Spend less time searching, more time getting work done with Smart Sync

If you had to name the least productive part of your day, chances are you might say scrolling through your inbox or sitting in status meetings. But searching for files you know you saved somewhere, that’s really a drag. Factor in everything your team has shared with you, and finding your files gets even more complex.

Imagine how much more everyone could get done if you could trade that file-tracking time for hours devoted to mission-critical work. If you and your team have been trying to save disk space by storing files in USB disks or external hard drives—or have avoided syncing a folder from the cloud because it’s too big—you’ve created unnecessary walls between your work. The good news is, we can solve that problem today.

Here’s how Smart Sync can help your team get more out of Dropbox by letting you put more into it.

1. Gather all of your documents in one space

If you’re an application developer writing software in the cloud or using cloud productivity tools, you may already rely on multiple solutions for file storage. But do you remember where everything’s stored? Integrating everything into one team folder in Dropbox might take a small investment of time and effort, but it will make everyone’s workday easier. Plus, it’s the key to unlocking the untapped potential of Dropbox. Once you’ve consolidated your files, you’ve taken giant step toward streamlining. And by eliminating a lot of tedious file searching, every step after will be easier and more productive.

2. Make the knowledge base accessible to everyone

Gathering all your information in one location gives you more than the satisfaction of being better organized. It gives you a central hub of information where all your collaborators can access a single source of truth, a library of knowledge with contributions from everyone on your team. Of course, the sum of all your company’s knowledge represents a significant amount of data. So you might be wondering how this impacts disk space. That’s why we created Smart Sync. It gives everyone on your team access to every file and folder that’s been shared in the team folder, right from their desktop.

3. Sync global, act local

When you make a new file, it’s local by default. But if you have a collection of images, videos, and other large files you want to get off your hard drive, Smart Sync can help. It lets you keep that info and its metadata on your computer, while copying the core space-consuming parts of the file to Dropbox where they’re stored until you recall them. All you have to do is right-click the files you want to move from your hard drive to the cloud, then choose Smart Sync “Online Only.” When you need to bring them back, just double-click, and Dropbox will automatically download and open them for you. To find out how Smart Sync can help prepare your growing team for large-scale collaboration, check out dropbox.com/smartsync.