Few days ago, I was confronted with this situation where I needed to get a specific file within a zip file shared to me on DropBox. The trouble is, the archive file is over 2GB in size and I am on a limited internet data connection and I can’t afford to waste time downloading the entire 2GB file just to get a specific file for my web project.

Such dilemma would’ve been not a problem if, and only if, DropBox has a built-in file management system where you can zip or unzip files in DropBox website. However, as you might already know, DropBox web app is still deprived of such functionality. And there are no DropBox App Extensions that can do basic archive file management.

So normally your only way out is to download the entire ZIP file on your local drive and do the actual unzipping on your machine, which sounds very much unacceptably antiquated.

Because 2GB of data would cost me $5 in my country to download (and $5 is not cheap), I had to find a way how to unzip DropBox files without downloading them first. Thankfully, I found a way out, albeit not the most straight-forward. And this article, I’m going to show you how.

What you need

  • DropBox account
  • Google Drive account
  • Otixo account (or other free cloud file management apps)

Cutting off the crap, this method works this way: using Otixo service, we remotely copy those zip files from DropBox to Google Drive. And once those zip files are transferred to Google Drive, you can unzip them straight from Google Drive website.

How to unzip Dropbox files without downloading them first offline

For the purpose of this tutorial, I'm going to use a demo file globe-at-home.zip which sits right inside my DropBox account

  1. You’ll have to signup or login first to Otixo and connect your DropBox and Google Drive cloud accounts. Otixo has a decent file management functionality where you can connect multiple cloud drives into a single interface so you can quickly manage your files from multiple sources. We wrote about it before, so go check it out.
  2. Once you’ve added both your DropBox and Google Drive accounts, copy your DropBox ZIP file to your Google Drive. The transfer should take in seconds.

  3. As soon as you hit the Copy button, the ZIP file should arrive on your Google Drive account.

  4. Now, you're ready to unzip the archive inside Google Drive. To do that, you'll have to add ZIP Extractor as add-on to your Google Drive. See our guide here.

    Once ZIP Extractor is added, you can open your archive file with ZIP Extractor, as seen below:

  5. And finally, selectively extract the contents within that ZIP file.

You're done!

Best & FREE Alternatives To Otixo To Manage Multiple Cloud Storage Accounts

ZIP Extractor will then automatically create a new folder containing all the extracted files within that folder where the original ZIP file is located.

Final Verdict

Being able to unzip files in DropBox isn't natively supported yet on DropBox web app. However, with a little bit of creativity, we can achieve the same feat by moving that ZIP file from DropBox to Google Drive and do the extraction in the latter. Well, thanks to Otixo.

How To Unzip Archived Files in DropBox without Downloading them Offline

At last, the file management tool we've been waiting for has finally arrived!

Everybody can now access all backup files stored across multiple cloud storage providers all at the same time. If you love how TweetDeck or HootSuite works for your social media accounts, you'll also love this new file management tool designed for the cloud!

Access, Manage Backup Files Stored In The Cloud All At Once With Otixo

Meet Otixo, a new breed of file management web service that offers a whole new level of convenience. Otixo gives you a consolidated view of all files stored in the cloud by allowing you to connect all your favorite cloud storage services such as DropBox, Google Docs, Box, MobileMe, among others. Otixo works by fetching all your files stored in the cloud, populate and list them altogether in a single interface. Otixo exactly does what TweetDeck or HootSuite does for social media accounts, but for files stored in the cloud!



With Otixo you can:

1. Search and find your files across many cloud-based services in one simple step.

Admit it: it's a pain to look for a particular file especially when all you can remember is that it was saved somewhere in the cloud and you can't seem to remember which cloud services it was saved. Finding a particular file is even awful lot harder especially if you're to deal with a large collection of files. Thankfully Otixo comes with a smart search function enabling you to search for a particular file, regardless of its virtual file location. Think of Otixo like Apple's Finder or Window's File Explorer, but for the cloud.

2. Move files from one service to another without downloading them first to your computer.

There are several occassions when I need to transfer files from my Google Docs to DropBox account. For example, I want to generate a direct HTTP link for my PSD file stored in Google Docs so I can edit it using PSD editor online. Google Docs unfortunately cannot provide me a public HTTP link (required by most online PSD editor) so I need to move the file to DropBox first and let DropBox generates a public HTTP link for me. Also, Google Docs can't seem to render images embedded in a document or spreadsheet so all I need to do is to generate a public link so I can fully open the file using free document and excel viewing tool online.

