Main Principles Access and Transparency Protocols Downloading Dropbox User Accounts Setup  Dropbox Website Organization Share Links Internet Speed Access and Synchronization Multiple edits and regular saving Access and Inviting New Members Selective Sync DropBox Backup and Prevention of Lost Files

 

Main Principles

Dropbox is an online program that allows us to synchronize our files with team members all across the world. It is an online hard drive so that files created and saved anywhere in the world are then available to all users through regular syncing. A few principles:

1. please do not add any .exe files to Dropbox given the risks of viruses or problems with other members' anti-virus programs
2. save only essential files here and pay attention to file size; we have limited space
3. do not place personal files on Dropbox, this is for Nyaya-specific files only  
4. do not delete any files unless you saved them there yourself
5. do not use Dropbox to transfer a large file from one team member to another. (If anyone in Achham is on-line, this will severely choke their low band-width Internet connection, because their Dropbox client will try to download the file. )

 

Access and Transparency Protocols

We encourage all members to get their own personal dropbox account and to get shared on the relevant folders to their work individually. In cases where a member cannot have their own personal dropbox, or cannot get sufficient space on their personal dropbox. Restricted access folders are restricted for both security and for efficiency purposes.  Below are the internal access protocols; please see DropBox Transparency for notes about our external access/transparency protocol. 

 

director(AT)nyayahealth(DOT)org: Master account

Communications

Development

Nepal Programs

Research

Data

Financial

Human resources*

Partnerships*

Photos*. Used for transferring files only.

Public*. Not used.

*Only Master account folders

 

dropbox(AT)nyayahealth(DOT)org: General team member account

Communications

Development

Nepal Programs

Research

 

dropboxdata(AT)nyayahealth(DOT)org: Achham-based data team

Data

 

dropboxdataANDbanking(AT)nyayahealth(DOT)org: US-based data and finances teams

Communications

Development

Nepal Programs

Research

Data*

Financial*

*folders accessible to data/banking team not accessible to general members teams

 

Downloading Dropbox

To install and use Dropbox:

1. Download Dropbox
1. You can go to www.dropbox.com to download the installation file. I suggest http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/Dropbox%200.8.112.exe link because this version supports both sharing links of public folder as well as Selective Synchronization options.
2. Install Dropbox
1. Follow the onscreen instructions. If you have any difficulty with installation please email volunteers(AT)nyayahealth(DOT)org and we can assist you! 
2. During installation process a folder named My Dropbox is created inside My Documents (default). You can change the location, during the installation or later from preferences.  

 

User Accounts

Please email infoATnyayahealth.org for user account information. We will provide you with an account username and password according to your required level of access to organizational documents. Given the need to have patient information as well as sensitive documents in our Dropbox account only certain team members have complete access to all documents. It is no longer necessary to have your own account for Dropbox, however if you would like to use both please let us know and we can share folders with your personal account as well.

 

The recommended method is everyone signing in with the user names provided by Nyaya Health. If you want to continue using your person dropbox account you have two options:
1. (preferable): use dropboxen if you use windows. This will allow you to simultaneously run both the nyaya account and your personal dropbox. It does not run on windows 7 nor on a mac. 
2. You just use one dropbox account and you will be responsible for the high memory demand that the Nyaya folders will put on your account.

 

Setup 

Once you have successfully downloaded and installed the software, you will see a small blue box icon (Dropbox logo) in the task tray. You can right click the Dropbox icon and go to preferences. Here you can change the general settings of Dropbox.

1. General tab: "Start Dropbox on system startup" - if you don't want Dropbox to start everytime you open your computer, uncheck this box. This is helpful for users on low-bandwidth connections (e.g. Achham) where syncing regularly may be difficult. If you have regular access to the internet you can leave it as default.
2. Account: For users with personal (i.e. non-Nyaya) Dropbox accounts, you can switch from dropbox(AT)nyayahealth.org to your personal account or vice versa by unlinking your existing account and link with new one you want to link with.
3. Advanced:
1. You can change the path of My Dropbox folder to new location by choosing the move button and specifying the new path.
2. You can also setup "Selective sync" from this tab - this allows you to only automatically download certain files and is helpful for users with low-bandwidth connections. If you don't want every folder to sync to your computer you can uncheck them. 

 

Dropbox Website

To go to the Dropbox website right click the Dropbox icon and click on "Launch Dropbox website". On the Dropbox website you can:

 

• upload files, add folders, share existing or new folders and other activities under More Actions
• leave a folder shared to you or invite collaborators to a folder you created
• select the Sharing tab to see the folder shared to you and shared by you
• find files that were deleted and restore them 

 

Organization

Please add and edit documents as you like, but please first familiarize yourself with the organization of the documents and that you aren't adding documents that are found elsewhere.  It is important to understand that this folder is synchronized with our Achham clinic so you must be conscientious about adding less useful, large documents. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE MAJOR REORGANIZATIONS SINCE THAT WILL BE VERY COSTLY BANDWIDTH FOR THE ACHHAM TEAM.  

