Dropbox has become one of the most favorite cloud storage for end users. Many developers have jumped the bandwagon to develop very creative apps for Dropbox. One such web app is URL Droplet which helps you to download files from web directly to your Dropbox folder. This app will automatically download or transfer the file to your Dropbox storage.
Cloud storage services have become hassle free. Just upload the files to the cloud and the you can access them from anywhere, the only condition is that computer should be having active internet connection. With internet connection, you can access the files from anywhere. But this uploading and then downloading process definitely wastes some time, in situations when the files that you want to upload are from the web. In such a situation, a user downloads the file and then uploads that file to the cloud. This process can take much time, depending on the users internet connection speed and size of the file. But what if we can eliminate this “download” step from between to speed up the process? Thankfully this is possible with URL Droplet.
This amazing tool helps you to upload files directly from the web to your Dropbox storage, thereby eliminating the need to download that file and then upload it. The transfer process is fast, since it happens from one web server to another. Compare this process to the traditional way, downloading the file from the web to your hard drive, then uploading it to Dropbox. No doubt using URL Droplet will speed up the process.
How URL Droplet Works
Head over to URL Droplet and then click on “Login” link. Provide your Dropbox login credentials in the next page. Also you’ll get a prompt that says “The app URL Droplet would like to connect with your Dropbox”. Click on “Allow”. This step authorizes the app to access your Dropbox account.
After authorizing, you’ll be redirected to the home page of URL Droplet. Now you need to enter the direct download link of the web file that you want to download. Note that the link should be a direct download link only. To get this download link, right click on a link or a file and click on “copy link address”. Paste that download link in the address field provided by URL Droplet and click on “Save”.
After doing this, the download process will start. If you want to save the file under a different name, then click on “Save as” link.
You’ll get a message that “the file was successfully queued for downloading”.
Also in the bottom of the page, you can see the download progress. Currently it will show the file name and status such as “Queued”. Downloads that are successfully processed will have “successful” status. However, it may take sometime before the status changes.
All the downloads will be saved in the main folder (root) of Dropbox account. This app would have added more value if there would be an option to select the folder where we want to save the download file.
URL Droplet is indeed very useful online app for Dropbox. You can use it when you are away from the computer and want to get that file delivered in your Dropbox account. The process can be initiated from a mobile device or by using another computer, so that when you’re home, the file would be ready waiting for you in Dropbox folder. Now this is called automation at its best.
Side Cloud Load: Another Alternative to URL Droplet
Side Cloud Load can be considered to be an alternative to URL Droplet. This app can also send files to Dropbox, without downloading to your computer.
Enter source URL (direct download link of the file that you want to download), Dropbox Email and password, file name and directory name where you want to save the file. This “directory” name is an added advantage over URL Droplet, as it allows you to specify in which directory (folder) do you want to save the downloaded file to. That’s not all, if you don’t want to send the file to Dropbox, then you can also send the file directly to your email address.
There’s a minus point also. The source file should be under 25MB. You’ll need to check the size of the file, before starting download process.
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