Integration with Dropbox
Integrate your Dropbox Account with MangoApps
Overview
Dropbox provides cloud storage services that enables users to store and share files online from the cloud. It is an online file repository which provides easy/quick access to your data and files from any device connected to the internet.
MangoApps provides integration of Dropbox to its Intranet solution which enables users to share and collaborate around files from Dropbox making their day-to-day work easier. Sharing of dropbox files can be done with posts, messages, team status updates, wikis and more.
Integrating Dropbox with MangoApps is quick, easy and can be implemented in a few steps. Once a requirement to integrate Dropbox for users has been identified, as a pre-requisite, users should sign up with Dropbox to create individual or business provided accounts and the MangoApps Domain/Network Admin can enable the integration from the Admin Portal of MangoApps.
The configuration is split into two main steps -- Admin Configuration and User Configuration. Let's go through each part to have this configured.
Admin Configuration:
To start with the admin side of the integration, MangoApps Domain/Network Admin should login and then access the Admin Portal by clicking on the gear icon beside the Admin's name on the top right-hand corner of the console and then clicking on 'Manage Domain'. This will bring you to the Admin Portal.
On the left hand pane, click on 'Modules' .
Click on Files on the modules sub-menu.
Click on the 'External Document Repositories' tab and scroll down through the list of file repositories to 'Dropbox'.
Check the box before 'Dropbox' and click on 'Save Settings'
The above configuration is all what's needed to be done from the Admin Portal. Next is to inform the users about the integration and help them configure their Dropbox account from the user portal.
User Configuration:
Once a user logs in to the user portal, they can perform any action such as creating posts, sharing team updates which allows them to attach files.Click on the 'Attach' section and now we can see a new option for 'Dropbox' listed there.
Click on the 'Dropbox' option and then click 'Connect to Dropbox'. It may now request you to login to your account or if you have kept your Dropbox account already cached in your browser, it will request you provide permissions to access Dropbox. Hence, provide the necessary credentials and permissions.
Now you will see 'Connect to Dropbox' option. Click on it.This will open a pop-up window requesting you to enter your Dropbox credentials. Enter the credentials and confirm to allow MangoApps to be able to access your Dropbox account.
Your Dropbox account should be now connected with MangoApps and will display all the files/folders from your Dropbox account.
Now, that the user's Dropbox account is connected with MangoApps, it will give the user capability to share files from the Dropbox account when sharing new posts, team status updates, messages and all other actions which provides the 'Attach' option to attach files.
Only one Dropbox account can be configured per user.
How to attach files from Dropbox
To attach files from Dropbox account for Team updates, Posts, Private Messages, you can click on the universal 'Compose' button and select the appropriate option. Below screenshot displays attaching files from Dropbox when sharing an update to a Team (Project/Group/Department).
Once you enter the name of the Team the update to be addressed to, click on 'Attach'.
Now, click on 'Dropbox' from the list of file repositories.
Check the box on the right for the files to be attached
Click on 'Done' to successfully attach the files to your update.
Finally, click on 'Share' to share your update to the selected team.
Now, we can see a team update in the News Feed which shows attached documents stored in Dropbox. Also, notice the small Dropbox logo before the filename which gives a quick idea that the file resides in the Dropbox account of the user sharing the update.
These files are not contained within MangoApps storage and the filenames are direct links to Dropbox. Files shared through such updates or posts automatically provides access to all users who are the selected audience for the update/post/private message. So, it can be everyone, only Team members or specific individuals.
To open the file, simply click on the filename which will display the file contents in a new browser window.Once a file is opened, user can also download a local copy.
The creator of the team status update/post/message and other options which allow to attach files from the connected Dropbox account will also have the capability to delete the reference of the shared file.
Click on the three-dot icon after the filename and then click on 'Delete Reference'. This will only remove the reference of the shared/attached file from MangoApps and will not delete the actual file which resides in the user's Dropbox account.
More examples of attaching files from Dropbox
a. Attaching files when composing a Private Message.
