Although Dropbox was the one who popularized online storage , Google soon snatched its stardom by offering 15 GB for free. Dropbox chose to fight other battles and, for a few years now, it has surprised us with alternative tools that go beyond saving your files in the cloud. As examples, Dropbox Paper , which is used to create documents with total freedom, or Dropbox Transfer , an alternative to WeTransfer to send large files quickly and easily . And, recently, it has launched Dropbox Capture , a solution to record your computer screen in screencast format. Or in other words, record videos to avoid wasting time in online meetings.
In his own words: “Say more, gather less, with Dropbox Capture ”. This tool is specially designed for those who telecommute, but it has many outputs. Whether or not you work remotely or in an office, there are several communication channels that allow you to speak with your boss, with your clients or with your co-workers. You have your lifelong email, video calls or written chat with apps like Slack or Telegram , which already include sending voice messages or chats voice directly.
But for various reasons, video calls have taken over the working day of many, as happened with face-to-face meetings. Long, unproductive meetings that could be perfectly replaced by video messages or a screencast . Thus, by combining audio and video, in a matter of seconds you can explain what a one-hour meeting would become. And that's where the genius of Dropbox Capture comes in.
Record and share with Dropbox in seconds
Available for Windows and macOS, Dropbox Capture is basically an app to capture or record the screen of your computer. You can take a capture as an image or record a video or screencast. The idea is to display a window, the entire desktop, or an open web page or document. Accompanied by your own voice and / or image, the result is a explanatory video message that allows a more complete and brief communication than with an email email or video call.
The tool offers three main options : capture screen, record screen or record screen and webcam. Once the video is finished, you can view it, delete it, copy it to the Clipboard and / or share it in another application such as Slack or your email client. In addition to the three main recordings, you can do more things, such as create a video in GIF format , record a voice message or record what your camera captures.
Before recording starts, you can choose what to record . In the example of recording screen or screen and camera, you decide whether to show the entire screen, only the fragment that you delimit with the cursor or a specific window.
From the edit button you will be able to decorate the screencast with arrows, markers, texts and other graphic elements that reinforce what you want to explain in your video. So you can give graphic or textual explanations and save yourself having to record your voice. Or combine both options.
For the rest, the recording of the video or screencast of your screen has a limit of 5 minutes so as not to be long. And you can configure a quality of 720p or Full HD (1080p) . When the recording is finished, the generated file is stored directly in your Dropbox account, inside the Capture folder. The video is saved in MP4. To get an idea of what it takes up in your Dropbox space, one minute of a full screen with a resolution of 2880 × 1800 in 720p quality takes up 22 MB.
A different way of communicating
In mobile messaging applications, it is increasingly common to come across voice messages. There are many who prefer to speak rather than type text. This with personal communication. And in the professional field , the video call has taken hours and hours. Who knows if with these video messages that Dropbox Capture allows to create a new habit more efficient than the classic video call. Personal voice messages and professional video messages.
Easy to install, no installation required. Of course, it integrates with your Dropbox account, but you can also send the video with other applications. For the rest, you can control who accesses those videos and if they can edit them or just watch them. A very practical option to create new videos in the form of responses from a video message. Come on, it won't take you long to record your computer screen or whatever you want.
Combining voice, audio and what you show on screen and with your webcam , the 5-minute videos that you will record with Dropbox Capture will save you time in unproductive meetings and they will help you communicate better despite teleworking or even if you are working in an office.
