OneDrive is the suggested platform to be used for cloud storage unless an alternative is justified.
A small number of University staff members have purchased Dropbox subscriptions using University PCards. Many of these accounts have been created to share data with researchers external to the University.
In order to centralise the management, support, and purchase of Dropbox subscriptions for the University, as well as to comply with Dropbox’s terms of use, the University has negotiated an Enterprise level subscription to be used for all accounts with *otago.ac.nz email addresses.
Once you have been set up within the University’s Dropbox account, you will receive a link to download the Dropbox application. Dropbox automatically updates to the latest version. These updates are rolled out gradually when a new update is available and are necessary to keep the desktop app functioning.
If you need to manually update to the latest stable version of the Dropbox desktop app:
Download Dropbox (starts automatically)
Install Dropbox (for Linux users)
The amount of Dropbox storage space available to each University of Otago user is 5TB. You can check how much data is being stored in your Dropbox application under the Account tab.
This is also available on the website by clicking your avatar in the top right-hand corner, selecting Settings, then Plan.
For assistance or if you require use of Dropbox contact AskOtago
Further information
Terms of use for Dropbox
By using the University of Otago's Dropbox file synchronisation and sharing service, you agree to the following terms of use:
- You will abide by the Dropbox Terms of Service
- You are agreeing to abide by the University of Otago Information and Communications Technology Regulations 2014
- You are agreeing to abide by the University of Otago Intellectual Property Rights Policy
- You are aware of the University of Otago Copyright Infringement Notice Procedures that may be invoked in relation to any misuse of this service
- ITS recommend that you set a secure password on any device (including mobiles) that uses this service
- For those staff (including researchers) who are sharing file data with third parties, ITS recommends that the ownership, use, and disposal of any shared data is understood and documented before using this service. You must let ITS know if you have any special requirements in this area when you sign up to use this service (this includes data retention, disposal or archiving of file data)
- For groups of staff sharing folders, there must be a nominated "owner" of that folder and this must be kept up to date
- If your University role changes or you leave the University of Otago, you will notify AskOtago with respect to your data held in this service
- A user needs to be invited to the University Dropbox account by an administrator within the Dropbox portal.
- They will receive an invitation email that will not be branded with a University logo.
- ITS Infrastructure will also add them to an Active Directory group. This can take up to 30 minutes to fully populate.
- The user logs in to Dropbox using their University account and password.
Dropbox storage space can be increased if needed, but as there is a strong preference for OneDrive, this will need to be approved by UoO Dropbox administrators.
ITS Infrastructure have an escalation point within Dropbox that can be contacted for urgent issues. This support is based in Australia so there is the potential for a delay due to timezones.