Why I’m choosing Dropbox over other popular cloud storage options like Google Drive and OneDrive. Many of my customers ask me which is the best option, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive (Microsoft) since Creative Cloud discontinued file sharing with third parties (Feb 2025).
If you work on several systems at once (as in my case), or collaborate with a team… you soon end up with Dropbox.
Dropbox is the best option to save and share InDesign files
Dropbox not only answers the question: “What happens if I am eaten by tigers going to work some day and someone else needs to pick up where I left off?”, but it also does automatic file versioning which is MUCH BETTER than the built-in InDesign versioning features. Need to go back 10 edits to a previous version? Dropbox stores ALL versions of the last 30 days and you can go back and restore ANY previous version of the file.
Compare this also to Google Drive, which only stores the last 100 versions of the file, and moreover, Dropbox is upgradable, so you can go back even further in time, up to 365 days depending on your subscription.
Another benefit of Dropbox is that if you change a (large) file, only the “changed part” of the file will be resynchronized. So it will not synchronize the entire file each time which makes for fine performance.
Why I’m not keen on using SharePoint (OneDrive)
Recently, I helped a client migrate from Dropbox (4 TB, ~200,000 files) to OneDrive/SharePoint. They believed it would cut costs because SharePoint is included with their Microsoft 365 subscription. It turned out that the “included” storage was only 1 TB, plus 10 GB per user — nowhere near enough for their data.
After days of archiving and cleaning up files, we started syncing to OneDrive. Immediately, we ran into painfully slow upload speeds, stalled sync processes, conflicting copies, and constant red warning icons in the system tray. Even small Word docs could take minutes to sync, and copying a 100 MB folder locally took ages. We tried for two months to resolve these issues, but the OneDrive client simply wasn’t stable enough for heavy daily use.
Eventually, the client went back to Dropbox. Yes, it’s more expensive, but it actually works: fast synchronization, easy version recovery, and virtually no limits on large numbers of files. My takeaway? SharePoint can be fine for smaller teams or limited file sets, but it’s definitely not ready to replace an entire storage infrastructure—or a solution like Dropbox—when dealing with high volumes of data.
Should you save files on your computer locally?
I never copy files to my local drive. There is just too much risk losing all your work in case your computer crashes and data can’t be retrieved easily, or at all. So everything is always in Dropbox.
The nice part is that Dropbox is just a set of folders on my Mac that are automatically synced to the Dropbox server. So I can navigate the file system in the normal way, but everything is being constantly saved to Dropbox in case there is ever another issue with my (or any coworkers’) computer; a crash won’t take the file with it, because we always have a version a few minutes old in Dropbox.
Disadvantages of Dropbox
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. There are a few annoying aspects about Dropbox and working with InDesign and EasyCatalog.
Sharing locked InDesign files in Dropbox
One weak spot is that InDesign lock files do not sync, so you need to communicate with your team or client to make sure everyone is aware when someone is working on it. But to be fair, other cloud sharing services also don’t play well with locked InDesign files, so conflicts can (and will) occur.
InDesign images not visible
Another feature that has been bugging me is that InDesign (through EasyCatalog) summons images in the cloud, but they are not yet visible if they’re not yet downloaded.
For example, suppose you have a folder with 1000 images. Those 1000 images are not downloaded on your computer. You do see the icon, but only when you open the image, will the image be downloaded. If you want to generate a catalogue via EasyCatalog, using those 1000 images, EasyCatalog assumes that those images are on your PC. Your PC will want to use them but will give an error. So from EasyCatalog there will be no command of “I now need this image (which is in the cloud), please download the image…” (Files On-Demand).
A new open source client for Dropbox
The native Dropbox app can be way too needy with memory and processor, which is why I’ve been using Maestral. Maestral is a new open source client for Dropbox which you can use to view and sync your Dropbox content. Some advantages of using Maestral:
- It’s not an official Dropbox client, so it doesn’t count towards your 3 machine limit
- You can use it to access multiple Dropbox accounts on the same computer e.g. a dropbox for private files, dropbox with work-related files, dropbox of the organisation you belong to, etc….
- It works both with free and paid versions of Dropbox
- It is way less resource intensive than the official Dropbox client
