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Dropbox

Jeffrey L. Wilson
 & Jeffrey L. Wilson Managing Editor, Apps and Gaming

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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SocialFolders lets social media mavens move files between their computers and social networks with ease—for the most part. Files sometimes took a long time to sync to social networks—and the ability to upload or download is tied to the target social network you're using—but Facebook, Twitter, and other social network users should check it out. - System Utilities
3.5 Good

The Bottom Line

Dropbox, a pioneer in cloud storage and file sharing, is as reliable as ever with its multi-platform support and numerous integrations, but rival services deliver more value.
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Pros & Cons

    • Hundreds of integrations
    • Mobile apps back up phone files and have OCR
    • File Request feature lets people without Dropbox accounts share files
    • Comes with a few useful Dropbox productivity tools
    • Free version only lets you install it on three devices
    • Not the best per-GB value
    • Syncing issue with Macs

Dropbox Specs

Android App
Emphasis Customization
File Size Limit Unlimited
File Versioning
Free Storage 2GB
iOS App
Online Editing
Windows App
All Specs

Think of SocialFolders as Dropbox (Free, 4.0 stars) for your social media files. The service places a dedicated folder on your Mac or PC that you can use to share files between your computer's desktop and Box, Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Google Docs, Instagram, Photobucket, Picasa, Smug, and Twitter—and even between the sites themselves. SocialFolders (which is available in both free and paid versions), is extremely simple to set up and easy to use. SocialFolders is one service that social media butterflies should consider should they want to effortlessly move, photos, video, and other files between their computers and social sites. The major downside? The ability to both upload or download content is tied to the social network you'd like to use.

Getting Started With SocialFolders

You're prompted to create an account after installing the software. SocialFolders lets you connect up to three social media sites and transfer 2,000 files using the free model, but you can expand on that. SocialFolders gifts you an additional social network connection when a friend you invite joins the service and installs the software. Upgrading to an extremely wallet-friendly premium account ($1.99 per month, or $9.99 annually) removes all restrictions.

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Like Dropbox, SocialFolders places an icon on the menu bar icon that serves up an array of options. Double-clicking the icon opens the SocialFolders folder, which contains sub-folders for each connected service. Right-clicking on the icon reveals options to add more connected services, refresh all services, and tinker with preferences (such as changing your name, e-mail, or unlinking a computer from SocialFolders).

The SocialFolders Experience

I began my SocialFolders journey by connecting my Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts (unfortunately, you're limited to one account per service). Facebook photos (Profile, Wall, Tagged) automatically downloaded to my computer and were stored within corresponding SocialFolders folders. Conversely, uploading JPEGs to my Facebook wall was as simple as dragging a photo into the "Wall Photos" folder. Sometimes this resulted in a photo appearing nearly instantaneously; sometimes it resulted in a photo appearing minutes later. A 25-second video clip of a buddy making wacky faces found its way into my YouTube account shortly after I placed it into SocialFolders' YouTube folder.

I was impressed with SocialFolders' simplicity, but I wished it was both more consistent and compatible with Google's expanding social network, Google+. Another gripe: Not every connected service lets you perform both uploads and downloads. Facebook, for example, lets you upload and download photos. Instagram and Twitter, on the other hand, only lets you download content. I was told this due to the services' API limitations. YouTube, naturally, only supports uploads.

SocialFolders' website lets users subscribe to social network friends' activities. Here's an example that showcases how this works. I subscribe to a Facebook friend's profile photos folder so that every time she added a photo to it, the image downloaded to my computer (a small pop-up notification let me know when new images were available). SocialFolders respects privacy settings, so you can't download files that you normally would be unable to view. There's no mobile app—yet—so you're limited to SocialFolders on the desktop.

Should You Download SocialFolders?

If you upload images to social media sites on a regular basis, you owe it to yourself to at least sample SocialFolders. It has Dropbox' drag-drop-and-sync simplicity, but layers on multinetwork connectivity. It's unfortunate that APIs prevent upload and download across all linked accounts, and Google+ compatibility, but, even as is, it's a solid addition to the social media experience.

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Final Thoughts

SocialFolders lets social media mavens move files between their computers and social networks with ease—for the most part. Files sometimes took a long time to sync to social networks—and the ability to upload or download is tied to the target social network you're using—but Facebook, Twitter, and other social network users should check it out. - System Utilities

Dropbox

3.5 Good

Dropbox, a pioneer in cloud storage and file sharing, is as reliable as ever with its multi-platform support and numerous integrations, but rival services deliver more value.

Get It Now
Best DealVisit Site

Buy It Now

Visit Site

About Our Expert

Jeffrey L. Wilson

Jeffrey L. Wilson

Managing Editor, Apps and Gaming

Since 2004, I've written about consumer tech for many publications, including 1UP, Laptop, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. I now apply that knowledge and skill set as the managing editor of PCMag's apps and gaming team.

The Technology I Use

As a member of the App & Gaming team, I use a wide variety of apps and services. Google Drive is an essential file-syncing service for moving documents between team members in this work-from-home era. Scrivener has been an invaluable writing tool as I rework my fiction manuscript. YouTube Premium and YouTube TV deliver hours of entertainment (though I only use the latter service during the F1 and NBA playoff seasons).

In terms of hardware, I use a Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 laptop for work and an Origin PC tower for playing PC games. I also have a Steam Deck, which lets me play my favorite titles under a shade tree. Of course, I have a smartphone, and the Google Pixel 9a is my handset of choice.

My main input devices are the Das Keyboard 4 Professional and Logitech MX Vertical Ergonomic Mouse, though I bust out the Hori Fighting Commander Octa or Hori Fight Stick Alpha when mixing it up in fighting games. I have a thing for arcade sticks. I collect Neo Geo AES games, too, but only if I can find the carts on the (relative) cheap.

For video and music consumption, I fire up my Lenovo Tab P11; it has a sharp screen and great Dolby Atmos-powered speakers. My Kindle Paperwhite has received much use, too. I have a standalone, Sony Blu-ray player connected to a TCL television when it's time to go full cinephile. I'm also a vinyl guy, so the Bluetooth-enabled Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT keeps the wax spinning.

My first computer was a Commodore 64. Long live BASIC and retro computers!

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