A File Manager interface
1. The left pane displays the folder tree. There are four top-level items: the Home folder that contains the user files and folders, the Trash folder that contains deleted files and folders that have not been permanently removed from the system, the My Shared folder that is a shortcut to files and folders shared by the current user, and the Other’s Shared folder that contains files and folders shared by other users.
2. The right pane displays the files contained in the current folder. Clicking on the column labels changes the sorting order. Multiple files can be selected as usual with Ctrl-Click or Shift-Click. Files have different icons according to their type and a small indicator on the bottom right of the icon when they are shared with others. Files and folders can be dragged with the mouse and dropped into another folder for moving and copying.
3. The top pane contains a menu bar, a search box for quickly locating files and the user details. Search keywords can match either the file name, extension, tags or content. Most text containers can be searched, like text, HTML, XML, PDF, DOC and XLS files.
4. The bottom pane displays statistics about the service usage and the files in the current folder.
5. Files and folders can be manipulated either through the top menu bar or the context menu. Operations on files include downloading, copying and pasting, renaming, sharing, permanent deletion or moving to the trash bin and more.
Work With Your Files
1. Upload a file (or multiple files using Google Gears) viewing the progress update.
2. Examine and modify the details of files stored in the service. Rename or tag the file if you wish, for easier retrieval through the search box in the future.
3. Store multiple versions of a file, while you collaborate with other users and make changes. View an older version of the file contents, make it current again or even remove all versions altogether for space efficiency.
4. Share your files and folders with other users, so that you can collaborate on a project. Define who has read-only access, who can change the resource, even who can modify the access permissions. Create groups of users for easier sharing of your resources. Make a file public and share the link with everyone on the Internet.
Desktop Client
For those who don’t care much about web clients and prefer using native applications, the desktop client offers the same amount of functionality and more! The regular file and folder browsing and manipulation activities can be performed with the same ease of use offered by the web client. Moreover, the desktop client allows uploads of whole directories and directory hierarchies in a single step.
The interface resembles a traditional file manager with the local file system on the left and the remote file system on the right. Uploads and downloads can be performed using the arrows in the middle or the corresponding context menu entries.
You can also synchronize a folder, say like Documents, in your computer with other computers, using the Sync button. Sync sends the changes to the service from the first computer and then receives the changes from the service in the other computers. Obviously, Sync can be used for simple backup/restore as well, if used on a single computer.
WebDAV Access
If neither web nor desktop clients are your thing, you can even interact with your files and folders through your operating system’s file manager. The service exposes a standard WebDAV interface that can be mounted from the file managers in Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.
Although this interface is limited to the basic operations only, it can be used without having to install any other software. Uploading and downloading files can be performed with the usual desktop operations, like drag and drop, copy and paste, etc.
More advanced functions however, like sharing, versioning, search and trash bin support cannot be supported due to limitations in the WebDAV protocol and the various operating system clients.