Google Drive launch seems to be
around the corner and every other cloud storage service looks to be upping its game in anticipation. First
SkyDrive came out with a major upgrade and now comes a relatively minor update from Dropbox.
Dropbox now lets users share any files, irrespective of the folder it is in. This is a change from how the feature was previously implemented, wherein only files in the
Public folder could be shared.
While the scope of the sharing has been expanded, the method remains the same. Right-click on any file in your Dropbox folder, go to the Dropbox menu and select the
Get link option. The public-URL of the file opens in your default browser. The same method/ web-page can be used to un-share the file by selecting the
Remove link option when you want to make the file private again.
Dropbox follows the security by obscurity technique, since only the person(s) who you share the URL with will be able to access the file. Disappointingly, there is no way to have the public URLs expire after a preset time, so use this option carefully. Thankfully, the
Links tab in your Dropbox account on the website lists all files you presently share, should you want a quick overview of the same.