Thursday 7 July 2011

Online file sharing for dummies

Here's a new online file sharing tool I came across recently, called Minus, which is free.

Minus is easy to use. You just go to the website and drag the files you want to share onto the browser window. These will be added to an online gallery and you are given a URL to share with colleagues or clients. Files can be downloaded individually, or the whole gallery can be downloaded as a ZIP archive.

No sign-in is required to share or download files, and its free to use. There is a limit of 50 files for everyone, although registered users get larger upload limits (5o MB per file, as opposed to 25 MB for unregistered users), a public profile and the ability to search their own and other users’ galleries.

Minus’ works on most PC and mobile device platforms, and its drag-and-drop simplicity makes it very easy to use for the less tech-savvy amongst us. The downside is that right now it's not secure, so it's not a bona fide business tool in our eyes. Whilst it may have its uses short term - dealing with occasional emergencies when you find you need to send someone a large file - I guess we'll need to wait for Minus to sort out their business model and pricing strategy to see if it has a future in the business community. This is bound to involve charging for secure sharing which is no bad thing.

PS. If you  want to share a file with colleagues or clients, but aren’t sure whether they have the necessary software to open it then give Dropdo a try. This is a free, simple to use, online file sharing service that has built-in viewing tools for many different file formats.

For more ways to help you save time, money and hassle Search This Blog or visit www.office-lifeline.co.uk