Using DropBox to store your book

Have you ever saved your document only to realize that you have accidentally deleted a section of you novel? Or maybe you changed something and now regret the change and you want to go back?

Well version control systems are for “techies” (yes, I am a techie but most authors are not) and so most authors won’t have multiple versions.

It is obnoxious to save your word doc with multiple file names, but that is better than losing some important part of your novel. However, what if you didn’t have to do that. What if you could just save your novel and have your history without doing anything difficult?

Well, you can.

How? Simply follow these instructions:

  1. Download and install DropBox. You can do so here: DropBox.
  2. Once you install DropBox, copy your novel to your local DropBox directory.
    Now, every time your document changes, a version is saved.
    DropBox can handle version management for you.
  3. At any time you can right-click on your document, and choose DropBox | Browse on DropBox Website.
  4. Once the web page opens, log in.
  5. You will see your file. Right-click on the web link to your file, and choose Previous Version.
  6. You can download any version.

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