropbox folder are quickly copied to the Dropbox server in the sky. The files in your Dropbox folder on the Dropbox server in the sky can then be connected with other machines. Most typically, the other machines you are synchronizing with would be machines that you own and control, such as your desktop computer and your laptop computer. But a very wide variety of devices are supported. For example, I have my iPhone connected to my Dropbox folder in the sky. You can also connect your Dropbox to machines owned and controlled by others - friends, relatives, and/or professional or genealogy colleagues. I've never had reason to investigate very deeply the security setups for this kind of arrangement. But for example, your Dropbox folder can have subfolders and you might share one subfolder with one of your own devices or one of your colleagues, and another subfolder with another. There is also a mechanism for a public folder where you can place files that anyone can download. When you make a change on your PC and the file is synchronized with the Dropbox server in the sky, the file is also immediately synchronized with any other machines that are connected to the same Dropbox older. I can edit a file on my laptop and walk to my desktop, and by the time I get the the desktop the file is already there. This is obviously assuming that the desktop is turned an and connected to the Internet, which mine always is. I tend to use Dropbox as if it were My Documents folder. I simply store everything in Dropbox, and hence I don't have to copy anything into Dropbox to do a backup or to share. Other users keep much less in Dropbox all the time and only copy files into Dropbox when they want to back them up or share them. And hybrid approaches are certainly reasonable. For example, some users might choose to keep their RM database outside of Dropbox but their RM backup files inside of Dropbox. It's an incredibly flexible tool. Dropbox accounts are free up to a limit, which the last time I looked was 2GB. The way I work, I need about 20GB so I pay for my account but I consider the price to be extremely reasonable. The best I can remember, it's about $60 per year (or about $5 per month) for 50GB, but they are always tweaking the pricing and the free limits, so check their Web site for the most current information. I certainly would suggest starting with the free version. No credit card is required for the free version, and you don't have to reinstall to upgrade to the paid version. The free version has all the features as the paid version. The only difference is the limit on how much space you use. The way I have always used Dropbox with multiple PC's, there are complete copies of all my files on all my PC's (well, that makes it sound like I have a lot of PC's, but it's only two - a desktop and a laptop). But you don’t have to share all your data with every machine. You could have some data shared between machine A and B, and also some data share between machine A and machine D, and it wouldn’t have to be the exact same data. The way the iPhone and iPad app works is that it doesn't really store the files on the iPhone or iPad. Rather, it just keeps a file list on the iPhone or iPad. When you open a file on your mobile phone, it downloads the in read-only mode at that time. So you can't edit a file on your mobile device and have it synched back to your PC. Or at least that’s the way it worked the last time I looked. I can’t swear that a new update might have provided a mechanism to edit files on your mobile device and have the updated files synched back to your PC. I'm assuming that everything I've said about the PC version is equally true of the Mac version, but I don't have a Mac so I've never tested the Mac version. Having said all that (and despite Dropbox being primarily a file sharing and synchronization tool), Dropbox is also a wonderful backup tool. Because your files that are in the Dropbox folder are sent immediately to the Dropbox server in the sky, that constitutes a backup. I would always counsel against only having one backup. For example, have Dropbox plus make CD or DVD or USB flash drive backups. Or have Dropbox plus Carbonite plus USB flash drive backups. Etc. But Dropbox is an excellent backup tool. Finally, I think it goes without saying from the way Dropbox works, but you are never actually using the Dropbox files in the sky. You are always using files on your local hard disk. There are cloud based storage solutions where the files really are in the sky from the get go. But Dropbox is not such a solution. And I think that the Dropbox design is a much better design for most purposes than where your data really is edited while it's still in the sky. The only caution is that if you and a colleague wish to work on the same RM database at the same time using Dropbox, you really can't. You would have to make arrangements where your Dropbox's were connected, your RM database were in the common Dropbox, and you solemnly promised each other never to be working at the same time. For example, you might have to all each other before working on RM. Or you might have to agree that you would work on RM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and your colleague would work on on RM on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Or something like. It's fraught with danger, and I simply wouldn't do it. A true multi-user genealogy database solution does not presently exist, in my opinion. Jerry =================================== RM list Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ROOTSMAGIC-USERS/ http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=ROOTSMAGIC-USERS WISH LIST: http://www.rootsmagic.com/forums/ BLOG: http://blog.rootsmagic.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTSMAGIC-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

You are not doing anything wrong, Nancy. Think of the Desktop as just another folder but a rather special one - its contents are always on your Windows desktop. So you MOVED the file from your Desktop 'folder' to a/the DropBox folder and that's why it no longer shows on your desktop. If you COPIED the file on the desktop to the DropBox folder, then the file would have remained on the desktop but now you would have two instances of the file on your computer and that could lead to confusion if you are not careful. You could leave the file in the DropBox folder and send a shortcut to it to your desktop so that there is only one instance of the database and it can be opened both from the Desktop and in the DropBox folder. Hope that helps, Tom -----Original Message----- I must be doing something wrong because my files disappear from my desktop when I move them to Dropbox. I have to go to Dropbox to retrieve, open, and alter them. What am I doing wrong? Nancy M.