Learn How To Play, Stream All Music Files, MP3 Saved From Your DropBox

3. Access your many online services with a single username and password.

The real beauty of Otixo is that you get access to all your files saved across multiple cloud storage accounts. Just one-time login takes you to the neat and interactive interface of Otixo where you can quickly manage your backup files stored in DropBox, SugarSync, Google Docs, Picasa, Box, etc. Otixo is also available on mobile so people on-the-go can access and manage their files on the fly.

Otixo is one of the many great web applications that are hard to be missed. Sign up for your FREE otixo account here!

Access, Manage All Files Stored Across Multiple Cloud Accounts All At Once

Otixo is absolutely one of the best productivity web tools out there that web workers use almost every day.

For the uninitiated, Otixo is a file management web service that gives you a consolidated view of all files stored across multiple cloud storage accounts such as DropBox, Google Docs, Box, MobileMe, among others, thus making it easier to manage all your files stored in the clouds.

One awesome use of such file management tool is you can easily free up some space on your DropBox or Google Drive in just a matter of copy-pasting or dragging your files to another virtual drive (e.g. SkyDrive).

Cloud Save Is The Quickest Way To Download, Backup Files Straight To The Cloud

But just as any other online services out there, Otixo cannot offer the service for free forever. Which means you’ll have to spare about $3.99 - $4.99 for the monthly paid subscription in exchange of “premium” features and better cloud support.

And for those who don’t want to spend a single cent to enjoy such service, I've got you here three decent alternatives to Otixo which offers almost the same level of convenience at no cost -- as in FREE.

Best Web-based Alternatives To Otixo To Manage Files Stored In The Clouds

ZeroPC (link)

ZeroPC's Cloud Navigator gives you a centralized, quick and easy way to access all your files stored in the cloud. Cloud services supported by ZeroPC includes Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Google Drive, Instagram, Photobucket, Picasa, Recood, SkyDrive, SugarSync and 4shared.

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Just like Otixo, it's easy to locate and manage all of your cloud content with a single ZeroPC login straight from your web browser, tablet or smartphone.



Joukuu (link)

Joukuu is another good file management solution that makes it simple to track, edit and manage files across multiple cloud storage accounts through a unified platform.

Supported cloud storage providers include Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync and Evernote.



Primedesk (link)

Primadesk takes the stress out of managing your files on the web. From single sign on to your accounts, to uploading photos to your Facebook, Primadesk makes it simple.

Just like Otixo, you can drag and drop files between your cloud storage accounts or you can do a quick search across personal online content including selected cloud back-up data in a single operation. Or you can locate files by topic, date range and content type and with a single mouse click you get instant access.

Also available on Android and iPhone.


Play, Stream All Music Files, MP3 Saved From Your DropBox

That's it! If you know other online FREE file managers, don't forget to buzz off in the comments and I will sure update the list. Thanks.

Best & FREE Alternatives To Otixo To Manage Multiple Cloud Storage Accounts

Few days ago, I ran into a problem trying to access and update some of the web files inside a WordPress site.

The problem: I needed to access and update htaccess file but I only have /wp-admin/ account and there's no FTP or cPanel account given. Getting back to client and asking for FTP credential was not even an option, as he was already out during that time.

Normally, managing and editing files on a web server requires an FTP or cPanel account. Without a valid FTP or cPanel account, file management is impossible. But with WordPress, that's not the case.

How To Access Remote Web Files Without Using FTP Client

In this post, I'm going to show you a simple workaround on how to get an FTP-level type of access to your WordPress files so you can quickly manage and edit web files from your root directory using only a WP administrator account. This is rather a “dirty” trick and I discourage everyone to do this unless you've got an FTP account in hand.

Using WP-Admin Access To Upload, Edit Files Without FTP Account in WordPress

As you might already know, the real gem of WordPress comes from the thousands of ready-made plugins freely available for everyone. And here we're going to explore yet another awesome plugin called WP-FileManager.

WP-FileManager is a tiny WP plugin that gives you the ability to access and update files on your web server without an FTP account. Sounds like impossible but yes, you can use your wp-admin account to update and manage web files without FTP account.

