Dropbox is a service that lets you bring all your files: photos, documents, and videos anywhere. Any file you save to your Dropbox will also automatically save to all your computers, phones, and even the Dropbox website. This means that you can start working on your computer in the office and finish on your home computer. 

The service works either through the web or on your desktop computer. Using the desktop version, you can use your Dropbox account just like a regular folder on your computer. This method is faster and more convenient than using the web interface and is highly recommended – so read the tutorial below. 

Checkpoint: Have you already downloaded and installed ShopFactory? You can download the latest release from https://www.shopfactory.com/contents/en-us/d105.html

- Register your ShopFactory software using your existing account (username and password)

I - Installing Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/download-dropbox 

Click the download link from there and install the app. When the installation process is complete, you'll have to activate and register. You will need to signup for an account if you don't have one yet. Select "I don’t have a Dropbox account" to get started.

But if you already have an account and you're installing Dropbox on the other device, choose "I already have a Dropbox account" option. You'll be able to login directly to your Dropbox account.

Once Dropbox is installed on your computer, you’ll see a Dropbox folder on your hard drive.

You should also see a Dropbox icon in the system tray or menu bar: 

II – Copying and Sharing your Files with Dropbox

Copying files to your Dropbox folder is easy

Simply copy the file using Windows Explorer and then paste it in your Dropbox folder.

Some icons that indicate how your Dropbox is doing: 

Green circle and check: All the files in your Dropbox are up to date.

Blue circle and arrows: Files in your Dropbox are currently being updated.

Once the folder is completely synchronized, you can right click on the folder and select “Dropbox -> Share this folder…”– as shown below. 

You can install Dropbox on your other PCs and mobile devices. Simply repeat the above steps but this time selecting "I already have a Dropbox account". Register the Dropbox app using your existing Dropbox account – it must be the same account that you are already using – both you and the other party will have the Dropbox access details.

III - Updating your ShopFactory project in Dropbox

IMPORTANT: When updating/editing your ShopFactory project via DropBox, please ensure only ONE party is editing/updating the shop project at a time to avoid ‘database conflict’. Also make sure that the "synchronization" button has completed before you start editing your shop project.

-Synchronize your files in Dropbox before doing any work in ShopFactory. The Dropbox icon in the system tray (the lower right section of your taskbar) will show whether your LOCAL DropBox folder is currently synchronizing or indexing – if it says it’s still syncing, do NOT open ShopFactory yet. You have to wait until DropBox has fully synchronized all the files from online to your local DropBox folder. Once DropBox icon says it is “Up to date” – then it is time to open ShopFactory and get on with it.

In the sample screenshot below, this means your local DropBox is still syncing the project files so you need to wait until the sync job is completed – it should show “Up to date” once your local DropBox folder is updated.

REMEMBER: At the end of your work time, do NOT forget to save and close down ShopFactory. The shop project must be closed down to ensure the other party can access without any concurrency issue (database conflict). Save and close down ShopFactory.

Upgrading a shop project to a new version

If you upgrade the project in DropBox to a newer version i.e. you previously worked on the shop using ShopFactory V12 but has recently installed and upgraded to ShopFactory V14

- What's going to happen the first time you open the project in the newer Version 14 is that ShopFactory will create a copy of the V12 shop and then the upgraded/converted shop will be saved in the default folder, "Documents\ShopFactory V14 Websites" folder.

In this instance, you will need to do click on "File -> Save As..." and then rename the shop project to a more meaningful one, such as "MyShopV12_2021-06-22" and then save it to your DropBox folder again to share it to your team. Otherwise, the converted shop will remain in your PC's "Documents\ShopFactory V12 Websites" folder and other team members will not be able to access the latest converted shop project.

IV - Sharing "ShopFactory V14" installation folder in Dropbox

The ShopFactory 14 installation can be saved in the ‘shared’ Dropbox folder. This is the only way you can synchronize the SF installation between 2 computers as well. 

• Run Windows File Explorer and navigate to your Dropbox folder
• Create a new folder called SF14-Installation
• Download the latest ShopFactory V14 build 21172 from https://www.shopfactory.com/contents/en-us/d18.html
• Run the SF installer and in this dialog, click BROWSE… button and locate the SF14-Intallation folder in Dropbox
• Select that folder and click OK

IMPORTANT: Install ShopFactory V14 in Dropbox\SF14-Installation folder

• Click next until installation is completed. Finish.
• COPY your existing templates from the old installation folder to the new SF installation in Dropbox

COPY your existing templates from the default installation directory –

The existing saved options and shipping templates are in

C:\Program Files (x86)\ShopFactory V14\ShopFactory\Shared Templates

PASTE TO:

Dropbox\ShopFactory V14\ShopFactory\Shared Templates

IMPORTANT:::

To ensure you are running the correct ShopFactory 14 installer, Run the SFEditorU.exe from that Dropbox folder to open SF14

It should be in Dropbox\ShopFactory V14\ShopFactory

• Open any of your existing shop projects
• Update as required.

Using Dropbox to update SF shop project in multiple PCs

You are clear with the instructions on this. It’s important that Dropbox is synched successfully (up to date) in each computer before commencing work and updates on the shop project (in each computer). And the SFEditorU.exe from the Dropbox\ShopFactory V14\ShopFactory folder must be used to update the shop project each time.