Portable apps have their own advantages, and I’ve always preferred them over installers when it comes to Windows apps. We have seen how to
make any Windows application portable using Cameyo
but it has some limitations.
I store most of my important files on Dropbox so I can work on them from any computer. Whether my laptop runs out of battery or I don’t carry it with me, I can always access these files from any computer as long as that computer is connected to the internet.
However, every time I try to access these files using a public computer, I wish I had a portable Dropbox app on my USB drive. Of course, the web interface is good enough for downloading files, but nothing can compete with the desktop app. Furthermore, since most of the times administrative access is locked on these public computers, downloading and installing one is not possible.
As a solution, DropboxPortableAHK is a simple, easy AutoHotkey script that allows you to run Dropbox as a portable app and that also doesn’t need any administrative privileges.
Set up DropboxPortableAHK
First, download and extract the DropboxPortableAHK executable to a folder in your USB drive. Create a separate folder for the task as all your Dropbox files will be downloaded in it.
Step 1: Launch the program to start the nine-step setup wizard. The first screen is the welcome screen and will ask you to choose your preferred language. Auto detect mode works fine.
Step 2: In the next step, the program will check your internet connection. If you’re using a live internet connection, you’ll pass the test without much delay. Those connecting to the internet using a proxy connection will have to configure the same and pass the test before proceeding.
Step 3: Choose the parent folder for all your Dropbox files in this step.
Step 4: This step is only useful if you are importing your existing Dropbox account. But I recommend you skip this step and do a fresh setup at the end of the wizard.
Step 5: In the update notification step, tick the options to get notified when both the mobile app and the Dropbox program receive an update and move on to the next step.
Step 6: Here you can configure some options manually like encrypting Dropbox folder etc. If you are an advanced user you can do the settings but for normal users , the default configuration will work perfectly fine.
Step 7: In the User Applications page, if you want to launch some programs before Dropbox starts or after exiting it, you can select them here. Most users can also skip this step.
Step 8: Click the Download Dropbox file button and in the meantime choose the color you want for the tray icon.
Step 9: Finally, click the next button to start setting up Dropbox. The Dropbox account setup wizard will load up and ask you for account details. The only thing to note here is not to use the same folder you used in the mobile app to download the files. It has been handled in step 3. Just use the default folder to complete the setup as the folder will be deleted anyway at the end of the wizard.
DropboxPortableAHK will work in the background and it will take some time to set up the registry and put the working Dropbox app in the system tray. Next time you want to run Dropbox from your removable drive, just launch the DropboxPortableAHK executable. Since the program stores all data in the .dbfiles folder, it will load all your settings and start Dropbox in seconds.
Conclusion
You can run multiple Dropbox instances on the same Windows configuration this way. Simply copy and paste the DropboxPortableAHK executable into a new folder and run the wizard again to configure the new account. Overall, this is a pretty cool addition to your Dropbox toolkit.
(via FreewareGenius)
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
