Plan and configure
In this phase, you'll set up essential tools, permissions, and security features to ensure your team can collaborate efficiently and securely from the start. You’ll learn core functionalities of Dropbox, how to create a folder structure, manage permissions, and configure team-wide settings.
10 minute read
Download the Dropbox desktop app: The desktop app allows your team to sync files from their computers to the cloud, ensuring accessibility and backup.
How to collaborate effectively
In this section, you’ll configure collaboration tools like team folders, shared folders, groups, and permissions to help your team work efficiently while maintaining control over access and security.
Plan your folder structure: The Dropbox folder structure is similar to traditional file servers. Design a structure to be shallow and wide.
Choose a structure theme (Department Based, Project Based, Data Archives, Organizational)
Tip: Team folders are where collaboration happens for centralized storage shared across teams or departments, and shared folders are ideal for ad hoc collaborations, short-term projects where flexibility and ad-hoc sharing are essential.
Create groups: Groups are a collection of teammates who need access to the same information, whether they’re organized by team, department, or project. Use groups to assign access to team folders efficiently.
Learn how to create Company-managed or User-managed group.Set permissions: Team folder permissions give you granular control over sharing within your folder structure. You can also set custom access rules to restrict folders to team-only access, and decide if folder members can manage their own access.
Configure team-wide settings
As an admin, you can manage settings for your entire team. Here are key “set-and-forget” settings you can configure on your admin console’s Settings page.
Team Profile - Set your company logos and background, and check data storage location.
Domains - Verify domain ownership, view unmanaged users, and set non-managed user capture settings.
This lets you manage users that have a Dropbox account under your company verified domain to join the team.
Sync - When a team member is added to a team folder or team space, all folders shared with them automatically sync to their computer’s hard drive. Admins can use team selective sync to prevent specific folders from syncing automatically.
Sharing settings - Configure default sharing settings and policies for both internal and external sharing.
Deletion - Prevent team members from permanently deleting files, enabling admins to recover them when needed.
Make your account more secure
Learn how to strengthen your account protection and management:
Add another admin - Adding an additional admin to your Dropbox account enhances security by ensuring backup if the primary admin is unavailable.
It also divides responsibilities to reduce oversights, improves response to security threats, and minimizes the risk of a single point of failure.
Turn on two-step verification - Two-step verification is an effective way to protect your account from unauthorized access. When logging in to your Dropbox account, you'll need to enter a code sent to your phone or generated by a mobile authenticator app.
Set up SSO (Advanced and Enterprise Plans) - With single sign-on (SSO), team members can access Dropbox by signing in to a central identity provider. This means your team can access Dropbox without having to remember another password.
Password Control - Password control helps admins keep their Dropbox team account secure by requiring team members to create strong passwords.
Integrate third-party apps
Connect third-party apps, and extend the value of Dropbox with integrations that supercharge workflows for creators and distributed teams. Whether you’re using Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Slack, Atlassian, or Salesforce, we’ve likely got an integration.
Learn to manage third-party apps.