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There is one capability that if Dropbox had, it would be a game changer

Booji

Booji

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 17, 2011
793
519
Tokyo
I keep all of my files synced on Dropbox across multiple devices. It has really been liberating to be able to pick up any device, even logging in on a shared device, and having access to all my files.

I used Dropbox on my IPP 9.7 to access my files as if it were a hard drive. However, when I travel, I have to plan ahead to either download, or "make available offline" before I'm away from a good internet connection.

Now, if Dropbox had the ability to take a whole folder, or directory, and make it available offline and fully synced, well there is my file system that was missing!

Please please....this capability would really be a game changer for those rely on iOS for productivity.
 
I hate to tell you this but Apple probably wouldn't allow it.
  • Apps that download code in any way or form will be rejected
  • Apps that transmit viruses, files, computer code, or programs that may harm or disrupt the normal operation of the APN service will be rejected (possibility through sending malformed code through push notification)
  • Apps that include the ability to save or download music or video content from third party sources (e.g. Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, etc) without explicit authorization from those sources will be rejected (how many people put music in Dropbox?)
    1. Audio streaming content over a cellular network may not use more than 5MB over 5 minutes
    2. Video streaming content over a cellular network longer than 10 minutes must use HTTP Live Streaming and include a baseline 192 kbps or lower HTTP Live stream
  • (Think about those two for a second and how Apple might relate that to automatic downloads from an app)
  • Apps that rapidly drain the device's battery or generate excessive heat will be rejected (background downloads do exactly this)
There are more here: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
Feel free to go through them.

Sometimes with these terms you have to read into them, Apple would have no problem doing that if you took them to court over them rejecting your app. Dropbox wants to stay on the App Store so in order to gain users they have to play by Apple's playbook, iCloud Drive functions the same way, so does OneDrive.
 
Might want to post this in the dropbox feedback forums if you want them to see it :). And for what it's worth, they do have this feature, you just need to have I believe the enterprise subscription to use it.

That said, while I agree this would be a nice addition, what I'd really like them to add is support for opening/moving files, so I can edit files in dropbox in any app without having to make copies. The ability for file providers to do this was added in iOS 8, and dropbox is now the only one who hasn't implemented it. At this point I suspect it's for business reasons, rather than technical, so I've switched to a combo of iCloud drive and Google drive instead.
[doublepost=1465393176][/doublepost]
mildocjr said:
I hate to tell you this but Apple probably wouldn't allow it.
  • Apps that download code in any way or form will be rejected
  • Apps that transmit viruses, files, computer code, or programs that may harm or disrupt the normal operation of the APN service will be rejected (possibility through sending malformed code through push notification)
  • Apps that include the ability to save or download music or video content from third party sources (e.g. Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, etc) without explicit authorization from those sources will be rejected (how many people put music in Dropbox?)
    1. Audio streaming content over a cellular network may not use more than 5MB over 5 minutes
    2. Video streaming content over a cellular network longer than 10 minutes must use HTTP Live Streaming and include a baseline 192 kbps or lower HTTP Live stream
  • (Think about those two for a second and how Apple might relate that to automatic downloads from an app)
  • Apps that rapidly drain the device's battery or generate excessive heat will be rejected (background downloads do exactly this)
There are more here: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
Feel free to go through them.

Sometimes with these terms you have to read into them, Apple would have no problem doing that if you took them to court over them rejecting your app. Dropbox wants to stay on the App Store so in order to gain users they have to play by Apple's playbook, iCloud Drive functions the same way, so does OneDrive.
Click to expand...

This is definitely not true. For one, it's just an extension of an existing feature, i.e. having an entire folder saved offline rather than having to pick individual files. Second, other apps already do this, such as Box.
 
VforVelveta said:
Might want to post this in the dropbox feedback forums if you want them to see it :). And for what it's worth, they do have this feature, you just need to have I believe the enterprise subscription to use it.

That said, while I agree this would be a nice addition, what I'd really like them to add is support for opening/moving files, so I can edit files in dropbox in any app without having to make copies. The ability for file providers to do this was added in iOS 8, and dropbox is now the only one who hasn't implemented it. At this point I suspect it's for business reasons, rather than technical, so I've switched to a combo of iCloud drive and Google drive instead.
[doublepost=1465393176][/doublepost]

This is definitely not true. For one, it's just an extension of an existing feature, i.e. having an entire folder saved offline rather than having to pick individual files. Second, other apps already do this, such as Box.
Click to expand...

Well there you have it, no reason for Dropbox not to have the functionality, guess you need to send feedback. FYI, I said probably, so it probably could get rejected if Dropbox doesn't abide by the rules.
 
Booji said:
I keep all of my files synced on Dropbox across multiple devices. It has really been liberating to be able to pick up any device, even logging in on a shared device, and having access to all my files.

I used Dropbox on my IPP 9.7 to access my files as if it were a hard drive. However, when I travel, I have to plan ahead to either download, or "make available offline" before I'm away from a good internet connection.

