Nothing else will do.ĭropbox Smart Sync and OneDrive Files On Demand allow online files to be browsed in Windows File Explorer and Mac Finder, even though the files are online. We want to browse files with File Explorer and Mac Finder. We’ve done things a certain way for many years, and we’re not prepared to change just because there are undeniable benefits to the new-fangled technology. But the mothership, the primary source, the wellspring is online in the servers run by Dropbox or Microsoft. You might sync copies of the files on your hard drive to satisfy your paranoia. When you use OneDrive or Dropbox, you’re pushing files to the cloud – word processing documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, music, whatever you decide to include. Now we’re taking the next step and adjusting to storing all of our files online. Today Microsoft or Google holds your mailbox, and your photos exist only online in Google Photos or iCloud.

It wasn’t long ago that your email was stored in a file on your hard drive, and you transferred photos to your hard drive by hooking your phone to the PC with a USB cable. Have you noticed that you’re getting used to having your stuff in the cloud? It seemed exotic a few years ago, but today we don’t give it a second thought. (I’m deliberately not discussing Google in this article, but it deserves full consideration, and there are good reasons for it to be the default choice for anyone immersed in Google’s world.) Microsoft OneDrive does the same thing and might be cheaper, but it has some pain points. It is included with all Dropbox paid plans – Plus and Professional for individuals, and all business plans. Oh, come on, stick with me, this is a significant shift in personal computing, and I don’t want to make a big deal of it but you’re stuck at home and face it, you don’t have anywhere else to go.ĭropbox Smart Sync is the feature that allows files to be browsed with File Explorer on a PC or Finder on a Mac, without syncing the actual files or using any space on the hard drive. Did I say “interesting”? No, no, this is riveting. This might be interesting for OneDrive users also, since OneDrive includes a similar feature (“Files On Demand”). It’s not a feature of Dropbox’s free account, but that plan is so limited that the lack of Smart Sync doesn’t matter. Dropbox Smart Sync is now included with all paid plans for individuals and businesses.

Dropbox plans options