In some of my posts I have been describing how I use Evernote as my GTD cockpit. Another part of my trusted daily GTD system is my Dropbox account. Some time ago I made a separation between general reference files and what I call documents at work.
The general reference files on my computer do have their own directory structure. There is a basic three folder approach. Work related files, my own private related files and a knowledgebase directory. I don’t have a lot of subdirectories, I am on a Mac and completely trust Spotlight to find whatever file I need based on a couple of words from the original document. The work and private related files are mostly project related and are from projects that are already finished. Time Machine and Mozy make sure that data is replicated on an external disk and on the Internet.
For work at hand I use a free Dropbox account. The basic idea is that you can store 2 GB of files in your Dropbox and you can access that data through the Web on every computer that has Internet access. But the real power lies in the desktop clients, currently for Mac and Windows. When you install Dropbox on the client you will have a folder set up on your local computer. Any file you drop in that directory gets automatically synced to your online storage. You can attach more that one computer to one Dropbox account so files are replicated on the different computers. You don’t have to be online to be able to access the files.
I have Dropbox installed on my iBook G4 for when I am on the road. At home I have it installed on our Intel iMac. I can work on all project and other related files from both computers and know that I have the most up to date version of the file. Because Dropbox has an excellent iPhone enabled web interface I also can view my files from my iPhone. When working on a client computer or a public computer I have access to all my files through the Dropbox webinterface.
Dropbox also has the ability to roll back revisions of documents. So you can even revert back to files in case something went wrong. Even if you delete files from your Dropbox you can restore them in the Web Interface. I have been using it for months now with no problems so far.
In this screenshot you see the directories I have in my Dropbox account. The @Home and @Work folders hold files for projects I currently work on as well as other context related files.
Read&Review holds files (mostly pdf files) I want to read when time permits. The Reference folder holds reference documents I want to have at hand always. The photos folder is for well photos and the public folder is for sharing files with others.
Dropbox gives you two options when you want to sign up: the free account gives you 2 GB of storage and the $99 dollar a year (or $9,99 a month) paid subscription gives you 50 GB of storage.
But here is a catch for you. They have started a referral program. If you sign up for a free account using this link you will get an extra 256 MB of storage free. I will also get an extra 256 MB of storage. I have found so far that 2 GB of free storage is enough for my use of Dropbox in the GTD workflow I have setup. But having some more space won’t hurt 
I regularly purge my Dropbox by archiving project related files from projects already finished.
So if you want to give Dropbox a try, here is a good change!
februari 28th, 2009 at 19:23
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februari 28th, 2009 at 21:52
hi Fokke, why dont you just use gmail. they have lots of storage
and also there is a client that can map your gmail as a drive on your computer.
I dont know the name now but if you google for it you find it.
Regards, Andre
februari 28th, 2009 at 21:59
André, I actually have tried that approach. But it didn’t felt like I could really count on it. Fokke
februari 28th, 2009 at 23:37
Fokke, I’ve started using Dropbox but switched to Syncplicity (www.syncplicity.com) after a day for two reasons:
- Dropbox couldn’t handle the proxy server at work
- Syncplicity gives you the option to select which folders to backup. While using Dropbox you have to put all the files you want to sync in the ‘ My Dropbox’ folder
Unfortunately you can’t use Syncplicity with your iPhone
maart 5th, 2009 at 00:24
Fokke,
How would you compare Dropbox with storing documents right in Evernote? The Evernote iphone client also does a pretty decent job of displaying common document types. It doesn’t do any versioning, though. Are there other advantages?
- Tim
maart 5th, 2009 at 10:14
Hi Tim, I do use Evernote for storing documents too but only task related, ie if I have to act on a specific document. Dropbox is for reference related documents regarding my running projects. Fokke
april 16th, 2009 at 10:51
I use something similar. I use Dropbox for my reference files. I tried evernote, but I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with it. I use tomboy notes for @inbox and google notebook for web clippings. My tomboy is synchronized with remember milk, so I could access it from outside my laptop.
It would be great if google integrates their google notebook with their calender. But doubt it since they stopped active development of notebook.
http://senthilnambi.com/?p=190
Senthil Nambi
april 28th, 2009 at 05:07
heres another referral link to sign up with bonus 250MB: https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTYxMDQ2MDk
oktober 18th, 2009 at 20:01
Hey, nice article. You can update it with information that Dropbox is available as an app for iPhone (free) now. Keep doing great job. I’m looking forward to some new articles, your site is already in my RSS feed.
november 8th, 2009 at 22:35
I started my GTD system with just premium Evernote account and Google Calendar and quickly realized that Dropbox would be better for my reference notes too. For most “media” files like music and video, I just use a shared folder on my LAN since it’s slower to sync those types of files. I use Ubuntu Linux and Windows mostly and Dropbox works flawlessly on both systems for me. Oh, and I find the dropbox iPhone app is better than the evernote app for reading notes mobilely. I even brought Mozy into my cloud, along with some cron jobs that backup my files. Good to see like minded people
Anyway, I’m currently liking where Tomboy Notes are going now that they work on Windows and the “Ubuntu One” web service. It’s currently not quite as powerful as Evernote but I like being able to create/review all my notes from a panel icon rather than having to keep a full-blown desktop app and/or web browser tab open 24/7. Plus you can just sync your Tomboy notes with Dropbox. If Tomboy doesn’t work out I’m pretty sure i’ll just stick to evernote/google calendar and dropbox.
februari 25th, 2010 at 20:55
I agree with Ryan that the Dropbox iphone app makes mobile file access less cumbersome than the Evernote app. However, I find both of them (esp. desktop versions) must-have components of GTD system, and I use them extensively.
To a large extend, Dropbox and Evernote have replaced my Pulse Pen. However, I am about to dust off that pen and use it for note-taking for phone conversations (when some people at work are annoyed by the sound of my keyboard – besides, I type as slowly as I write, but with more errors).
The Pulse Pen can also record voice, but that is a feature