 

Also, note that if you rename the main shared folders, those renames will not propagate to the shared users' accounts if they use their personal accounts.  E.g., if I'm logged in as director@ and change the name of "SharedNyaya" to "Nyayashared", that name won't change for those who are logged into their own personal dropbox accounts.  This is not a Those users can change the name of the folders manually of course from within their dropbox website.  Just something to keep in mind.  If there is a name change that does not propagate, please check your folders to see who owns them. If they are not "owned" by director@ then you are not getting the most recent folders. The way to check ownership of the folders is to navigate to the website (right click on the tray and click "Launch Dropbox Website") and select the folder you want to check, click on "More" and select "Shared folder options". Then click on "Members". When you mouse over the owner’s name, it should say director@nyayahealth.org.

 

Share Links

Dropbox allows you to share folders and files as a link. To share a link:

1. Under the Files tab in Dropbox homepage, click the checkbox beside the folder you want to share.
2. Go to More Options tab and select Get Link.
3. Dropbox gives you the link, which can be copied and shared.

 

Internet Speed

You can adjust Dropbox upload and download rates depending on the speed of internet connections you are using. Goto Preferences>Bandwidth tab and change the download and upload rates accordingly. You can leave it as default if you are using pretty good internet connection, however for users in low-bandwidth areas this can help to optimize your Dropbox usage.

 

If you are using a pay-per-MB internet connections (e.g. in some internet cafes or with pre-paid internet plans) DO NOT USE DROPBOX. In these situations make sure you don't have "Start Dropbox on system startup" checked in general tab under preferences if you are ever connecting in such scenarios.

 

Access and Synchronization

Basically treat this as any other folder on your computer. The files are saved locally on all users computers. Once you add/edit a document and sync while on-line, others can access your changes. When you are off-line, you can still access all documents but any changes made by others will not be made available to you until you get online, nor will any changes you make be made available to others.

 

Note you can have Dropbox on multiple computers that you access, and they will automatically sync with each other. The default setting automatically syncs the documents changed, once you are connected to the internet. If you don't want every changes made in your computer's folder reflected to cloud folder, use Selective Synchronization so that you can choose which folder you want to sync.

 

The folders inside My Dropbox folder will have small green check mark, which denotes the file is synced. You can easily pause syncing by right clicking the Dropbox in task tray. 

 

Multiple edits and regular saving

Please save regularly and close the file after you have made changes. The change is not reflected automatically until you save it by yourself.

 

Access and Inviting New Members

This should be done by the volunteers(AT) coordinator. To invite a new member, goto Launch Dropbox website (in SysTray icon) > under Sharing tab > under SharedNyaya> "options" to send an email invitation or remove/view/edit existing members.

 

We have multiple dropbox accounts to provide different levels of access.  the MAIN root directory for all of these is director@.  that is, ALL files need to be primarily owned by this account

 

1. general team member account (just sharednyaya):
• dropbox(AT)nyaya 
2. achham team member account (sharednyaya + data folder; data folder will now contain NGO financial information):
• dropboxdata(AT)nyaya
  
3. data team (sharednyaya + data + NyayaINGOBanking) account:
• dropboxdataANDbanking(AT)nyaya 
  
4. leadership@ (#3 + INGO) account: this is the master account 
• director(AT)nyaya 
  

 

 

Selective Sync

If you would like to have different computers with different folder access (e.g., if you share an account with your family or if you use a different computer at school and at work), you can use selective sync and indicate which folders you want to access on a particular computer.  This is only available currently in the forum build version, which you can download here: 

http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=28702&replies=97

Notes here:

http://neworganizingeducation.com/content/blog/tip-use-selective-sync-with-dropbox 

 

DropBox Backup and Prevention of Lost Files

We have the two following security strategies: 

• USB back-ups.  Once monthly the Dropbox Manager (a US-based volunteer) will make a hard copy backup of the entirety of the DropBox account.
• Dropbox Log review.  Nyaya Health has a dropbox packrat add-on which allows for  permanent history and file recovery.  One monthly, the Dropbox Manager will review the events log and identify any large or erroneous deletions.

 

For the procedures, see http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/w/page/41559339/Role:-Dropbox-Manager.

 

Any individuals who are missing files should log in to the web dropbox.com, go to the folder where the lost files were, select "Show deleted files" and then click on the deleted files and select More...undelete files. 

 

In the future, we definitely would like to see dropbox have the ability to restrict user access, particularly to deletions, to protect the files.