Dropbox and Google Drive

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Study Skill 11.3 Dropbox and Google Drive

Introduction

What does it mean to have your files “in the cloud?” Like most things in computing, the cloud isn’t a place, but a metaphor. Instead of saving your documents on your own personal computer or hard drive, many of us save them on internet-connected systems and servers, like Dropbox and Google Drive, that let us access our files from a wider variety of devices. For example, a word processing document you create on your laptop can be stored on Dropbox so that when you only have your smartphone or tablet with you, you can connect to Dropbox (using the same account you used to save the file with) and access that file from there. Are you on a friend’s tablet? What about a library computer? You can log in to Dropbox and get to that file no matter what platform you’re using at the moment. It’s super convenient. Dropbox and Google Drive, like Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft’s  OneDrive, can store files for you in this way. All these services give you a certain amount of storage, with extra space available for a monthly fee.

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Key Ideas

  • Dropbox and Google Drive keep your files in “the cloud.”
  • You can access your files from any supported device (computer, tablet, smartphone).
  • Google Drive and Dropbox Paper can also be used to create documents and files.

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