Four years ago, if you took a peek inside my bag, you’d have found two 4GB flash drives and two 8GB flash drives. I typically carried 24 GB of extra storage space because I needed to have certain files accessible, some important documents backed up, and an easy way to share data between my personal computer and other machines I encountered, should the need arise. Then, like so many other users, I discovered Dropbox. At the time, Dropbox allowed you to share contents of a public folder, in order to send files to others. Now, with the additional APIs for developers to tie into Dropbox, apps like Sharemate make sharing files from your computer a breeze.
Overview:
Sharemate ($2.99 in the Mac App Store) is a lightweight application that connects with a Dropbox account to make sharing files easy and painless. Using Dropbox’s ability to share files, Sharemate takes away the hassle, and uploads the file, generates the share link, and leaves it accessible on your clipboard to quickly send a link to anyone over the web. Whenever you need to share a file quickly, simply click the bird (Swallow) icon in the menubar, and choose “Share File or Folder” OR control+click any file and choose “Share using Sharemate.”
Unlike having a shared folder in Dropbox, recipients of Sharemate files are not required to have a dropbox account. This means you can quickly upload a file, include the link in an email, and send it on it’s way. For many, this can be the perfect solution to email platforms with attachment size limits, or for email clients that filter attachments into spam/junk folders.
Setting up Sharemate is fairly easy for anyone who is familiar with Dropbox. At first launch, simply login with your Dropbox account and start sharing files. Sharemate also includes a brief overview video of how to prevent duplicate files on your Mac or PC (by enabling selective sync functions). This is a great way to save precious hard drive space if you’re using a MacBook Air (or other smaller SSD equipped machine).
Sharemate also includes a handy upload manager, which allows you to remove shared files from your Dropbox, which is extremely useful in the event that you have disabled selective syncing, as you would otherwise need to login through the web to remove the files. While visually the upload manager (and the rest of Sharemate) aren’t anything overly impressive, the simple menubar design and lack of full desktop experience make it very easy to use without adding clutter to your dock or desktop.
Verdict: [rating: 3.5]
Sharemate for Mac takes the extra work out of sharing files through Dropbox. While power users know the tricks to share files without the additional app, the typical user will find Sharemate to be a great tool to smooth out the process. The days of handing flash drives over to friends, family, and coworkers are over – simply click upload, paste the link, and it’s ready to go.
Pros:
- Easy to setup and use
- Menubar only (no added running app in the dock)
- Upload manager
- Auto-zipping for folder uploads
Cons:
- $2.99 for a feature that comes free in Dropbox
- Visually, pretty dull
If you’re looking for a faster, more efficient way to share files without flash drives or email attachments, and aren’t comfortable digging under the Dropbox hood, check out Sharemate for Mac – $2.99 in the App Store.
* The above review was commissioned by the developer in accordance with our app review policy, and has been written in an objective, unbiased fashion.
