How to Use Dropbox on iPad

Dropbox is a cloud data management application for sharing files between computers, tablets and phones. With a Dropbox account, you can easily share files with iPad, you can also watch videos that don’t play on iTunes. Dropbox allows you to sync files across accounts and computers, which you can use to share and collaborate with others.

Table of Contents

Dropbox Settings

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Get the Dropbox app on iPad from the App Store. You can download it for free.

Open the App Store. Remember to turn on the network connection.
Search for “Dropbox”.
Click “Select” (Get) then select “Install” next to the Dropbox app in the search results. It will take a few minutes to download and install the app.

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Start the Dropbox app and start creating a new account. Dropbox account is completely free and has 2GB of storage available. You can pay for more storage.

Select “Sign Up” and follow the prompts to create an account. Once created, select “Sign In” to get started.

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Decide if you want to enable the “Camera Upload” function. When activated, any new photos you take on your iPad are automatically backed up to your Dropbox account. You can disable or enable this function later.

If you’re on a free account, you might want to disable this functionality, as photos and videos will quickly fill up Dropbox’s storage space.

Getting Started with the Dropbox App

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Select the File tab to view the file. This is the tab that opens by default when you start Dropbox, it shows all the files and folders stored on your account. Click to select a file, it will be displayed on the left-right frame.

The first time you use Dropbox, you’ll see a “Getting Started” document that summarizes a few simple functions of the desktop version of Dropbox.
You can use folders to organize files.

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Select the Photos tab to view photos stored on your Dropbox account. Photos will be sorted by upload date.

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Select the Favorites tab to see the files you marked as local storage. Anything on your Dropbox account marked as Favorites will be downloaded and stored on your iPad. You can watch the episode even when your iPad is not connected to the network.

Please refer to more articles on how to mark Favorites on Dropbox.

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Select the Settings tab to adjust the Dropbox app and account settings. This tab allows you to check how much space is available, enable or disable Camera Upload, enable a passcode for the Dropbox app, and link the app to your computer.

Link to Computer

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Go to the Dropbox Connect website on your computer. Type Enter dropbox.com/connect into the web browser. You should see the Dropbox icon turn into a scan code. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Dropbox works best when installed on all devices. This allows you to easily share files between devices where the app is installed.

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Open the Settings tab on the Dropbox app.

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Select “Link a Computer”. Dropbox will ask permission to access your iPad’s camera to scan barcodes during setup. If you’ve pressed decline, open Settings, select Privacy, then Camera, then turn the ON button on.

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Select “Yes, continue” when asked if you are near the computer.

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Point the iPad camera at the screen so that the Dropbox icon appears on the iPad screen. Hold the iPad for a while so it can scan the barcode.

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Run the installation program. After scanning the code, the Dropbox website will download an installation program for your computer. Run this program to install Dropbox desktop version.

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Open the Dropbox folder on your computer. You can access this folder from an icon on the desktop, or choose Dropbox from the Explorer’s Favorites and Finder on Mac.

You can access anything added from your computer on your iPad, and vice versa.

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Install Dropbox for all devices. Dropbox is available with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. You can get the most out of Dropbox if you install it on all your devices.

Add Files To Dropbox

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Add files using another app’s Share button. The most common way to add a file to Dropbox on iPad is to share it from another app.

Open the file in the application used to handle it every day. For example, if you want to add a photo to Dropbox, open the photo in the Photos app. If you want to add an email attachment, open it with the Mail app.
Select the “Share” button. Icon of a box with an arrow pointing up. This will open the Share menu.
Select “Save to Dropbox” (Save to Dropbox) on the 2nd line. If you don’t see it, select “More” and then turn on the Dropbox option.
Select the location where you want to save the file on Dropbox. All folders are listed, with the most recent save at the top of the list.
Select “Save” and wait for the file to be uploaded to Dropbox.

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Add files from the Dropbox app. You can use the “Add File” function in Dropbox to add files from the Photos app or iCloud Drive.

Open the Dropbox app and select the Files tab.
Select the “…” button at the bottom of the Files list.
Select “Add File” then select the file to add. If you select “Photos”, Dropbox will ask for permission to access the photos on your iPad. If you choose iCloud, you’ll see files and folders on iCloud Drive.
Select the file you want to upload to Dropbox.

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Drag and drop files into the Dropbox folder on your computer. You can add any file from your computer to your Dropbox folder and you’ll see it on your iPad when it’s uploaded. Upload time depends on file size and line speed.

Managing Files On Dropbox

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Use Dropbox to open the file. You can use Dropbox to open files you add from your computer on your iPad. Any files that can be viewed on the iPad’s Preview function (photos, documents, PDFs, etc.) are displayed on Dropbox. If iPad doesn’t support that file format, you need another app that supports that format to view the file.

Dropbox can watch many video formats without using another application. If the file is marked as Favorites, you may need another application that supports the file format. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Organize files into folders. Folders help you neatly organize multiple files.

Select the “…” button and then select “Create Folder” (Create Fpder) to create a new folder on Dropbox. You can create a sub folder in another folder following the steps above.
Select the “…” button and then select “Select”. This allows you to select multiple files at once.
Select “Move” at the bottom of the list after selecting the file. You can choose the folder you want to transfer files to on Dropbox.

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Set the file to Favorites. A Favorites file is a file marked for storage on iPad. This allows you to access those files without a network connection.

Open the Dropbox app and select the Files tab.
Select the file you want to add to the Favorites list.
Select the Star button above the file preview. Do the same with other files you want to add to the Favorites list.
Select the Favorites tab to see a list of files stored on iPad.

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Share folders with others. You can share folders on your Dropbox account with others. They can only access the folder you share, but can’t see the rest of the files on Dropbox.

Open the folder you want to share.
Select the Share button at the top of the folder. This button looks like a box with an arrow pointing up.
Choose how you want to share files. You can select “Share Link”, you will be provided with a link to the Dropbox folder, so anyone with the link can download the file. If you select “Invite People”, you can add other users, who can edit and sync your folder with their Dropbox account.

Steps

Dropbox Settings

Getting Started with the Dropbox App

Link to Computer

Add Files To Dropbox

Managing Files On Dropbox

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