Sharepoint vs Dropbox

Question

We've used Dropbox in our business for a few years and with a very small team it has been great, but now as we're growing it's becoming quite expensive so we're evaluating Sharepoint as an alternative as it's included with our Office 365 package.

I've set up a couple of team folders in Sharepoint online and synced them with my pc so now have the two folders accessible from both my laptop and desktop machines as well as a colleague.

One of the issues we've come across is that documents open as read-only initially (have to click a link to be able to edit) - is there a way to prevent this so that you can edit straight away (like with Dropbox)?  It also gives a warning that "files from the internet can contain viruses", however I thought I was opening a copy from my pc.

Also, can somebody explain what happens if two people edit the same document?  As far as I can see, if both are online then it will lock the document to a user, however what if one person is offline and edits, whilst another is online and edits?

Has anyone made a similar move from Dropbox to Sharepoint?  Anything to look out for?  Pros/cons?

Many Thanks

Steve

Answer 1

Hi Steve,

Q1:

I suggest you try turning off protected view in Office applications:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-is-Protected-View-d6f09ac7-e6b9-4495-8e43-2bbcdbcb6653#bm5

If the notification persists, I would like to confirm the following information:

1. Some screenshots of the notifications. One for "open as read-only initially", one for "have to click a link to be able to edit" and one for "files from the internet can contain viruses".
2. Did you open document from online or the synced folder in local PC?
3. Have you set require check-out for files in a library. Please also capture a screenshot of the versioning setting page

Q2:

By default, if all users have edit permission, they can open the same document simultaneously from online or client andCollaborate on Word documents with real-time co-authoring. For your situation and to better answer your question, I would like clarify your situation first:

1. A screenshot regarding "As far as I can see, if both are online then it will lock the document to a user,".
2. Did you do some settings for the SharePoint site?

I believe every products have pros/cons. I suggest you do more tests in SharePoint online. And welcome post some new threads with your questions, we will try our best to support you.

Regards,

Linda

Answer 2

Stick with Dropbox. Sharepoint is a legacy platform built to run on a local server and as is will never match any of the platforms built for the cloud.

Answer 3

Hi Steve,

Here are some tips for maximizing the upload and download speed for your reference:

Maximize upload and download speed

There are many factors may influence the speed. If it is still too slow, I suggest you post a new thread in our community to troubleshot it better.

Thanks,

Linda

Answer 4

Hi Linda

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the delay. We just tested the solution today and your suggestion worked to fix the way files are opened without being in safe mode. 

The problem we have now is that it's just not to the same standard of Dropbox for uploading files to the server, ie. very slow to sync, and then not very clear or fast to identify when there is a conflict for editting.

it's a shame as the rest of 365 is great. 

Steve

Answer 5

Hi Steve,

Have you checked above information?

Regards,

Linda