Saving Your Stuff: Managing Your Media Files on the iPad

flickr photo by cogdogblog  shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
flickr photo by cogdogblog shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

scan with app

http://bit.ly/udg-stuff

Description

When you write your responses for Agora Challenges, we ask for a public URL where an example of your work can be seen. The iPad does not always make this easy for you. In this studio, we review how to move your files to a location in “the cloud” and how to get it’s web address.

The services we suggest to use include:

    • DropBox a free service that gives you cloud storage for your media. Many iPad apps allow you to save directly to Dropbox.
    • Google Drive free storage that comes with your Gmail/Google+ account. Not many apps allow you to save to Google Drive, but it has tools to move media into your drive space

Below we review the ways you can get the link for your content once they are added to one of these places.

Using DropBox on the iPad

If you do not have it installed on your ipad, get the DropBox iPad app now.

If you do not have a dropbox account, you can create one when you run the app.

Many apps allow you to save directly to your dropbox, e.g. in the iPad Fotos app, when viewing a single photo, click the share button

share-it

And you will see an option Guarder en DropBox. From there, you can change the file’s name, and decided which DropBox folder to put your file.

But let’s assume I have already got a photo, document, or audio in my DropBox that I want to share. I open the DropBox app, and navigate the folders to find the file I want to share, maybe it is a photo of a robot dog.

When I click the share button (share-it) look for the option Copiar víncula (Copy Link)

Getting the link for a DropBox file
Getting the link for a DropBox file

Now you must perform a little trick! If you put that link in a web browser on your own device, it will open the DropBox app. If you send it to someone else, they will not be able to see the file because the link is not public. See this example from my DropBox

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpiaowuomzowbwi/robot-dog.jpg

If you click the link, you will be asked to log in. This is not openly shared.

If simply add ?dl=0 to the end of the link, now anyone can see the image

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpiaowuomzowbwi/robot-dog.jpg?dl=0

And if you try this link it should allow you to see the image of a robot dog. This is now openly shared

This is a link you can use if this file is the example of your work to submit as a response to a Challenge. The advantage of DropBox is that the link you just made points directly to the media file.

Using Google Drive on the iPad

If you do not have it installed on your ipad, get the Google Drive iPad app now.

You can upload any image from your iPad to Google Drive. Open the Google Drive iPad app, click the red button in the bottom right (it might be blue now). Then click Cargar (Upload)

Activating the Upload button in Google Drive
Activating the Upload button in Google Drive

From the menu that appears, select Fotos y videos:

Choose to upload from your photos and videos.
Choose to upload from your photos and videos.

Next you navigate to your Fotos app, and select the items you want to upload to your Google Drive (the only indicator that they are selected is that they are lighter). To start the upload, click the check mark in the upper right corner of the window.

You can share a public link to any file in your Google Drive, not just photos. From the file selector in the Drive app, click the (triple dot) icon to access the file options:

Click the 4 vertical dot button to access the Google Drive menu
Click the 4 vertical dot button to access the Google Drive menu

From the menu that appears, select the “i” symbol (Details):

Select "Details" from the menu
Select “Details” from the menu

Under “Who Has Access” if link sharing is marked OFF, click once to turn ON. If you do not change this option, your share link will not work for anyone other than you..

Click to turn Link Sharing ON
Click to turn Link Sharing ON

Return to the list of images, click the 4 dot menu button. This time select Get Link:

Click "Get Link" to copy the web address for your image.
Click “Get Link” to copy the web address for your image.

This is a link you can use if this file is the example of your work to submit as a response to a Challenge.

Challenges

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