What's an online folder?
Physical Folders
Physical folders help us organize information by specific topics. We can put papers, and even other folders into these folders. For years, the popular Pendaflex hanging folder would hang inside a file cabinet drawer. We’d attempt to organize our lives, hobbies, and businesses into these folders. Some of us would use many file cabinets, drawers, folders, and subfolders, but still had trouble finding what we wanted when we needed it.
The Digital Revolution
Like it our not, digital transformation is upon us. Old paper records have been scanned into Portable Document Format, or PDF digital files. File cabinets have been replaced by digital data centers at subscription services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or the iCloud. Using these online folders allows us to find exactly what we’re looking for, from any physical location, in seconds. These online folders never get full. Best yet, many data centers are replicated to multiple locations around the world, so your digital files will never be lost to some type of fire, flood, or storm.
How It Works
Digital folders on a computing device work similar to physical folders, but they seldom get full. You can drag and drop digital files into any folder, assign a name, and change the names of the files and folders to whatever makes sense to you. You can download, copy, move, and delete these files and folders. Being networked, good online folders will allow you to share files and folders to one or more other users.
Folders for Memories
Placing your photos, videos, and other digitized media into online folders provides great joy. Online folders are the best place for your JPG digital photos, MP3 digital audio, MP4 digital video, and PDF digital records. Now you can exchange multiple memories, with multiple people, each with their own permissions. No more attempting to share a video that's too large to send by email!
Folder Permissions
Folders can be shared with users, each with special permissions. Typically, the lowest level of permission simply allows that person to view or execute contents of that file. The next level would allow a user to make small contributions to that file or folder. The highest level of permission would allow someone to edit files and folders, like a digital curator. Every time you drag another video into that folder, that object will inherit the permissions of the folder.