Use the universal 'Compose' button to create a new message which will open the new message dialog box. Enter the intended Recipient,Subject and message details.
Click on Attach option.
Select Dropbox to list files and folders within it.
Select the appropriate file you want to attach.
Click on Done and send the message.
This is how the message will look at the receiving user end. User can simply click on the filename to open the file.
b. Composing a Post with an attachment from Dropbox
Click the universal 'Compose' button to start creating your post. Enter the Team/Group/Department name or 'Everyone' for a larger audience.
Click on the 'Content' tab to select the template of your choice. Note: The templates from the 'Alert' section does not have any option to attach files.This is by design.
Click on Continue to proceed to the next part of authoring the post.
Click the 'Attach' section to open the list of available file repositories.
Click on the 'Dropbox' option to list all files and folders.
Select the files to be attached with the post.
From the 'Search' bar, you also perform a deep search for files inside Dropbox.
Click on 'Done' to successfully attach the files now.
Let's see how a post looks with files attached from Dropbox.
After opening the post, a user opening the Post you can click the highlighted Attachment section as well as the direct link to open the attached files.
c. Attaching files from Dropbox to a Task
Here we see how we attach relevant files when creating a task.
d.Attaching files from Dropbox to a Page
A page can be a company page or a page within a team. When creating/designing a new page for your Company/Team within MangoApps, you can attach files from Dropbox too.
How to publish a file to Dropbox from MangoApps?
All this while, we have been looking on how to connect your Dropbox account to your MangoApps Intranet/Collaboration suite and share/attach your files to MangoApps. So, let's talk about files/documents/data which resides on MangoApps which the user wishes to keep a copy on his connected Dropbox account as well.
MangoApps provides a seamless two-way integration where we can publish a file residing on MangoApps platform to Dropbox.
Let's quickly go through the few easy steps to do so.
On the User portal, Click on the 'Files' option on the left hand pane which will then list all your files associated with MangoApps for your account.
Select a file that you want to publish by checking the box before the filename.
Then click on the three dots which displays the pop-up menu with multiple options.
Highlight the 'Publish' option and click on 'Dropbox'.This will open a new Dialog box requesting to select a destination to publish the file.
Use the 'Search' box to search for specific folders to place the file inside Dropbox.
Select the appropriate folder where you want the file to be saved in Dropbox.
Click on Publish.Wait for a few minutes(time taken to upload the data to Dropbox) and refresh your Dropbox browser window. Then, check the folder you had published the file to and it should be there.
We can go through the screenshots below to see how it looks:
One interesting thing to notice is the file that you just published will have the Dropbox icon indicating that it is published to your Dropbox account.
Re-connecting to your Dropbox Account:
Reconnect/Connect to your Dropbox account, when required again.
Which actions gives the option to Attach files:
Posts
Private Messages
Team Updates
Pages
Wikis
Tasks
News Feed activities on your wall
Calendar events feed
Ideas & Campaign
Questions
Ballot
Poll
Important Note: The shared Dropbox file's access will be set to "Anyone who has the link can access. No Sign-In required" to ensure all users can view the file
How does integrating Dropbox with MangoApps help?
Increase Productivity - Co-authoring capabilities bring real-time collaboration to MangoApps. Users can create new and edit existing files directly in MangoApps. Changes are automatically saved back to Dropbox — all without exchanging an email.
Simplify Collaboration - Work alongside colleagues, enabling real-time collaboration in MangoApps. You can see if other collaborators are viewing or editing files, and can update it to the latest version with just one click. In-line commenting allows you to streamline approval processes so you can work more efficiently.
Improve ROI Through Adoption - Provide your teams with central location for the Dropbox tools they love resulting in high adoption rates and better control over company data.
Stay Productive Anywhere - Enable employees to access, edit, sync, and share their Dropbox content anytime, on any device.
Bring Your Work To Your Conversations - Locate, share, and gather feedback on your work in Dropbox directly from MangoApps, so you can bring your content into relevant discussions. Dropbox files and links can be shared in MangoApps chats, group messages and emails and attachments saved directly to Dropbox.
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