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Dropbox Dash AMA: November 2023

Have you had a chance to try out Dropbox Dash, (our new AI-powered universal search tool) yet?

You can learn all about it here, and, if you have questions about it, you’re in the right place!

Dropbox Dash

Usually when you have a question, we’d suggest asking Dash, but now you can ask the creators of Dash! We have Geoff Hulten, VP of Engineering for New Initiatives here to answer your questions this week, the 13th - 17th of November. And this is an AMA, so ask us anything about Dropbox Dash!

If you have an questions, big or small, we can make sure those get answered when the Dash team are here next week! Drop them in the comments and we’ll be in touch soon!

So, ask us anything when it comes to Dash below! Are there any new features you want to see, things you’d like changed, or are you just curious about how Dash works? Let us know!

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Comments

KevinLeeC

Dash is fabulous. I love being able to search across platforms and get the answers in one place.

Two requests -- one small and one (I think) a bit larger.

When I click on a result, I'd like the Dash window to stay open. Often I have several similar documents and I need to decide which is best for my purpose. Having to re-open Dash each time slows me down a bit.

Also, is there any chance of adding OCR to read .pdfs which were scans or produced by a .pdf printer driver that creates images rather than actual text?

Mark

So, can I ask a few? Some may appear obvious but I suppose that's what I'm looking for here!

Why do I need Dash? What does it do? Whats the advantages of it. I don't want 'rock star DJ movie director' rubbish. I want how it helps ME as a person/teacher that has all his docs within the Dropbox eco system
Whats the safety and security on the system in an idiots guide? For example are you doing a Google on my data and selling it?
How do I know that the fact its AI-driven is in my interests and most importantly safe? I get this is a commercial product for you, but, as a paying user what do I get out of it? How are you protecting MY data with it?
Is it here to stay? Why should we, as users, invest time in this when you have pulled some of the best things I used before as they were 'beta' (RIP Carousel and Mailbox).

s4337_Alex

Amazing! I am still learning how to use Dash, but I see the potential for improved productivity. If you were to see my Dropbox (which, of course, I would not allow), you would notice cluttered files and folders, as well as duplicated photos and documents. This is due to my human weakness, which, unfortunately, I enjoy and embrace. 😄 Dash helps me search through files, emails, and any other data I provide to this amazing tool. However, it cannot help me find where I put my socks and shirts. 🙂

I have two questions. First, what is the difference between Dropbox AI and Dash? Do they use the same AI technology? Second, could you please provide me with a cheat sheet for using Dash? Or is Dash already smart enough that I don't need one? Third (apologies for the earlier lie), when using Dash in Microsoft Edge, my Bitdefender flagged something funny. It says "msedge.exe attempted to establish a connection relying on an expired certificate to bzib.nelreports.net...(and so on)". Fourth (sorry for another desperate lie in the beginning), is there a plan to update Dropbox Paper with AI technology? Screenshot 2023-11-14 at 4.51.34 AM.png

vkevinruss

I love Dropbox Paper. One of the main things I use it for is to bookmark and annotate tech-related articles and reference material. It's great because it supports three powerful tools: nested folders, markup pages, and search. I can nest folders to my hearts content, fill them with useful markup, and instantly find whatever I'm looking for. What could be better?

Dash looks great, and I was excited to see the Stacks feature for quick bookmarking and bookmark organization. Sometimes you just want to throw a bookmark in a folder and be done with it. Unfortunately, I quickly found that it's not usable for me, because the hierarchy is simply too limited.

My question is: Why overcomplicate and constrict a bookmarking system with "stacks", a single level of "sections", and "items"? Why not just allow unlimited nested "stacks" and "items"? I had the same issue with Microsoft OneNote, and that's why I started using Paper to begin with. I'd love to see you get rid of "sections" and allow the unlimited nesting of "stacks". I know it would involve a deeper consideration of UI design concerns, but you nailed it with Paper, and I know you can do the same with Stacks.

Thanks for listening!

RRanderson

Dash has a lot of potential, excited to see where it goes!

1. Any roadmap/timeline for additional integrations? I know we all use different productivity combos but until more of them are covered, Dash usefulness is limited. ClickUp is the big one on my end 🙂

2. There's some confusion between App Connections and what is searchable in Dash. For example, there's no app connection for ClickUp but it does appear under Settings/Favorites as an option. If I do search in ClickUp from the Dash bar, results are extremely limited, seems to show a random selection of tasks. Where is Dash getting this data from? And what is the difference between apps with connections and apps listed as optional Favorites in Settings?

3. Any plans to allow opening local files or locations rather than in browser? When using the Dash app and searching my Dropbox, I definitely want to go to the file in Finder not in browser.

Thanks!

