Using Dropbox with the Recollector App

Moving your collection data to the Recollector App on your iPhone, iPod, iPad or Android device just got easier! The latest versions of the Recollector App and Recollector App HD let you use Dropbox, the free, popular file-sharing service, to move your collection data simply and easily from your Mac or PC down to your mobile device.

Moving your collection data from Recollector on your Mac or PC to the Recollector App (or Recollector App HD) on your smartphone or tablet is as easy as creating the export file in the Apps/Recollector folder of your Dropbox account.

Dropbox handles transferring the data file to your Apple or Android mobile device. Once it has arrived, click the Scan Dropbox button (or Re-scan on Android) at the bottom of the Select Collection window, and you will see the new file, shown as a "Dropbox" file. Select it, and you are off and running!

You can use Dropbox to transfer new collections or to transfer updates for existing collections.

To get started, just follow the One-time setup instructions in the box at the right. You only have to do this setup once. From then on, move your collection to your mobile device as often as you want, by just writing your collection export file into your Dropbox Apps/Recollector folder .

One-time setup

1. If you already have a Dropbox account, go to step #2. Otherwise: go to www.dropbox.com and sign up for a Dropbox account. It's free!

2. Download the latest version of the Recollector App (for iPhone/iPod) or the Recollector App HD (for iPad) from the iTunes App Store, or the Recollector App (for Android) from Google Play.

3. Run the Recollector App or Recollector App HD and go to the Select Collection window. (Apple devices: At the bottom of the List view, click the Options button; Android devices: Click the menu symbol (⋮). Choose Change Collection from the menu.) At the bottom of the Select Collection window is a Dropbox button. Click it, and a Dropbox login window will come up. Enter your Dropbox login and password to log in. You will be returned to the Select Collection window, and the button at the bottom will now say Scan Dropbox (or Re-scan on Android). That means that you have successfully linked the Recollector App to Dropbox.

Here are a few more details about this new Recollector App / Dropbox capability:

Transferring your collection file with Dropbox works most easily if you have installed the Dropbox App on your PC or Mac. When you are ready to move your collection data from your Mac or PC to your mobile device, choose Export for download to the Recollector App from Recollector's File menu. The program will prompt you for the name and location of the export file. For the location, choose the Dropbox/Apps/Recollector folder. On the PC this folder will usually be:
C:/Users/<login_name>/Dropbox/Apps/Recollector
On the Mac this folder will usually be:
\Users\<login_name>\Dropbox\Apps\Recollector

Note: If you haven't installed the Dropbox App on your PC or Mac, you can also save the export file to some other folder (for example, the Desktop), and then transfer it to Dropbox via your web browser. Open your web browser and go to Dropbox (www.dropbox.com). If you are not yet logged in, log into your Dropbox account. Go to the Apps / Recollector folder in Dropbox. (Click on the Apps folder icon, and then click on the Recollector folder icon.) Using the Finder (on the Mac) or Windows Explorer (on Windows) select the export file (on the Desktop or wherever you put it), by clicking on it and dragging it to the Dropbox window in your browser. Drop it there, into the Recollector folder.

Dropbox will take care of sending the file to the Recollector App (or Recollector App HD) on your mobile device. Your mobile device has to have a WiFi connection to the internet for the transfer to take place. If your device is currently disconnected from the internet, Dropbox will wait until a connection is re-established before transferring the file.

The Recollector App waits until the file has been completely downloaded to your mobile device before displaying it in the Select Collection list. If you don't see the transferred file right away, wait a few minutes (and make sure you have a working WiFi connection), and click the Scan Dropbox button (labeled Re-scan on Android) at the bottom of the Select Collection window. This will cause the Recollector App to check again to see if any new Dropbox files have arrived, and the Select Collection list will be refreshed.

A few technical notes for people who want to know everything:

If you are updating a collection file that is already on your mobile device, be sure to use the same filename for the update export file as you used for the prior export file. The Recollector App recognizes updates by matching the file names of the new and previous versions. So if you previously exported your collection as ZippoLighters_App.xml, be sure that when you export an updated version that you also use ZippoLighters_App.xml as the filename. The easiest way to guarantee that you use the same filename is to accept the default filename that Recollector suggests when you perform the export. The program generates the filename from the collection name (with "_App.xml" appended), so it will always suggest the same filename for a collection with a given name.

For Apple devices you can still use iTunes to move your collection data from Recollector to the Recollector App (or Recollector App HD). Using iTunes was the original mechanism documented for downloading your collection data to your iPhone, iPod or iPad. But most people will find the new Dropbox facility easier to use. Similarly, for Android devices, you can still transfer export files to a directory on your device's SD card by connecting your device to your computer with a USB cable and mounting the SD card as a disk on your computer. This may provide a quicker transfer than using Dropbox, but the Dropbox technique is simpler.