ASU Dropbox for Education Best Practices
The following articles is a breakdown of the best practices users can follow for using their ASU Dropbox.
Email Address to Use for Dropbox (ASU and Personal Accounts)
For your ASU Dropbox account, your email address will always be in the format of [ASURITE]@asu.edu. This is all for security reasons as we tie Dropbox to your ASURITE login. For personal accounts, it is recommended to use a personal email address that is not an ASU alias email account (such as your email address that uses your first and last name as an email).
Sharing Outside of ASU
When sharing files and folders from your ASU Dropbox, you have the ability to share internally with other ASU Dropbox users or those outside of the ASU Dropbox system. When you share with users outside of ASU by using their email address you will get a message notifying you that the user is outside of your ASU Dropbox. It is recommended to follow all guidelines on what data you are sharing and with who. More information regarding the sharing of data can be found on the ASU Get Protected website
What to store in the ASU Dropbox
Dropbox can be used to pretty much store anything you need. ASU has established guidelines on what is and is not allowed to be stored in your ASU Dropbox. It is highly recommended to not use your ASU Dropbox to store personal files (non ASU files). Please follow the Cloud Storage Guidelines from the ASU Get Protected website.
As for file types, all types of files can be saved in Dropbox. It is recommend to not use Dropbox to connect to PST files for Outlook or run databases from Dropbox.
Devices connected to Dropbox
ASU currently does not have permissions set to limit the number of devices a user may be connected to for Dropbox. It is recommended to have the Dropbox client installed on systems where you will need to use the client from. If using a shared computer or a computer for temp access you can access Dropbox from MyASU by clicking on the Dropbox icon to access it from the web.
What should I do if I'm leaving ASU and need to give my files to someone else?
If a user is leaving ASU their account is suspended and then deleted after 30 days. Even though the account is deleted any files or folders in the account remain.
Restoring Files
At times, users can delete files and folders from Dropbox. If a user uses the Dropbox client on their computer and delete files from there, it can be recovered from the local trash. However, you can also recover files from the Dropbox website by clicking on the Deleted Files section. More information on recovering files can be found on the Dropbox Help Center page.
Syncing Files
Dropbox has a feature called SmartSync. It allows a user to sync files and folders of their choosing. Instead of all the files in a user's Dropbox account get placed on a local device a user can select what files they wish to have stored.
For more information on ASU Dropbox for Education see: https://uto.asu.edu/dropbox.