Joel B.20

Can you speak to our right to be forgotten with Dash? It connects to lots of information about me and of course I want to feel like that content — and the meta data — is protected. But my question is about when I stop using Dash. How deleted is all of that information about me?

johngto455

I just installed the beta of Dash, and the concept is great what you're trying to achieve with this application is something that will be usable however being that this is a beta I think that The definition of what this app is supposed to do should be better defined. is it a search PC and cloud storage app or is it an AI app that you can ask anything? Performing both is very broad based on the Accompanying Documentation and help files. Maybe I missed some information before I started installing the application. The one thing that I will say is having any application change user settings IE new browser tab to me is unacceptable and I usually uninstall any app that makes changes like that. just my $0.02

ghulten

@KevinLeeC wrote:
Dash is fabulous. I love being able to search across platforms and get the answers in one place.

Two requests -- one small and one (I think) a bit larger.

When I click on a result, I'd like the Dash window to stay open. Often I have several similar documents and I need to decide which is best for my purpose. Having to re-open Dash each time slows me down a bit.

Also, is there any chance of adding OCR to read .pdfs which were scans or produced by a .pdf printer driver that creates images rather than actual text?

Thanks, @KevinLeeC ! Great questions.

I personally totally agree with the reopening dash slows me down sentiment. Working on it.

For the PDF and OCR comment that's something we're actively working on too. Don't know exactly how it will show up in the product, but keep an eye out.

Thanks again for the question,

Geoff

ghulten

@Mark wrote:
So, can I ask a few? Some may appear obvious but I suppose that's what I'm looking for here!

Why do I need Dash? What does it do? Whats the advantages of it. I don't want 'rock star DJ movie director' rubbish. I want how it helps ME as a person/teacher that has all his docs within the Dropbox eco system

Whats the safety and security on the system in an idiots guide? For example are you doing a Google on my data and selling it?

How do I know that the fact its AI-driven is in my interests and most importantly safe? I get this is a commercial product for you, but, as a paying user what do I get out of it? How are you protecting MY data with it?

Is it here to stay? Why should we, as users, invest time in this when you have pulled some of the best things I used before as they were 'beta' (RIP Carousel and Mailbox).

Hello, @Mark. If you have all your docs nicely organized in Dropbox you may find less value from the 'universal search and organization' in Dash. These features help people who have content scattered across many cloud services (like I do in my work).

But that said, Dash will help you get access to helpful AI, even if all your data is organized.

One example is 'semantic search' which allows you to express what you are looking for in natural language (as opposed to legacy search which requires a keyword). I personally struggle remembering exact names and phrases, so this help me a LOT.

Another example is the ability to ask questions of your data. This has been demoed a lot with various modern ai tools (like chat gpt) but dash makes it easy to ask questions of your data. So if you need to, for example, find the name of a student's parent, you can ask dash and it will try to find the name directly (vs finding the file where all the names are listed).

Another thing that dash is good at is organizing your work with stacks. You can create a stack related to a project you are working on, and dash will recommend other relevant content that may help you with that work. You can save the stack and come back to it any time. You can also share it with coworkers so you're all working on the same thing with the same context.

Basically, we are trying to take the amazing advancements in modern AI and turn them into useful tools (vs tinker toys) over time we will connect more and more into Dash.

WRT data safety - We have published our AI principles https://www.dropbox.com/ai-principles. And we treat your data in Dash with the same respect we treat your data in dropbox.

I'm here to stay too. I was a dropbox user for a decade before I joined the company. I'm very committed to making Dash a success. I'll do my best! Please come check it out and let us know what you think.

ghulten

@vkevinruss wrote:
I love Dropbox Paper. One of the main things I use it for is to bookmark and annotate tech-related articles and reference material. It's great because it supports three powerful tools: nested folders, markup pages, and search. I can nest folders to my hearts content, fill them with useful markup, and instantly find whatever I'm looking for. What could be better?

Dash looks great, and I was excited to see the Stacks feature for quick bookmarking and bookmark organization. Sometimes you just want to throw a bookmark in a folder and be done with it. Unfortunately, I quickly found that it's not usable for me, because the hierarchy is simply too limited.

My question is: Why overcomplicate and constrict a bookmarking system with "stacks", a single level of "sections", and "items"? Why not just allow unlimited nested "stacks" and "items"? I had the same issue with Microsoft OneNote, and that's why I started using Paper to begin with. I'd love to see you get rid of "sections" and allow the unlimited nesting of "stacks". I know it would involve a deeper consideration of UI design concerns, but you nailed it with Paper, and I know you can do the same with Stacks.

Thanks for listening!

Thanks, @vkevinruss! We have certainly talked a lot about how complex to make stacks and I don't think we're done iterating.

But my take is this: A stack is generally about a single cohesive thing, in my mind (for the way I use stacks) it's generally a task I'm trying to complete (maybe with some collaborators).

A single document may be in many stacks, if it is relevant to them. So a stack is a bit more flexible than a folder in that sense.

But I agree we don't let you organize and nest things into hierarchies.

I reflect on when I joined Google (~5 years ago). I was very used to storing things in folders at my previous job (Microsoft). But at Google no one (I knew) did that. People just made docs on Google docs and ... let them drift off into the ether. If they needed them they would link them into something OR rely on search to find them.

