Redbooth Works with Dropbox for Business
One feedback we receive from our users is how important files are in Redbooth. Whether for a client presentation, notes of meetings, or critical data, collaborators need to find, view, open, and edit, all within Redbooth. More importantly, these files are often stored in third-party services. These services include Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, or Google Drive.
From Dropbox to Dropbox for Business
Many teams already sync their files in Redbooth with Dropbox. For quite some time we have heard from our Dropbox users that they would like to access their files that are powered by Dropbox for Business. Dropbox for Business adds features that are tailored for working teams. For instance, Dropbox for Business uses Team Folders, which are super folders where everyone can collaborate. Once a new collaborator is invited, they immediately get all the team folders. Dropbox for Business also offers many features for administrators, making sure data is protected and accessed by the right people.
How to Sync your Dropbox for Business files
Integration between Redbooth and Dropbox for Business is easy. It is the same as the traditional Dropbox integration that we built years ago. We wanted the experience to be as familiar as possible. If you have a Dropbox for Business account, you will see your Team Folders directly. Individual folders are still there as well. And Voilà !
What’s great about our integration is that we use symlinks, a fancy name to say that all files are linked to the original version in the file share program. So there is no more back and forth with file attachments. Files are immediately synced.
Behind the Curtain
In the backend, Dropbox has published very detailed and simple endpoints for both Dropbox API and Dropbox for Business API. We reached out to the Dropbox Developers team that recommended the best route to take. This was also an excellent opportunity to revise our implementation and make sure we have the best practices for security. Using Dropbox documentation was a breeze. We have always been fond of Dropbox’s clean APIs. On a personal note, some of us know employees at Dropbox, and this is a great company to work with.
Files in Redbooth or Third-Party File Service?
One question we get repeatedly asked is whether files should be in Redbooth, or synced with a file share service like Dropbox for Business. We recommend third-party services for important and institutional documents. For documents that are stored locally on a computer, and aimed at being sent once, putting files in Redbooth is enough. One additional benefit of using a third-party service is to benefit from advanced editing tools, such as Google Docs or Dropbox Paper.
More on The Roadmap
Files are very important to our users in Redbooth. We have a few improvements that are related to files in 2021. If you feel strongly about a particular feature, please feel free to reach out! We love feedback, and we always try to accommodate feature requests.
