Blogs about dropbox

Environment Syncing for Sublime Text 3.

I've recently upgraded to Sublime Text 3, so I realized I also needed to update my process for synchronizing Sublime's configuration via Dropbox. This process results in all of your settings being automatically shared between computers (even Windows and Mac). These steps will sync Snippets, Installed Packages and Color Schemes between every Sublime Text 3 instance that you configure this way. It won't sync Projects or Recent Documents, but you could sync the Settings directory to enable this. If you need them, here are my original instructions for syncing Sublime Text 2 with Dropbox.

The basic procedure will be to create a new directory for settings in Dropbox, and then replace Sublime's normal directories with symbolic links (folder shortcuts) that point to the Dropbox folder. This general process will work in any scenario where applications utilize a flat folder structure for their settings or add-ons, such Photoshop and Cmder. You'd just need to figure out the specific directories that you need to sync. The process should also work on file synchronization systems other than Dropbox, such as Sync.

Initial setup / first computer:

1. Install Package Control into Sublime Text.
2. From the Preferences Menu, choose Browse Packages (Sublime Text > Preferences > Browse Packages... on OSX.). Then navigate up one directory - this is your Sublime Text user directory. It will contain directories named Backup, Installed Packages, Local and Packages and some other ones you don't have to worry about.
   • In Windows 7, this is usually C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 3.
   • In Mac OS X, this is usually /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 3.
3. Exit Sublime Text.
4. Create a new directory called something like ST3 somewhere in Dropbox. Mine is at Dropbox\App Backups\ST3.
5. Move the Packages folder from your ST user directory to the ST3 directory in Dropbox.
6. Open up a Command Prompt or Terminal window with Administrator privileges (right click and choose "Run as Administrator") and navigate to your ST2 user directory.
7. Create a symbolic link for Packages:.
   • In Windows 7, this will be something like mklink /D "Packages" "C:\[ST3 Dropbox directory]\Packages".
   • In Mac OS X, this will be something like ln -s /[ST3 Dropbox directory]/Packages ./Packages.
8. Wait for Dropbox to finish syncing.
9. Open ST3 and confirm that your settings and packages are still working. If not, something's gone wrong in the above steps.

Subsequent computers:

For each other computer that you want to sync your ST settings to:

1. Install Package Control into Sublime Text.
2. From the Preferences Menu, choose Browse Packages (Sublime Text > Preferences > Browse Packages... on OSX.). Then navigate up one directory - this is your Sublime Text user directory. It will contain directories named Backup, Installed Packages, Local and Packages.
3. Exit Sublime Text.
4. In your Sublime Text user directory, delete or rename the Packages directory; you'll be replacing it with the Dropbox one.
5. Open up a Command Prompt or Terminal window with Administrator privileges (right click and choose "Run as Administrator) and navigate to your ST user directory.
   • In Windows 7, this is usually C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 3.
   • In Mac OS X, this is usually /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 3.
6. Create a symbolic link for the Packages directory:
   • In Windows 7, this will be something like mklink /D Packages "C:\Users\[username]\Dropbox\App Backups\ST3\Packages".
   • In Mac OS X, this will be something like ln -s /[ST Dropbox directory]/Packages ./Packages.
7. Open Sublime Text and bask in your marvelous synced settings.

Sync Sublime Text Between Computers using Dropbox.

Sublime Text 2 is my favorite text editor, and I use it on all of my machines - personal PC, personal Macbook, and work laptop (Windows). To make Sublime Text even more useful, I like to keep the same configuration of Sublime on each computer, which I can do by using Dropbox to sync the configuration files, and giving Sublime Text symbolic links (shortcut directories) to those files on Dropbox. (This also makes it super simple to configure my development environment on a new computer.) Here's how it's done:

Initial setup / first computer:

1. Install Package Control into Sublime Text.
2. Exit Sublime Text.
3. Create a new directory called something like ST2 somewhere in Dropbox. Mine is at Dropbox\App Backups\Sublime.
4. Find your ST2 user directory. It will contain directories named Installed Packages, Packages, Pristine Packages and Settings.
   • In Windows 7, this is usually C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 2.
   • In Mac OS X, this is usually /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 2.
5. Move Installed Packages, Packages and Pristine Packages from the ST2 user directory to the ST2 directory in Dropbox.
6. Open up a Command Prompt or Terminal window with Administrator privileges (right click and choose "Run as Administrator") and navigate to your ST2 configuration directory.
   • In Windows 7, this is something like cd C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 2.
   • In Mac OS X, this is something like cd /Users/[username]/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text\ 2/.
7. Create a symbolic link for Installed Packages.
   • In Windows 7, this will be something like mklink /D "Installed Packages" "C:\[ST2 Dropbox directory]\Installed Packages".
   • In Mac OS X, this will be something like ln -s /[ST2 Dropbox directory]/Installed\ Packages ./Installed\ Packages.
8. Repeat the above step for each of the other directories mentioned in step 4.
9. Wait for Dropbox to finish syncing.
10. Open ST2 and bask in your marvelous synced settings.

After ST2 configuration is on DB / Subsequent computers:

1. Exit Sublime Text.
2. In your ST2 user directory, delete or rename the Installed Packages, Packages and Pristine Packages directories. You'll be replacing them with the Dropbox ones.
3. Open up a Command Prompt or Terminal window with Administrator privileges (right click and choose "Run as Administrator) and navigate to your ST2 configuration directory.
   • In Windows 7, this is something like cd C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 2.
   • In Mac OS X, this is something like cd /Users/[username]/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text\ 2/.
4. Create a symbolic link for Installed Packages, Packages and Pristine Packages directories.
   • In Windows 7, this will be something like mklink /D "Installed Packages" "C:\[ST2 Dropbox directory]\Installed Packages".
   • In Mac OS X, this will be something like ln -s /[ST2 Dropbox directory]/Installed\ Packages ./Installed\ Packages.
5. Open ST2 and bask in your marvelous synced settings.

These steps will sync Snippets, Installed Packages and Color Schemes between every ST2 instance that you configure this way. It won't sync Projects or Recent Documents, but you could sync the Settings directory to enable this.

This basic process will work for any application that contains settings in a flat folder structure, such as many of Photoshop's configurations. You'd just need to figure out the specific directories that you need to sync. The process should also work on file synchronization systems other than Dropbox, such as Google Drive or Skydrive.

Free File Storage From Dropbox.

I've been using Dropbox, a free online file storage system, for a couple of months now and I'm quite pleased with the service. For me, this service solves the problem of managing files between my laptop and desktop computers. I've ditched my flash drive, and I won't have to email myself updated files anymore.

I have 3 different computers - a home desktop (WinXP), a work desktop (Windows 7), and a personal laptop (MacOSX). I use my Dropbox to keep a variety of files synced between all of the computers - such as .PDFs with bookmarks, web pages I'm coding, half-written blogs, or even web links I want to check out later when I'm home. I don't have to worry about losing any of the Dropbox files; they're stored on 3 different computers, and on the Drobox servers.

Each computer that I've authorized for the Dropbox stores all of the files on its hard drive. When one of the computers is online, it checks for updates to the Drobox files, and if so, updates the local copy. Because the files are stored locally first, I never have to wait to open a really large file, but the Dropbox service keeps all the files nicely synchronized.

Dropbox offers a Pulic folder for file collaboration, and I've used the Dropbox photo album sharing without a hitch. There's even an free iPhone app for Dropbox. The Dropbox iPhone app lets you access your files from your iPhone (or iPod Touch) and can read a sizable number of file types. This could be quite handy for accessing all your recipes while shopping for dinner.

Bear in mind that, even though Drobbox has all kinds of security, there's always the chance they could get hacked. Don't store sensitive financial, legal, or business information in a Dropbox. Also, don't install this sort of thing on a public computer (such as those at the library or a cafe); stick with just accessing your files through the Dropbox web interface in those cases.

If you need more than 3 gigs of space, Dropbox offers 50 or 100 GB for monthly service fees. (Though it can't offer off-site storage unless you keep it in another building, an external hard drive may be cheaper in the long run.)

Dropbox is fast, reliable and works without any effort on my part. If you do sign up, be sure to use my link. Both you and I will get some extra free space.