Well stacks (right now) sort of work this way too. You can search for what you need and Dash will (soon) prominently feature relevant stacks as results along with files.

Also, Dash will get more and more implicit over time, so as you work the relevant stacks will just 'be there'. [ vs making you go off and search for them ]

I know this is a different mental model than organizing all your things into folders.

But my hope is that recent breakthroughs in AI allow this to be more productive in many situations.

We have a lot of iteration and learning to do. Thanks for helping us make progress!

Geoff

ghulten

@Joel B.20 wrote:
Can you speak to our right to be forgotten with Dash? It connects to lots of information about me and of course I want to feel like that content — and the meta data — is protected. But my question is about when I stop using Dash. How deleted is all of that information about me?

Here are our AI Principles, @Joel B.20: https://www.dropbox.com/ai-principles

ghulten

@johngto455 wrote:
I just installed the beta of Dash, and the concept is great what you're trying to achieve with this application is something that will be usable however being that this is a beta I think that The definition of what this app is supposed to do should be better defined. is it a search PC and cloud storage app or is it an AI app that you can ask anything? Performing both is very broad based on the Accompanying Documentation and help files. Maybe I missed some information before I started installing the application. The one thing that I will say is having any application change user settings IE new browser tab to me is unacceptable and I usually uninstall any app that makes changes like that. just my $0.02

Thanks @johngto455 - great feedback. We are working on everything you mentioned.

vkevinruss

Nice! Good to hear. Thanks, and keep up the great work.

randynichols

Is there a roadmap to allowing multiple accounts for one service? For instance I advise multiple companies and each company uses their own google drive. The Universal search is great if Im looking for a document in the companies account that I have connected at a given time but its tough to log in and out all the time.

JamesP2

I’d like Dash to be able to recognize faces in photos, or time periods photos were taken during. I’ve tried searching for photos from 2009, and it really doesn’t work.

ghulten

@randynichols wrote:
Is there a roadmap to allowing multiple accounts for one service? For instance I advise multiple companies and each company uses their own google drive. The Universal search is great if Im looking for a document in the companies account that I have connected at a given time but its tough to log in and out all the time.

@randynichols Yep! Working on that. I have multiple gmail accounts and it's a pain right now for sure.

ghulten

@JamesP2 wrote:
I’d like Dash to be able to recognize faces in photos, or time periods photos were taken during. I’ve tried searching for photos from 2009, and it really doesn’t work.

@JamesP2 You're right. Dash currently only searches text content. I think this is a great suggestion - working with photos - but we aren't there yet.

ghulten

@s4337_Alex wrote:
Amazing! I am still learning how to use Dash, but I see the potential for improved productivity. If you were to see my Dropbox (which, of course, I would not allow), you would notice cluttered files and folders, as well as duplicated photos and documents. This is due to my human weakness, which, unfortunately, I enjoy and embrace. 😄 Dash helps me search through files, emails, and any other data I provide to this amazing tool. However, it cannot help me find where I put my socks and shirts. 🙂

I have two questions. First, what is the difference between Dropbox AI and Dash? Do they use the same AI technology? Second, could you please provide me with a cheat sheet for using Dash? Or is Dash already smart enough that I don't need one? Third (apologies for the earlier lie), when using Dash in Microsoft Edge, my Bitdefender flagged something funny. It says "msedge.exe attempted to establish a connection relying on an expired certificate to bzib.nelreports.net...(and so on)". Fourth (sorry for another desperate lie in the beginning), is there a plan to update Dropbox Paper with AI technology?

Thanks @s4337_Alex.

1 - DropboxAI is the ability to ask questions / summarize your documents that are in Dropbox; Dash allows you to connect all of your cloud content (including Dropbox) and do universal search and other advanced AI across all of that.

2- Hah! well, I have all sorts of stacks around projects I'm working on. I love how I can put cloud links from various services in one place and pin them or find them with search. I also really like the 'semantic search' which lets you search with natural language (vs having to remember exact keywords) it is better than the in app search in many cloud services (e.g. I don't think gmail has semantic search) so it's super useful. I also think it's really neat to summarize your documents and to 'chat' with them, e.g. try asking for facts inside of a document. Dash can sometimes find them and you don't have to read the doc at all.

3- Sorry I can only answer 2 questions...

3 - actually I really can't answer this one. It kind of stumped the team too. Can you send feedback/a bug and team can investigate?

4- I don't have any news about Paper. Thanks for asking!

Emmet

Thank you @ghulten for answering all these thoughtful questions last week! And thank you to all of our wonderful users for sharing their thoughts about Dropbox Dash.

If you want to learn more about Dropbox Dash, click this link, or if you have any other questions or feedback about Dash, please visit the Dropbox Dash Group. We'll be sure to share your thoughts with the Dash team.

Additionally, you can always share your thoughts on the Community here. We love to hear your comments, so please share your opinions on the Dropbox Community!