How to Access & Edit Dropbox Files from iPhone & iPad

Do you use Dropbox as your primary cloud storage platform to store your files from multiple devices that you use? If so, you’ll be able to view, edit and manage them right on your iPhone and iPad using the Files app.

If you are interested in managing the files that are stored on your Dropbox account right from iPhone or iPad, you’ve certainly come to the right place. In this article, we’ll be discussing exactly how you can access and edit Dropbox files from both the iPhone and iPad, directly in the native Files app.

How to Access & Edit Dropbox Data from iPhone & iPad Files App

Before you go ahead with this procedure, you need to make sure that your iPhone & iPad is running iOS 13 / iPadOS 13 or later, and has the official Dropbox app installed and setup on the device. Although Files app has been available for a while, certain functions aren’t available on the older versions. If you don’t see the Files app on your device, simply download it from the App Store.

1. Open the “Files” app from the home screen of your iPhone and iPad.
   
   
2. Under the Browse menu of the Files app, tap on “Dropbox” as shown in the screenshot below.
   
   
3. Here, you’ll be able to view all the folders that are stored on the cloud using your Dropbox account. Choose any of the folders listed here to view the corresponding files.
   
   
4. Now, long press on any file that’s shown here, in order to access the edit options. You’ll be able to rename the file according to your preference, add color tags to sort the files by priority, get a quick preview of the file you’re working with, and even compress it into a Zip file. However, if you’re trying to move this file to a different location and keep your storage organized, choose the “Move” option.
   
   
5. Now, you’ll be able to move your documents and other files to the physical storage of your device or simply to a different folder within Dropbox. Additionally, if you take advantage of multiple cloud services, you’ll also be able to move files from Dropbox to iCloud, Google Drive and more.
   
   

That it, if you followed along you are now ready for accessing and managing files that are stored under your Dropbox account, right from the Files app on iPhone or iPad.

If you use Dropbox for automatic photos backup from iPhone then you’ll be able to access those pictures this way too, which is quite handy.

Yes, you can also just edit and access Dropbox data directly from the Dropbox app too, but the ability to do have Dropbox access directly from the Files app is a great perk for iPhone and iPad users who rely on the service often.

Since this is a cloud-based service, all the changes you make in the Dropbox section of the Files app will be automatically updated on the cloud. Therefore, when you access your Dropbox storage from a different device like your Mac, Windows computer, PC, Android, or tablet, the newly added content would show up almost immediately as it syncs through Dropbox.

Apple introduced the Files app that replaced the iCloud Drive app, alongside the release of iOS 11. This made it a whole lot easier to access any kind of file or folder that’s stored on not just Apple’s iCloud service, but third-party cloud storage platforms like the aforementioned Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. as well. These could include screenshots, PDF documents, zip files and more. With this app, users can keep all of their files organized under different folders, and the changes they make are constantly updated on the cloud.

Do you use Apple’s own iCloud service to securely store your data on the cloud? Files app can be used in the just the same way to access, manage and edit files that are stored on iCloud Drive, and from just about any device too including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Windows PC too. The changes you make also get automatically synced across all your other Apple devices that are signed into the same Apple account. In this way, iCloud Drive has some similarities to Dropbox.

If you take advantage of multiple cloud storage services like Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, etc., it’s also fairly easy to transfer your files between the cloud storages and keep all of them updated. Most cloud storage platforms offer limited storage space for free, with Dropbox offering a mere 2 GB of free space, and iCloud offering 5 GB of free space. This allows you to keep a backup of some important files on multiple services, without necessarily having to pay for extra storage, though if you have a lot of stuff you want backed up you’ll almost certainly want to shell out for a larger storage capacity.

Do you manage, access, and keep all your Dropbox files and documents organized right from your iPhone and iPad? What do you think of the convenience that Files app brings to the table? Do let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments section down below.