How do I upload directly to someone else's folder?

zanderpm

I'm doing some work for a company and would like to upload large files directly to their Dropbox folder. However, I have a free account, and the research I've done makes it sound like I can't join the folder because I don't have enough storage. Do I really have to purchase a subscription just to upload files to someone else's folder? There must be something I'm missing, right?

Rich

zanderpm wrote:

... it still seems like a pretty complicated workaround just to be able to access a folder normally. Is Dropbox just not built for contractors and the like?

Dropbox is built around collaboration and works well for the exact situation you've mentioned. If you want to easily be able to upload and continue to access files that you've uploaded then you need to use a shared folder, but you're not uploading files directly to someone else's account.

When you're a member of a shared folder, you have your own copy of the folder in your account and anything you add or change in the folder is synced with all other members. Since anything in your account takes up space, you need to have enough space available in your account to hold that folder and its content.

If that doesn't work for you or you're not able to upgrade for more space, then you can use a file request to upload directly to someone else, and they can share it back to you using a view-only link. Neither of which will affect your own account (unless you choose to save the content of the link back to your account, obviously).

Simply put, the exact options you need are there, but if space is an issue then you need to pay for more storage. Otherwise there are free workarounds, though they're not perfectly ideal for how you want to work.