Embracing technology as the pastor: Dropbox

If you've ever had a computer lose your work, you know that accompanying sickening feeling all too well. 

Computers are not 100% reliable.  Thus backups have become a vital part of any computer use if you want to prevent wasting large amounts of time when files go missing.

Yet backups take time to perform and so can often feel like a waste of time in themselves.

But thankfully with the advance of technology backups are easier to keep, meaning you waste less time maintaining your backups.

One of the most reliable ways of backing up your documents is by putting them into the 'cloud'.  That means your documents are not only stored on your own computer, but copies of them are on another computer somewhere else on the internet.  And that computer out there in the internet is usually more secure than your own computer from fire, theft etc.

So how do you easily and cheaply get your files into the cloud?

Dropbox has become one of the simplest and most reliable ways of doing this.  Basically you have a folder on your computer that syncs automatically with the Dropbox company servers and so your files are always safe as soon as you finish working on them.

Your files are even safe from your accidental deletion or foolish editing as all older versions of files are kept for 30 days and can be restored easily enough.  Which means if you accidentally delete some vital paragraphs from your sermon and then save your blunder, you can quickly restore an older version of the file with the paragraphs intact.

I also find that the Dropbox two gigabytes of free space is more than enough for my current important documents.  For me, older documents that are rarely touched are backed up on an external hard drive.  But if you want more room in your Dropbox, you can always pay for the privilege (or earn some extra free space).

So sign up for Dropbox today and have the assurance that your files are safe - and that you will never have to write a sermon twice because your computer ate it.