Dropbox, Inc.

Arash Ferdowsi

Drew Houston

Jeffrey M Bartelma

Jonathan Ying

Jeffrey Bartelma

Andrew Houston

Synchronization of folders shared among multiple clients over a network is provided. A first user of a first client instantiates a folder to be shared, and the folder and its contents are synchronized with a host system. As the user makes changes to the folder and its contents on the first client, those changes are propagated to the synchronized version on the host server. Other clients who will be sharing the synchronized folder register with the host system and obtain a current version of the synchronized folder and contents. As the contents of the synchronized folder are changed by any of the clients, the changes are propagated to the host system, which in turn delivers the changes to each of the clients registered as sharing that folder. In this way, each client participating in the share has a current version of the folder and its contents.

Network folder synchronization

Users specify that a file set comprising their files, folders, or other content owned by the users should be made accessible via a link, such as a uniform resource locator (URL). The system which stores and provides access to the files accordingly creates a link that specifies the file set to be made accessible. The users may distribute the link to recipients with whom the file set is to be shared, and the distribution may be performed in any manner that the users choose.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Arash Ferdowsi