File Sharing Made Easier

FileChute

http://yellowmug.com/filechute/

$14.95 Single User License

$29.95 Commercial License

I’m a big fan of using my Dotmac account, especially now that comes with 10 sweet gigs of storage and an easy way to upload files to my account.

If you don’t already know, you can share small and large files others by posting them on your Dotmac account. Simply drag your webpage, file, or folder of files into your iDisk>Sites folders. Make sure it synchronizes and copies to your account. Copy the exact name of that file or folder.

Now open your account’s webpage which will begin with “http://homepage.mac.com/” followed by your account name after the forward lash. Put a forward slash after your account name and then paste in the file or forward name of the item you copied to your iDisk’s Sites folder. So the resulting URL will look like nearly like this: http://homepage.mac.com/ldvp/mysong.

The resulting URL can now be used as a link for others to download the content of the page, file, or folder.

FileChute Is Much Faster

If all the above is a little too time consuming for you, the software company, YellowMug, has updated their sweet little jewel FileChute to make the above process much, much easier.

With FileChute, it’s simple as the companies says; “Just drag a file and drop it on FileChute. FileChute puts the file on your .Mac account and generates a web link for retrieving the file all in one step. Next drag the generated link into your email and you’re set to go. And since what you’re sending is just a link, your recipients can retrieve the file from a Mac, a PC or any other platform.” FileChute also works with other FTP or WebDAV -accessible web servers. The set up for accounts is extremely easy.

What’s also great about this approach is that FileChute can create a short URL that replaces the longer, often messy, DotMac one. Or you can have it generate the Dotmac URL so that you can see the name of the file posted at the end. After your file is posted on your account, you can have FileChute generate an email with the link posted into it. You will still have to make the URL in the mail message linkable. Hopefully, with the next upgrade of Apple’s Mail it will automatically recognize links and make them linkable as what happens in Apple’s Pages and iWeb programs.

Finally, FileChute places all your files passed through it into a Filecute folder it creates on your account’s Site’s folder.

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There are a few more features (such as password protection) to this sweet application that you’ll want to get a free trial download and check out. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

If you don’t have a Dotmac account, you could use free services Pando.com, but it requires that recipients of posted files also use Pando.

FileChute is a great time saver that should be a part of Leopard’s 300+ new features.