Dropbox gets screenshot sharing, iPhoto integration

Dropbox has been given a set of great features that go a long way towards making it your cloud-based photo album. You will be able to automatically upload not just your pictures but even screenshots. Dropbox also now lets Mac users import images using iPhoto with a brand new tool.

In a blog post announcing these two new features, Alicia Chen of Dropbox hints at the fact that the automatic saving of screenshots was a feature that was missed by users. “You might already be a fan of Camera Uploads, which beams all the photos you take on your phone and tablet straight to a safe place in your Dropbox. But have you ever wondered, ‘Why doesn’t Dropbox do that for the screenshots I take on my computer, too?’” she writes.

Share screenshots in a jiffy

Starting now, you will be able to save all the screenshots you take on your computer straight to your Dropbox. To add to this, the service will automatically create a link for the screenshot file stored in your Dropbox and copy the link to your clipboard. Since most people take screenshots to eventually share them with friends, forums or family, this seems to be a great way to save time on uploading screenshots, especially in large quantities.

If you’re the kind that ends up taking screenshots often, this will also serve as a great way to keep them all organised and in a single place. Of course, if you wish to edit your screenshots – blurring out identities, adding context or generally editing the image – you may want to turn the auto-upload feature of Dropbox off first.

Back your pictures up from iPhoto

The other announcement made by Dropbox is that users on OS X will be able to directly copy pictures from iPhoto to Dropbox with a brand new tool. If you have iPhoto 7.0 or later you can click on the Dropbox icon in the menu bar. Click the gear icon and head on to Preferences from the menu and select the import tab. You will be prompted again and then can set up the auto-import from iPhoto to Dropbox.

It’s a great move by Dropbox. You do not need to go hunting for another cloud service when it comes to backing up your precious data. You can simply start uploading to Dropbox with a few clicks. However, this could be a bit of a problem if you store a lot of photos on your Mac since you may run out of cloud storage space if you don’t keep a check.