Tuesday Tech Tip: Access Dropbox from the ChromeOS File Manager
It seems that until recently, Dropbox was not available via the Chrome OS file manager. In order to use it you would need to access the Web interface. However, due to some API changes and coding by GitHub user yoichiro you can now integrate Dropbox into the file manager.
To set it up, install the File System for Dropbox and run it. On first run, you’ll be asked to provide your Dropbox credentials, and mount the drive. From that point forward, you should see Dropbox in the file manager.
Two caveats:
First, you as you move down through folders, they will not be listed on the left, only at the top. (In the screenshot I’m in /dropbox/Camera Uplaods, but I do not see that folder structure on the left as you do with Google Drive.)
Second, I seem to be unable to download content directly into Dropbox. Every attempt I have made to select a Dropbox folder as a Save As location has ended up as a failed download from the browser. Instead, I just save to the downloads folder then move the file later.
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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