20 April 2008
It was driving me crazy…
Posted by Jerry Kidd under: Apple Information; Cool Freebies; How to...; Product Reviews .
I don’t know about you, but I use multiple computers all of the time. I have a desktop PC at my office and 3 desktop PCs at home. I also have a convertible laptop, a tablet PC and to round out the collection and to really complicate things, I have a new MacBook Pro.
You may not be as extreme as I am, but if you have more than one computer, I’ll bet that you may have experienced some of the same frustrations as I have. If you have, read on…
The crazy making part was that I like to work on things from wherever I happen to be using whatever computer that is in front of me. What that meant was that if I was working on a document or PowerPoint presentation, I had to save it on a thumb drive and carry it with me at all times. That was just so I knew that I always had the latest version of the file with me. My history with those devices is a sad tale of woe. I have lost 3 of them and 2 have mysteriously died.
Then I took to the practice of emailing the current project back and forth so that I could make sure that what I was working on was always available. That actually works as a strategy…if the file isn’t too big and if you remember to actually send the email before you shut down or leave the computer.
Then I took to uploading the document to Drop.io. That strategy will work too, but again, the file size is limited to 100 MB and you have to remember to actually do it. (You can BUY more space on Drop.io)
Another issue for me is that I often update a training course just before, during or after doing a presentation on my laptop. Then later I will open the same course at work or at home on a different computer and have to duplicate the work…assuming I actually remember to do so. And, I often ended up with multiple versions of the file. Knowing which one was the right one was a real problem for me.
Obviously this wasn’t working too well. Then I discovered FolderShare from Microsoft. This little gem carries the Realtor® pricing of absolutely free. It’s a small download that you do at each of the computers that you want to enroll. You then designate a folder on each computer that will be the folder that you will use to sync your computers. In my case, I selected my Classes folder. This is the folder that has all of my classes in it, along with all the supporting documentation for each class. Now when I update a class, I save it in the classes folder as I always do, and depending on the size of the file and the speed of my Internet connection, the file is instantly replicated to any of the enrolled computers that are turned on and connected to the Internet. The computers that are off will sync as soon as the computer gets turned on and connected to the Internet.
You can have more than 1 “library” (that’s what they call the folder) and you are limited in file size (no bigger than 2 GB…pretty hard to have 1 file be that big) and a total of 10,000 files.
But wait…there’s more. You can go to www.Foldershare.com, login and have access to every one of your computers (that are turned on and connected to the Internet). Not only can you see the shared folder, but you can see AND access every storage device (hard drives for instance) and every song, picture and file on them. From any computer in the world with Internet access.
Life is good again for me. And if you share my frustration with using multiple computers, once you install FolderShare, life will be good again for you.
This is a wonderful piece of technology and although it wasn’t written specifically for real estate agents, it will serve us well.
Post a comment and tell me how you are using FolderShare.
4 Comments so far...
Sarah Says:
21 April 2008 at 2:22 am.
I can definitely relate to you frustrations… I use several different PCs during the course of the day, while at work, at home and even commuting, and sometimes it just gets too complicated! Looks like a great find, especially the ‘free’ part of it 
I’ll definitely give it a go.
sara Says:
21 April 2008 at 6:50 am.
This is great, thanks for sharing. Price is right too.
Can you assign a folder public access, so instead of emailing your class out, you could just point people to it?
Jerry Kidd Says:
21 April 2008 at 7:45 am.
Absolutely Sara. You just log on to Foldershare and you are given the chance to create a Shared Libarary. Once you have done that you can invite people to share it by sending them an email. You can also give them various permissions as to what they do with it.
Hey! I just noticed that the two commenters on this post are both named Sara(h). Sarah meet Sara!
Norbert Says:
29 May 2008 at 2:59 pm.
This tool is amazing. I have been using it now for over a year and it has saved me many times. I share a folder that houses critical files. Of course I have back ups, but this way, I have an instant copy of the most current file on all of my computers.
Being able to access your files remotely is a great feature too. There have been times that I forget a file at my home computer and I can get to it from my work computer.
