There are dozens of file sharing sites that let you upload and share very large files, but why not cut out the middleman and have your friends upload straight to your Dropbox, Google Drive, or other cloud storage services? This, simply, is what free service EntourageBox is all about.
Why use EntourageBox rather than share a folder? Because for example you may be receiving pictures from an event that a hundred people attended, and with Entouragebox you can give all of them a single link to upload to rather than sharing many folders. Moreover, many people may not have a Dorpbox or cloud account to begin with. Finally, you may not WANT to share folders with anyone and just want the files thank you, with no other commitments.
One thing to note: while EntourageBox works with Dropbox and Google Drive (and will soon support Amazon S3), we tested it with Dropbox only, so this writeup will be very Dropbox centric.
How EntourageBox works:
First off, EntourageBox will request access to a folder in your Dropbox account; specifically, the folder at ‘Dropbox\Apps\Entouragebox’. This is where all uploaded files will appear. (Note that EntourageBox *may* request access to all of your Google Drive account because of technical reasons, so we recommend using it with Dropbox instead).
Next, it will ask for some information, all of which is optional, except for specifying a name of a subfolder (which will be created inside Dropbox\Apps\Entouragebox’). You could set a password if you like, such that only people who know it can upload files. If you enter emails in the email field those people will automatically be sent the upload link.
Finally, you are given a link that you can distribute to friends, via email, social media, or whatever, that allows them to upload files into your Dropbox. Note that you can easily delete or deactivate this link later on.
Finally: uploading
Once someone receives your link, they are presented with a simple interface to upload files from. It is as easy as drag and drop and people can upload all of the files at once or manually upload each in turn.
The verdict:
Entouragebox is a great way to get one or multiple users to share files with you with the least amount of hassle, and it may be the best way to receive multiple photographs or media files taken by many people at events such as parties or weddings, etc.
The fact that it connects straight to Dropbox, rather than some file hosting website somewhere means that a huge work load will be taken off the recipient’s back, especially in a situation where a lot of files are being shared/uploaded.
And if you’re just reading this ‘verdict’ section and wondering why you wouldn’t simply create shared folders to do this sort of thing, read the second paragraph above for some really good reasons.