Getting started with WP-FileManager

Just download and activate WP-FileManager from WordPress plugin repository. Once activated, you'll find a new tab called FileManager. Under this tab comes File Manager and Configuration. The plugins' default home directory is /wp-admin/ and it comes with all options disabled so you may need to go to Configuration first and set the default home directory and tick all the boxes, as shown below:



Once you've done this you can navigate back to FileManager and browse through files and folders.


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WP-FileManager works almost like cPanel's file management system; you can browse through folders and root directory files, create new file or directory and upload files. The only downside: it won't let you edit files on the fly — you've got to download the file first, edit it on your computer, then re-upload it back to the server.

You're done!

As a final note, you only need to install WP-FileManager if and only if that's the last resort and you absolutely need it. Having WP-FileManager installed on your WP site gives everyone with admin account a full access to your web files, including wp-config.php file and htaccess.

How To: Upload, Edit Files Without FTP — Use WP-Admin Access To Manage Web Files (WordPress)

You probably have tons of files stored on your DropBox account. And admit it: managing these files this big is a daunting task, and it only gets harder when you start dumping more files across your DropBox account over time.

Whether you are an occasional or heavy DropBox user, getting your DropBox files organized isn't exactly something that should stress you out. SortMyBox is a fantastic tool that you should check out if you want to automate the sorting and organization of your Dropbox files.

SortMyBox Lets You Organize, Sort DropBox Files Based On Your Rules

SortMyBox is a free and easy-to-use file management app for DropBox that automatically sorts DropBox files/folder based on the rules you setup. SortMyBox uses the popular "when this, do that" format, similar to Gmails' filters. That is, when certain file name or extension is detected, SortMyBox will then move those files to the folder you want, based on the sorting rules you setup.

Play, Stream All Music Files Saved From Your DropBox Account (No Need To Download)

Getting Started With SortMyBox

SortMyBox is pretty straightforward to use. First you need to point your browser to SortMyBox's website (link). From here you should be able to login and connect through your Dropbox account.

Note: A folder named "SortMyBox" will be automatically created inside your Dropbox account. This will be the folder in which you drop your files for sorting.

Now it’s time for you to create your first rule. There are basically three types of rules, as seen in the screenshot below:


(a) Filter files by extension (or a comma-separated list of extension). You can instruct SortMyBox to automatically move files to specific DropBox folders when a certain file comes with a file extension that matches to that of your rule.

(b) Sort by a word in the name. If you want to automatically move all files containing the word "img" to /Photos/ directory, then, this filter is ideally right for you.

(c) Filter by name pattern. Allows you to create a pattern in the name to filter by, with or without an extension (e.g. "The Carpenters *.mp3").

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To wrap it up, you can setup rules that identify a file’s extension, name contents or a name pattern. And files get sorted every 15 minutes. Yes, it's that sweet. So go, check it out HERE.

SortMyBox Is The Email Filters For DropBox — Organizes Your DropBox Files Based On Your Rules

To those looking for a FREE, decent file management web service with support for FTP to copy, backup web files from web server to cloud storage providers (e.g. DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, etc), well, then, this post if for you!

I am sometimes asked, as a web ninja, to create a full site backup of my client's sites and copy it to their cloud storage accounts. Such tasks can actually be a accomplished using the right (premium) tools or plugins. But sometimes, plugins just ain't enough! So you sit with a sheer frustration realizing that the only way out is to 'manually' grab those downloadables and upload them back to their online virtual drive. And yes, it's not an option; it's a waste of time!

Copy Files Between FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive & SkyDrive With Mover.io (link)

Meet Mover.io, yet another awesome web platform to move/transfer files from one cloud storage provider to another. Mover was created to streamline the process of transferring your data to the cloud. The service is sort of like that of Otixo, or the time-saving cloud storage managers we have previously mentioned here, which allows you to conveniently copy/move files between DropBox, Box, Google Drive, etc. 

But, Mover is Unique

What Mover sets apart from the rest is the intuitive support for FTP as your source or destination drive. And that's very useful feature among web guys who might need to backup their web files if BackupBuddy (or the equivalent add-on) is not an option.

Using the App:

It takes just a few clicks to kick off your transfers with Mover — just a one-time signup is required. But you have to complete your registration and login until you're greeted with their neat homepage:

Click to enlarge

All it asks is the source & destination drives, and the authentication required for Mover to basically talk to DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, or Box. If you are copying files between FTP server to DropBox (like my example below), you may need to ask for your FTP host, username & password, and you're good to go!

