BU Dropbox

A BU Dropbox for Business account is best suited for researchers who require storage for very large amounts of data, or for those who frequently share their files and data outside the University.  BU data should not be stored in a personal Dropbox account.  Dropbox is not meant for shared departmental accounts, and cannot be used to store HIPAA or ITAR regulated data.  For shared departmental accounts, please see Sharepoint online, to store HIPAA data please see SharePoint or BU OneDrive .  For ITAR data contact Information Security.

You can request your BU Dropbox license by emailing ithelp@bu.edu.

1. Once your request for BU Dropbox has been submitted and approved, you’ll receive an email from Dropbox, click on the ‘Join your team’ link in the email.
   
2. You may be asked to login, then you’ll be asked to confirm your name and BU email.
3. Click Create Account.
4. Download and run the Dropbox for desktop installer.
5. After it installs, a prompt will come up to log in, enter your email address and click on the password field, a new button should appear, click ‘Get your link code.’
   
6. Your web browser will open and with a code. Click ‘Copy link code.’
7. Go back to the Dropbox app Click Paste and then Submit.
   
8. Click Open my Dropbox folder.

If you have a Dropbox account connected to your @bu.edu email account, you’ll have to decide whether to merge the two accounts or keep them separate and create a personal account with a different email.

1. Once your request for BU Dropbox has been submitted and approved, you’ll receive an email from Dropbox, click on the ‘Join your team’ link in the email.
2. Sign in with your full @bu.edu email address and your BU Kerberos password.
3. If you wish to merge your accounts and keep your data in one account, select Join with my current account and click Confirm.
   
4. Download and run the Dropbox for desktop installer.
5. After it installs, a prompt will come up to log in, enter your email address and click on the password field, a new button should appear, click ‘Get your link code.’
   
6. Your web browser will open and with a code. Click ‘Copy link code.’
7. Go back to the Dropbox app Click Pate and then Submit.
   
8. Click Open my Dropbox folder.

If you wish to keep your BU Dropbox and your personal Dropbox account separate, you can still use both on the same device.  There are a few steps you’ll need to take to add a second Dropbox account to your device.

When you install the Dropbox desktop application, it automatically downloads everything from your Dropbox account and saves a copy of it on your hard drive.  If you want to manage what Dropbox downloads locally, you’ll want to enable the selective sync option.

Dropbox offers mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows phone as well as on the Kindle Fire.  Please visit the Dropbox mobile site to download and install the mobile app. Unlike the desktop Dropbox client, the mobile Dropbox client does not automatically sync your files to your mobile device.

You can add Dropbox as a save option when using Office 365 Online (Word, Excel, & PowerPoint). When using MS Office applications installed on your computer, Dropbox will appear as an option if you install the desktop application, but for Office 365 online there are a few more steps:

Word, Excel, & PowerPoint

1. Log in to bu.edu/office365
2. Open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
3. At the bottom left click Add a place.
4. Check off the Dropbox option.
   
5. Open from Dropbox will appear in the options to open/save a file.  Click on it and follow the prompts to log in to your BU Dropbox account.

Outlook Online

1. Log in to your Outlook mailbox.
2. Click the gear icon in the upper right.  
3. Click manage integrations.
4. In the search box, search for Dropbox.
5. A number of third-party add-ins will appear.  Look through terms, conditions, and any price associated with the add-in before turning it on. One possible choice is “Easy file attachments from Cloud for Outlook” 
6. Turn on the add-in of your choice.
7. Click close to exit out of manage integrations.
8. Click new to compose a new message, if you chose “Easy file attachments from Cloud for Outlook” you’ll see a small blue cloud at the far right below the text box, click it. 
9. Find Dropbox in the list and click Connect.
10. Click Save to stay logged in to Dropbox.
11. Log in to your BU Dropbox account.

Dropbox for Business maintains 120 days of version history (vs 30 days for personal Dropbox accounts) for a file.  Please see instructions for recovering older versions of files for more info.

You will not be able to continue accessing your BU Dropbox account once you leave.  If you have any personal data in your BU Dropbox, you will want to copy the data to a personal Dropbox or other account before leaving.  You should also share work-related data with someone in your office so they can easily access it when you leave.

If an employee leaves the University, it is only possible to transfer their files to another employee once, and that should be to the manager of the former employee only.  Only a Dropbox administrator can transfer the files.  Please email ithelp@bu.edu identifying the BU email address of the employee who has left the University, along with the BU email address of the manager to receive the files.  The files will be transferred to the manager’s BU Dropbox account.

The license agreement with Dropbox prohibits the use of a BU Dropbox account as a shared or departmental account, they are meant to be individual accounts.  You can share files and folders within your BU Dropbox, but the other person will need their own Dropbox account (BU or personal).