DropDAV, WebDAV for Dropbox
Dropbox just continues to get more useful every day. At this point, I believe it is mandatory for anybody who wants to get work done on an iPad. If Dropbox’s own developer API, letting you load and save documents to your Dropbox space from iOS devices, wasn’t enough, you can now turn your Dropbox storage into its own WebDAV server. Using DropDAV, I now have the ability to access my Dropbox storage through any Webdav enabled application. Most importantly, this opens all of the iPad iWork apps to Dropbox storage. I’ve been using it a few weeks without a hitch.
You still need to save the work back to Dropbox when you are done but at least it lets you thumb your nose at the iPad iWork team for not enabling Dropbox access. The services is free with a 2GB Dropbox account and $3/month with a 50GB account. You could also use this to sync your OmniFocus database. If any readers have ideas for other uses of a WebDAV connection to Dropbox, sound off in the comments.
Reader Comments (10)
My office has blocked file sharing services (including Dropbox). DropDAV gives me access to my Dropbox using Transmit/Forklift at the office.
By using DropDAV you are giving your Dropbox credentials to a third-party. Am I the only one who is seeing a problem here?
For several months, I've been using Dropdav to access my Keynote presentations stored in Dropbox.
I agree with Markus. I don't like at all the idea of giving my Dropbox credentials to a third party...
Great blog and screecasts David. I read the other day about Sugar Sync which seems similar but has built in folder sync. Have you heard of it? I use Dropbox but wonder how the features compare.
Dropbox supports OAuth and third party developers should be storing specific authentication credentials meant for them after the initial authorization, as per their API guidelines. This means they can access your Dropbox account without storing your cleartext password after signup.
I just sent them an email asking for confirmation on this.
Their signup process should make their security measures a little more apparent though. The kind of tech savvy user who knows what to do with WebDAV access is going to have similar reservations about entering their credentials on a third party site.
Right now, it seems there's no way to develop third party apps that allow for the authentication process to run on the actual dropbox.com site, with a redirect back, like Twitter does this e.g.
Thanks for the tip. One point, the price for a 50GB Dropbox account is $10/month not $3.
https://www.dropbox.com/pricing
@ilya
I probably wasn't clear. DropDAV is a fee on top of what you pay Dropbox so getting DropDAV on a 50GB account is $3/month on top of what you arleady pay Dropbox.
@Brett
I used SugarSync quite a bit before switching to Dropbox. The cause for the switch was speed and SugarSync corrupted some package files (which is bad). Maybe they've sorted it out by now but with Dropbox's iPad integration, I'm not interested in going back.
I get a Beachball all the time I am using it. :|