In my example below, I was trying to backup all my web files under /backupbuddy_backups/ directory and copy it to my DropBox folder named /Backupbuddy/. In this case, FTP is the "source" and DropBox is the "destination"

Click to enlarge

As soon as you hit that big “Transfer Now” button, your transfer is now being queued and Mover should redirect you to the Activity page detailing the progress of your transfer.

Click to enlarge

Link: Mover.io

Use Mover.io To Copy, Move Files From FTP To Google Drive, DropBox, SkyDrive and Vice Versa

I do have a chance to try nearly almost every remote-controlling app for the Android, but none of them seemed to surpass the feature-filled power of WIN Remote.

WIN Remote is a free, fun, and easy-to-use app that turns your Android phone into a PC remote control. So wherever you are in your house, you can control your Windows PC with a tap or flick of a finger.

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WIN Remote has been designed to perfectly work with the Windows 7, giving you new ways to operate your computer.

WIN Remote can remotely control the following PC operations:

  • The Browser
  • The Task Manager
  • Various Video and Audio Players such as VLC, Windows Media Player
  • Image Viewers
  • Windows Media Center
  • PowerPoint
  • Open Office, etc.
  • Power on and off, Reboot, or Hibernate the PC
To start everything rolling, you need to download and install WIN Remote on both your mobile phone and your desktop. Both apps are different so don’t interchange them when downloading and installing. The desktop app is the necessary app service for remote input while the mobile app will allow you to enter, transmit, and remotely control your computer.

1 Download WIN Remote for Android HERE

2 Download & install Server (Windows Remote service) for Windows and start it. Download it from http://www.banamalon.net

3 Select 'Change Server' from HomeScreen. A list of the Servers should appear otherwise press the refresh button.

4 And that's it!

Screenshots: 
The WIN Remote homepage.

Remote file management. You can browse through  your Desktop files through your Android phone.

You can remotely browse/open your files.

The Windows Media Player, controllable thru your phone

The Task Manager.

Yes, WIN Remote can remotely snooze off your PC.

In addition to the PC operations mentioned above, you can even control volume, play next/previous track, and refresh a current web page.

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WIN Remote is free to download and also ad-supported. As an alternative, you can download an ad-free donate version if you prefer.

Download: WIN Remote [Google Play link]

WIN Remote Is Your Swiss Army Knife In Remote Controlling Your PC With An Android Phone

Whether you are a seasoned coder or a newbie dabbler, you need a code snippets repository.

A code snippets repository is a place where you can keep a file of your own most-used codes so you can check back and copy the needed lines of codes without having to rebuild them from scratch. Code snippets will basically save you time when developing or administering a website as you no longer have to rewrite the codes to achieve the desired results.

For example, here's a tiny code snippet you can add in your .htaccess file to speed up your site:

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While there are already long standing, well-reputed code snippets storage sites freely available out there, there's not such an abundance of apps that can beautifully store and organize your code snippets similar to how GistBox works.

In this post, we're going to explore how GistBox can help you in becoming more productive and learn why you cannot stay away from it once you get your hands into it.

So, what is GistBox?

GistBox is another code repository service designed to make code snippet management a little less boring. GistBox uses GitHub's backend but it comes with its own advanced label and search functionality — the features which are missing in GitHub's Gist.

Use Mover.io To Copy, Move Files From FTP To Google Drive, DropBox, SkyDrive and Vice Versa

GistBox was designed to be a curated, personal snippet library – like long term memory for the practicing software engineer.

Here's a few reasons why GistBox is the best:

I like Gist, but it's too limited; it lacks of important functionality like being able to organize your code snippets via tags or labels. So here allow me to point out the notable goodness of GistBox.

Color-Coded Labels. You can create labels as much as you want and assign a color for each label. GistBox Labels works like categories, so for every code snippet you add you can organize it by language, project or purpose.


Advance Search. GistBox's search functionality is surprisingly amazing. If you like how Gmail's search works, then, you'll also love GistBox. With GistBox, you can search through the entire code snippet library or through specific labels.


Collaborate with a group. Another cool feature of GistBox is it's ability for you to create groups and share useful snippets among co-workers — great if you're working with a team.


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GistBox is lightweight, free and usable. And it's a must-have to all devs!
Still not convinced? Go, check out GistBox and see it for your self.

GistBox: The Best Place to Store, Organize Code Snippets and Pastes