TOtD: Dropbox Links to other Location

Tip of the Day (ToTD): I stopped using Dropbox for some time, partly because I have switched to other Cloud tools (Google Drive mainly) and couldn’t really find a use for Dropbox – even though I have a a whopping 83GB available. Perhaps I should use it to store my media but I am digressing.

There are times when you want to sync a non-Dropbox folder, e.g. Saved Games, or your Documents.

It could be just because you’d rather have it somewhere else, or it has to be somewhere else. For instance, this method it’s critical for a folder like the Sites folder on a Mac on the Saved Games folder on your Windows, which has to be in a specific location to work. If you want to sync a Sites folder with Dropbox, you have no choice: you have to link to it, and Dropbox must resolve the link. Which it does.

Dropbox follows or resolves symlinks by default. That is, on Dropbox servers, symlinks are replaced by the data they point to. Then you have the data in the cloud — not just a pointer.

On Windows, you can either use the Command Prompt, or use an application. Using the Command Prompt gives you a bit more control, using an application is easier.

Steps

1) Press Windows Button and type CMD -> Right click on the Command Prompt icon and select run as administrator

2) At the command prompt, type the following: mklink /J “C:UsersUserDropboxDesiredFolder” “C:PathToDesiredFolder”

Note: The Dropbox DesiredFolder would be created by the above command. If it had already existed, you would receive an error notification.

Alternatives

Dropbox Folder Sync: Sync or Unsync a folder by just selecting an option from the right click popup/context menu. This is the recommended method.

Dropboxifier: An application to help you create and manage Dropbox links across multiple machines. Requires Windows Vista or higher and .NET 4.0.

Link Shell Extension: There is a tutorial on how to use Link Shell Extension in conjunction with Dropbox.