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Tuesday, 30 August 2011

SnapHow.com : Web & Computing Tips

Sync My Documents with Google Docs, Dropbox for Automatic Backup

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 10:10 AM PDT

Sync My Documents with Google Docs, Dropbox for Automatic Backup My Documents is probably most important folder in your PC or laptop since it is the default save location for all type documents like word, presentations and office files. So if you want to make sure that you don’t lose important data and your document files etc in case of a hard drive crash or windows boot problems, its best to sync the "My Documents" folder with an online backup drive like Google Docs or Dropbox.

Backup My Documents Automatically Online to Google Docs

Google Docs is my favourite online file backup service since it is a very useful online ms-office alternative. Anyone can create and edit documents and you can work on your files collaboratively with other users. And since its online you can access your files and work on them from anywhere and any device with an internet connection.

There are some free tools that let you sync google docs to your file system on your computer but I liked this simple freeware application developed by SyncDocs.com.

Download and install SyncDocs on you computer and after installation follow steps and login with your Gmail account. A "Data Folder Selection" (see below) window will appear which will let you choose the folder that you want to sync with your Google Docs account.

Now, you can either click Change and choose "My Documents" as the folder to be synced with Google Docs if you want to sync your existing data with your Google Docs account,

Backup My Documents Automatically Online to Google Docs

or, if you have lots of files in "My Documents" then it can take a lot of time to upload sync your files, in that case keep that "My Google Docs" sub folder as the folder you want to merge with Google docs online. You just need to save or drag drop important files to this folder to automatically upload it to Google Docs.

Watch the video below for an idea on how SyncDocs works to manage your files between your computer and Google docs.

Move My Documents Folder Inside Dropbox for Auto Backup

Windows has this useful feature that allows to move the default location of your "My Documents" folder to any other drive, location on your computer.

This means if you move your "My Documents" folder inside your Dropbox local directory, then a backup copy of "My Documents" will be created on your Dropbox account online in the cloud. So every time you save files in My Documents, the changes are automatically updated on your online backup too. So you don’t have to worry about losing your files ever.

To Move My Documents Location to your Dropbox : Go to your My Documents folder (C:\Users\<name>\My Documents) and do a Right-Click > Properties . Choose Location tab in the properties window (see below).

Move My Documents Folder Inside Dropbox for Auto Backup

Click the Move button and select your local Dropbox folder and windows will use this new location for My Documents. So your My Documents is now synced with your Dropbox account.

The only drawback is that Dropbox has limited space and no editing support… hence I prefer Google Docs over Dropbox for backing up my "My Documents" folder online. For other folders like my "My Music" folder I use the Dropbox method so that I can get access to my mp3 collection and stream play songs in my dropbox from any device and anywhere I go.

► Links : SyncDocs | Dropbox