IAS Dropbox Accounts

Dropbox is a widely-used, cloud-based data storage service that makes file synchronization and sharing easy. IAS provides access to an Institute-managed Dropbox service for academic and organizational use to all faculty, scholars and staff on an opt-in basis.

With this account, you will have access to a Dropbox Business platform which offers unlimited storage and secure file sharing capability. To access this service, you must use your IAS-provided email address and login credentials.

Getting Started

To obtain an invitation for Dropbox, please complete the Dropbox Account Request Form. In order to take advantage of the unlimited space, remote access, and advanced collaboration features available, please select “Join your team” from the invitation and follow the sign-up prompts.

Visit the Dropbox Help Center for all product related information.

Contact your Computing Helpdesk for additional help.

Please Note

IAS provides Dropbox accounts to members of the community for their academic and organizational use. These accounts are subject to the Institute's computer use policy, and are not intended for storage or transmission of confidential or otherwise restricted data.

Downloading Dropbox

  1. Visit the official Dropbox site to download the Dropbox Installer.
  2. Open the installer to begin installing Dropbox.
  3. Once the installer is finished, Dropbox will prompt you to sign in.
  4. Sign in using your IAS credentials (or your personal account, if you prefer)
  1. Open the Self Service application.
  2. Browse to the Software tab.
  3. Scroll down to Dropbox and select Install.
  4. Once the installer is finished, Dropbox will prompt you to sign in.
  5. Sign in using your IAS credentials (or your personal account, if you prefer)

Frequently Asked Questions

Storage is unlimited.

Use your IAS-provided login credentials.

If you already signed up for a personal account with your @ias.edu email address, you will have the opportunity to move your files into a personal Dropbox account with a non-IAS email address when you sign up. When asked where your files should go, select “Move my files to a new personal Dropbox.”

If you have already signed up for a personal account with your personal email then this Dropbox account will not impact your personal account and your personal files will still be private to you. If you link your accounts, you’ll be able to access personal and work files from anywhere, while still keeping them separate.

No problem! Dropbox will automatically refund the remaining balance of your Pro / Plus account once you join the IAS Dropbox Business account. 

You will be able to transfer your files to another Dropbox account. Even if you choose a personal Dropbox account which doesn't have enough space you will still be afforded read-only access to the transferred files.

Smart Sync is on by default. With Smart Sync, files and folders are online-only. Online-only files use just a small amount of hard drive space to store information like the file name, size, and thumbnail, but the full contents of the files are stored securely in the Dropbox cloud. You’ll always see your online-only files on your computer, so when you need them, you can open them with just a click. See Smart Sync for more information. To make files available even for when you’re offline simply right-click on the file and choose Local from the Smart Sync menu. The full contents of the file will be synced to your computer’s hard drive so you can work offline.

Selective Sync is an older feature that allows you to choose which files and folders to sync with Dropbox. We recommend you use Smart Sync.

Any files stored in your Dropbox account are not being backed up by the IAS backup system.  Dropbox has its own file recovery and version history system that we recommend you become familiar with.  For Institutional knowledge, we recommend saving your file to IAS storage so that it is backed up with the IAS backup system and recoverable by our IT Staff.