The Dropbox application was the first widely used cross platform, cloud storage application for your cell phone, tablet, notebook computer, and desktop. Over the past year, most real estate appraisers have also chosen Dropbox as their cloud storage provider of choice.
A new addition to the Dropbox family of applications enhances the value even further. Send to Dropbox is a simple third party application that provides users of Dropbox with a simpler way to upload content directly to a Dropbox account. This free service provides an appraiser with a free email address that directs the uploaded file attachments to a specific folder of the user’s Dropbox. Appraisers should find Send To Dropbox to be a quick and easy way for a staff member or client to upload files to your Dropbox. Simply provide the Send To Dropbox email address to anyone, and they can upload plans, specifications, photos, or any other images or documents to your Dropbox. The Send To Dropbox SMTP servers support TLS security and provide files transfers using industry standard SSL connections. Users won’t have to be concerned about the security of your other Dropbox files, as they will not be accessible during any of this process.
Getting started
Getting started with Send to Dropbox is a breeze: You just connect it to your Dropbox account and it instantly generates an email address for you. Remembering the email address may be a challenge, as my address included my first name followed by four random numbers and letters. Later, I will discuss an inexpensive upgrade that will allow an unlimited number of customizable email addresses, whitelist management, and priority support.
Send to Dropbox utilizes one of my favorite features I often use in Evernote. Users can easily direct their attachments to a specific subfolder of the Apps\Attachments directory of their Dropbox. This allows appraisers to segregate files by property address, client, job number or any other specified subfolder name. Notice that the Destination options below tell the Send To Dropbox application to Create a subfolder and/or place the attachment in the subfolder named in the Subject line of the email.
The Send to Dropbox process is displayed in three steps below:
Step 1: Identify how the Subfolder name will be identified.
Step 2: Enter the Subfolder Name in the Subject Line.
Step 3: The file was sent to the Shared Files subfolder of the Apps/Attachments directory.
More Advanced Features
The application allows users to choose to format the Day, Date, and time, modify your given email address, and control if and how Send to Dropbox will include email text from the body of the email (HTML or Plain Text), automatically unzip archives and include the zip file. Where files already exist users are given the option to overwrite the file or save each file with an indexed annotation.
Why upgrade?
Upgrading to the $29-per-year or $3.00 per month Pro account gives you the option of customizing multiple mail addresses, a nice feature for business users; especially those who may want to share the address with colleagues or clients. Two additional features include an email whitelist to control who can send files to your Dropbox, and priority support.
Conclusion
Dropbox users will find Send To Dropbox a welcome addition to the Dropbox application. It’s ability to quickly and easily receive and archive large files from a variety of sources for their appraisal analysis and reporting.
Rating
4.5 Stars out of 5.
The only limitation is the application requires all destination folders to be subfolders of the Apps Folders.
Last Updated: January 07, 2014