Now, if Dropbox had the ability to take a whole folder, or directory, and make it available offline and fully synced, well there is my file system that was missing!

Please please....this capability would really be a game changer for those rely on iOS for productivity.
Click to expand...
What you can do is to download a file manager app like documents or PDF expert, then sync your Dropbox account to it, allowing you to download your Dropbox files to your iOS device.

Ironically, Dropbox could probably do the same thing by releasing a second app to serve as a content manager for its original Dropbox service.
 
Booji said:
Now, if Dropbox had the ability to take a whole folder, or directory, and make it available offline and fully synced, well there is my file system that was missing!
Click to expand...

Documents already has this ability. I use it to sync entire folders across different cloud storage providers. The only disadvantage is that I need to leave the app open for a while to let the sync take place.
 
Booji said:
Now, if Dropbox had the ability to take a whole folder, or directory, and make it available offline and fully synced, well there is my file system that was missing!
Click to expand...

I want that also.
But isn't this inefficient and a bandwidth burner?
Upload from OS X to DropBox then Download to iOS
What I really want is a file system on iOS
Just sync my OS X files to iOS directly.
 
Booji said:
I keep all of my files synced on Dropbox across multiple devices. It has really been liberating to be able to pick up any device, even logging in on a shared device, and having access to all my files.

I used Dropbox on my IPP 9.7 to access my files as if it were a hard drive. However, when I travel, I have to plan ahead to either download, or "make available offline" before I'm away from a good internet connection.

Now, if Dropbox had the ability to take a whole folder, or directory, and make it available offline and fully synced, well there is my file system that was missing!

Please please....this capability would really be a game changer for those rely on iOS for productivity.
Click to expand...

wat? i do this all the time on note5 with zero problems. so i don't know why you say dropbox won't do it. because it does.
 
LxHunter said:
I want that also.
But isn't this inefficient and a bandwidth burner?
Upload from OS X to DropBox then Download to iOS
What I really want is a file system on iOS
Just sync my OS X files to iOS directly.
Click to expand...

Advantage of cloud syncing, like Dropbox, is your devices stay in sync even when they are out of range of each other. So I edit something on my iPad while I'm at the office, and the file updates on my iMac at home.
 
3lionsbecks said:
I think that iCloud Drive is probably an even better option for people who have exclusively apple or iOS products. If you have a mixture of OS devices then dropbox is probably the better option.

iCloud drive storage is pretty cheap. I'm not sure how expensive Dropbox is.
Click to expand...
However, Dropbox has more 3rd party support than iCloud. If an app uses cloud storage, Dropbox is always an option, iCloud not so much.
 
Goodreader does a great job of syncing files, sign in and set what folders up to sync. Can do this for pretty much any device that you can connect to via wifi/cellular. I use it to sync folders from: Google drive, Dropbox and local server. 1 single tap required, so in 3 taps multiple sources and their associated folders begin syncing, after the initial sync the rest is small incremental changes.
 
Last edited:
Smeaton1724 said:
Goodreader does a great job of syncing files, sign in and set what folders up to sync. Can do this for pretty much any device that you can connect to via wifi/cellular. I use it to sync folders from: Google drive, Dropbox and local server. 3 taps and folders begin syncing, after the initial sync the rest is small incremental changes.
Click to expand...
Yes I was just going to post this. I use Goodreader all the time. I'll usually load up documents from local SMB server before going out to a site.
 
Peepo said:
Yes I was just going to post this. I use Goodreader all the time. I'll usually load up documents from local SMB server before going out to a site.
Click to expand...

Apple should buy Goodreader and have it in iOS as a standard app. It would shut those crying for a file system up!
 
Night Spring said:
Advantage of cloud syncing, like Dropbox, is your devices stay in sync even when they are out of range of each other. So I edit something on my iPad while I'm at the office, and the file updates on my iMac at home.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's a beautiful thing. All my devices, including my office and personal machines all have the same files (with the exception of the ones I choose to exclude) are synced real time, and it's all fast and seamless. I never have to do anything.
 
Hi everyone,

I received an iPad Pro 9.7 as a birthday gift last week. This is my first time with an iPad and I installed Dropbox in it. How can I edit a .txt file? I can't find an option to do it.

Thanks in advanced.
 
Yes, you can select the file and choose to open it. Depending on the file, it will launch MS Office online and you can edit it cloud style
 
Booji said:
Yes, you can select the file and choose to open it. Depending on the file, it will launch MS Office online and you can edit it cloud style
Click to expand...
Thanks for your answer but I can't do it. I select the file, there's a preview window but there's no way to open that .txt file.
I have Office apps installed.
 
LxHunter said:
What I really want is a file system on iOS
Just sync my OS X files to iOS directly.
Click to expand...
"This work-a-round would be awesome if it worked"! Cloud solutions are
ok for some scenarios, but not for many others.
 
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