File Sharing for Teams

Senior design teams have a need to share files other than by emailing them to various team members. Here are some different ways of sharing files. It does not matter how you share files, only that you do so in an effective manner for your team. Recommendations:

• Generic file sharing: use Dropbox. This is a file sharing service in which copies of files are kept on everybody's local machines. Once a dropbox client is installed locally on your machine, anytime a file is changed on somebody else's machine your local machine is updated with the latest copy. Every team member has to sign up with Dropbox, and install the dropbox client in order to get started. Dropbox allows you to access previous versions of files, which is a big plus. Use Dropbox to share everything except Office documents and source code.
• Software development: use GitHub to collaboratively create software. The GitHub Desktop client provides a simple starting point; more advanced users can use the SmartGit client or the Git command-line tools. The Pro Git book provides a comprehensive reference.
• Writing and presentations: use either OneDrive with Microsoft Word or Google Docs. All team members will need either a OneDrive account or a Google account.
  • Word with OneDrive syncs documents only when you save -- it both saves your changes and loads in other team members' edits. Warning: don't accidentally edit a "shared" document on your local hard drive; keep everything in the cloud so others can collaborate with you.
  • Google docs: Everyone's edits appear immediately, which can sometimes be distracting. Some formatting won't survive the conversion to a Word document.

Your team's web site

To access your team's site, follow the Senior Design - Map Network Drive tutorial in the How To section of the ECE intranet. E-mail helpdesk@ece.msstate.edu if you have any problems.