How do I protect my video or file in Dropbox when I share it with students?
You will learn how to protect your video or file that you are sharing with them from your Dropbox account. You can set an expiration date and prevent downloads.
1. Within Dropbox, navigate to the video or document you want to share with your students.
2. Click on the three dots menu.
Likewise, you can click on Share to perform a similar process.
3. Select Share.
4. Click on Link settings.
Note: Leave the setting at "Can view" rather than "Can edit" unless you want students to be able to edit the file (such as a Word document or Excel). Videos can only be viewed not edited.
5. Click on the dropdown menu for Who has access.
6. Decide on how much security you want.
The three choices are:
Anyone with link allows anyone who has the link to view this file. This is the easiest way to share this file with your students but is also the least secure.
Team members allows you to share only with members of a Group/Team within Dropbox. You could make a new Group and add all of your students to that Group (provided they have all logged in to Dropbox at least once previously). This is the most secure option.
People with password allows greater security than Anyone with link but less than Team members.
Now, choose one of the following ways to share this file:
1. Select Anyone with link.
For this guide, we will choose Anyone with link, as that may be the most likely choice that faculty will make.
2. Click the Expiration slider.
Only click on the slider if you want create an expiration date for when this file is available to view.
3. Type an expiration date.
4. Click on the Disable downloads slider.
Only click this slider if you do not want others to be able to easily download the file.
5. Click on Save.
6. Click on Copy link.
This link can now be pasted into any textbox in your course, pasted into an email, posted in an announcement, etc.
1. Select People with password.
Follow these steps to require your students to enter a password after they click on the link.
2. Click the Expiration slider.
Only click on the slider if you want create an expiration date for when this file is available to view.
3. Select an expiration date.
4. Click on the Disable downloads slider.
Only click this slider if you do not want others to be able to easily download the file.
5. Click on Save.
6. Click on Copy link.
This link can now be pasted into any textbox in your course, pasted into an email, posted in an announcement or forum, etc. Don't forget to provide your students with the password.
Before following these steps to share a video or document with a Group, first create the group (guide by dropbox).
1. Type the name of the group into the To: field
2. Select the name of the appropriate group.
3. Click on Share.
4. Now you can see how many members have access to the file.
Students or faculty in your group now have access to this file. However, they will have to login to Dropbox to access it.
Article Summary
You have now learned some ways to protect your video or document in Dropbox when sharing it with your students.