So how does Dropboxifier work? Interestingly it works by fooling the actual cloud storage client by using symbolic links in the cloud storage folder. Symbolic links is a concept from Unix and Linux which is like a shortcut in Windows but at a much lower level. Although a symbolic link is only a shortcut, the applications reading it do not know this and will treat it like a real folder or file. So essentially Dropboxifier will create symbolic links of the folder of our choice in the cloud storage folder. For example, if I am using Dropbox as my cloud storage provider and using C:\Dropbox as the folder which synchronizes with Dropbox automatically, Dropboxifier will create symbolic links of folders of my choice in C:\Dropbox. If I want to sync Saved Games folder under my user account in Windows 8, I will give the details in Dropboxifier and hit the Dropboxify button.
- Download and open Dropboxifier. Since it is a portable utility, you don’t need any installation. You will see three fields highlighted in red which have to be filled. Dropbox folder field is where we will give the path of our cloud storage folder. Since Dropboxifier works with any cloud storage provider, don’t get confused with the labels. When you browse an select the cloud storage folder for the first time, you will see the following dialog.
You can safely click on the Yes button and proceed further. The next field is the name field. This name will be the sub-folder name in the cloud storage folder. Since I am saving games, I’m labeling it as Saved Games.
The source field is where we will the path of the folder which we want to synchronize. After these configurations, press the Dropboxify button.
Finally we can browse through our cloud storage folder and see the there is a new folder created with the name we mentioned in the Name field in Dropboxifier. There is another XML file named “DropboxifierLinks” that is created by Dropboxifier. To synchronize the saved games folder with another computer, you can repeat the same steps on the other computer and everything will be synchronized automatically. You will get the same saved game data, bookmarks, application data and whatever you want to synchronize. You can create as many Dropboxified folder as you want. There is no limit. The only limit is the cloud storage which you have to manage. If you want to remove the folder being synced, you can open Dropboxifier again, select the folder from the list and click on “Undropboxify Selected”. Also check “Delete Dropboxed Folder” if you want to delete the folder from the cloud storage folder. It will not delete the actual folder but only the symbolic link will be deleted. Dropboxifier can also be used to select any folder to be synchronized with the cloud storage folder without adding it in the cloud storage client configuration. On which cloud storage service will you use Dropboxifier? Share your thoughts with us in comments!
