Six great Dropbox alternatives

Dropbox alternatives

You have Dropbox, right? C’mon, who hasn’t at least tried it? For those who haven’t, Dropbox is a simple way to sync files from one computer to others, and share files with family, friends, and co-workers.

Dropbox has cemented itself as a staple of any multi-Mac user’s toolbox. It works near flawlessly, and couldn’t be easier to use. But there are plenty of alternatives out there that offer similar services, if not exactly the same ones.

Here are a few that I’ve tried and really like. Most offer paid upgrades for more storage and features, but all are free to use if your syncing and storage needs are light.

CopyCopy

Copy is named quite ironically, because it’s a virtual copy of Dropbox as far as how it works. A folder is created in your Home folder your Mac and everything you put in it gets synced through the cloud with your other Macs (or PCs). The Copy web app is nicer to work with than Dropbox’s website, IMO. I love the features Copy offers, like the ability to easily set up shared folders, notifications, and bandwidth restrictions for uploads and downloads.

Copy starts you off with 15GB of storage. Like Dropbox, Copy offers a referral bonus program which gives you 5GB of bonus storage for every friend who signs up with your personal link. Your friend also gets an extra 5GB when they sign up. So if you use the link above to sign up, you should get 20GB of storage right from the start. Pretty sweet! Copy is already fairly popular, and integration with other websites and iOS apps is popping up every day. The iOS app is really, really nice, too!

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Get cleaner strokes in Photoshop CS6

Photoshop strokes

There are two ways to apply strokes to shape layers in Photoshop CS6 — via layer styles, which have been around since version 6 (that’s the ancient version 6.0, not CS6), or via the all-new vector shape options. They may appear similar at first glance, but there’s some significant differences.

Bjango has put together an excellent post on getting higher quality strokes in Photoshop CS6 that’s definitely worth a quick read!

Overlooked features of OS X’s Finder Path Bar

Mac OS X FinderOpen a Finder window (Finder > New Finder Window) and then choose View > Show Path Bar. The Path Bar appears at the bottom of all your Finder windows, showing the complete path from your computer to the current folder.

At first glance, that’s all the Path Bar does. But as Sharon Zardetto points out in her Macworld article: Five overlooked abilities of the Finder’s Path Bar, it can do a whole lot more.