Google Drive replaced Dropbox as Davidson’s primary cloud storage and file sharing solution on December 13, 2021. All files and folders from Davidson-owned personal and departmental Dropbox folders have now been migrated to Google Drive. For more information, visit the project support page.
Archived Information
Davidson provides three options for storing data in the cloud: Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Dropbox is currently the preferred storage platform for departmental files, but we are in the process of moving to Google Drive. However, as of right now, all three platforms are available for the entire campus community to use. Each platform has its strengths and lends itself to particular uses. Check the table below to compare the services.
| DROPBOX | GOOGLE DRIVE | MICROSOFT ONEDRIVE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who's it for? | Faculty, Staff, Students | Faculty, Staff, Students | Faculty, Staff, Students |
| Free storage | unlimited* | unlimited* | 1 terabyte |
| Supported platforms | Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, Android, Blackberry, Kindle Fire | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | Windows, Windows Phone, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry |
| Supported file types | any, including Office documents, photos, music, videos, pdf | any, including Office documents, photos, music, videos, pdf | any, especially Office documents, photos, music, videos, pdf |
| File recovery & version history | yes | yes | yes |
| Single sign-on (SSO) w/Davidson username & password | yes | yes | yes |
| Where it excels | Works well on any platform. Can upload large number of files at once. Excellent shared links feature makes it easy to share files and folders to those without Dropbox accounts. | Easy to set up. Has a built in office suite with word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, etc. | Works seamlessly with Windows devices where it's built-in. Works well with Office products |
| Good to know | Mobile apps have auto upload feature for photos. iOS app has document scanning capabilities. Dropbox Paper offers a lightweight online alternative to Evernote and OneNote note-taking applications. | Has desktop apps for Mac and PC. Built into Chromebook's Chromium OS. Most common platform in higher ed. | Has desktop app for Mac. Default save location for Office 2016 apps. |
| Use it to... | Share and collaborate on any platform, inside and outside of the Davidson domain. Use file request feature to request/turn in papers and projects in the classroom. | Share and collaborate within the Google Apps ecosystem | Share and collaborate within the Office 365 ecosystem. |
For more information about each option, click on the links below.