On this page are step by step instructions on how to set up your MIT Dropbox. For some users, this process can be very confusing so I've set up this page to help explain and demystify to users what's going on and what if anything is not being said when you are making choices.
On your favorite Web Browser go to http://dropbox.mit.edu
Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the box next to "I have and read and understand MIT's guidelines for use of Dropbox." Then click on the "Next>>" Button.
You should get an email from no-reply@dropbox.com with an invitation to join the MIT Work Email. The Subject of the Email will say "MIT has invited you to Dropbox for Business". On the page there will a blue botton that says "Accept Invitation". Click on this blue button.
When you click on the Accept Invitation button it will direct you to a web page in your favorite web browser that looks like this:
Click on "Get started".
If you have already used your MIT email address for a personal Dropbox account it will bring up a window that looks like this:
This is the part that's a bit tricksy. What Drop Box is really asking you is which Drop Box you want to set up first. What it's not telling you is that you will need a separate email address for the personal and MIT Dropbox. With some tinkering with settings you'll be able to bring up both Dropbox accounts at the same time (we'll get into that later). For now, it is highly recommended that you use your MIT email address for your MIT Dropbox and use your personal email or alternate moira list email alias as your personal Dropbox email. When in doubt, select "Move stuff to MIT Dropbox". I this example I'm going to set up my personal first since I had previously only used my files for personal stuff. I am going to select to keep my personal files in my personal Dropbox so you can see what happens.
In this example, I have a personal moira alias I set up ahead of time called "bahamude@mit.edu" which I will use as my personal Dropbox email. You can use your personal yahoomail, gmail, etc email accounts for this part of the process. You want to use your MIT email address for your work so don't use your official MIT email for this part.
What I've done here is made up a password on the spot, using my moira alias (again you can also use your personal gmail or yahoomail or other personal email address here) for this new personal Dropbox site. Make sure you click on the check box next to "I agree to the Dropbox Terms" and then click on the blue botton "Create personal Dropbox".
The next step, involves setting up your MIT Dropbox. In this example, I am using my MIT email address for my MIT Dropbox. Again make sure you have clicked on the check box next to "I agree to the Dropbox Terms".
What is single sign-on? Single-sign-on is a feature of Dropbox which enables a user to utilize MIT's Kerberos certificate authentication to enable an MIT Dropbox user to log on. More details from Dropbox on what Single-sign-on is can be found here at https://www.dropbox.com/help/1909
After you click on "Create MIT Dropbox" you will get a screen to let you confirm your choices.
After you click on "Finish setup and get started" you will see this:
Scroll to the bottom of this webpage to see this:
Click on "Continue to Dropbox". After you do so, you will get this page which is the web interface for Dropbox. Click on your name to get the drop down menu and go to "Settings".
The settings window will look something like this:
The thing to note on this page is if your Dropboxes are not yet connected, you have the chance to do so. This way you can bring them both up at the same time in a single dropbox session.Your web browser may come up with this dialogue box asking you right away if you want to link your MIT or Personal Dropbox. We recommend you do so by clicking on the blue "Link" button.
Final thoughts. Sometimes things don't go as planned and maybe you clicked not to link the accounts because you weren't sure it was a good idea at the time or maybe you weren't sure what Dropbox was asking you. Fortunately Dropbox has a walk through on their help page to enable you to connect the 2 accounts after the fact here:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/4270