Files – sending a list of links easily?

[easemail]

If you are uploading a set of files, they are easy to select and attach to emails. I would prefer to just email a list of links to someone, but to do this it’s pretty labor intensive with a lot of clicking, copying, & pasting. The benefits of linking are that I can delete the files at any time instead of attachments that stay in external inboxes as security risks forever. Enabling a folder for sharing just turns it into a zip file, which ensures that your data is dumped on someone else's computer, which isn't the best thing security wise either. I know that you can create a website gallery fairly easy with a set of files, but that has it’s own issues too.

Am I somehow missing a way to do this? Maybe there just isn’t a demand for this kind of use case? Would be curious if others are missing this functionality.

[TenFour]

You can share a link to a folder in Google Drive or One Drive and then just stop sharing it later.

[easemail]

Thanks, but I was just hoping there was a Fastmail solution to this. Sometimes I use my FTP software and some webspace to get an easy cut and paste list of uploaded links, but I don't always have easy access that software. Having the functionality in Fastmail would be great.

[Avion]

You could create a folder 'shared-docs' and copy/paste the files you want to share into that folder, then create a website for that folder, and tick/check the option 'List folder contents if no index.html'. For added security you can password protect that 'shared-docs' folder.

[easemail]

Hey, that's a pretty good idea. I've never done the content list check when creating a site, so I had no idea you could do this.

Since I don't have a personal domain hooked up to fastmail, I can only do this over http, so that's not the best. Still, I can probably use this in some low stakes sharing situations. Thanks!

[hadaso]

Together with the "list folder content" one can one can also allow visitors to the webpage to upload files to the folder.


It can be used to allow colleagues to upload files to a shared folder, but they can only add (perhaps replace), not delete. I use this feature to be able to upload files from places where I don't want to login to my account (both for security and to save time. It's much quicker than having to login and navigate to the folder.)


While I'm at it: the FastMail file storage is very simplistic. One has to navigate from the root to each folder, and apparently there is no way to create shortcuts to frequently used folders (probably one can bookmark them in browser, but then it would not be available on any other browser).


FastMail's file storage needs some improvement in functionality, making it easier to navigate and improving its integration with the email (and perhaps calendar+contacts). It can be very useful for small businesses operating without an office.

[truemagic]

As much as I appreciate FM has its own simple Drive solution, but the Files is far from perfect. I do wish FM will some day enhance it to become a somewhat competitor to GDrive or OneDrive, or simply increases the convenience of attaching big files via Files and include a link to the attachments inside emails with a few clicks (that's what the OP requested and I second that )

[somdcomputerguy]

Originally Posted by truemagic

..FM has its own simple Drive solution,..

It does? Do you mean accessing the File Storage via Windows explorer via WebDAV?

- Bruce

[hadaso]

WebDAV access to FM's file storage is not exactly comparable to GDrive or OneDrive or DropBox. It does not provide synchronization with a local drive. Only something that looks like a network drive. Access through WebDAV does provide a way to navigate the folder tree that's more convenient than the web application, but it works only where one can use it. I used to be able to do it from work (where I was not able to use Drobbox or GDrive). Nowadays I can only use a browser to access FastMail files from work (the same for Dropbox, Google Drive etc.).


I don't think that FastMail should aim to provide an alternative to GDrive/DropBox etc. They should improve the usability of the File storage feature and it's integration with email. That can be a selling pint for them.


As they already have some kind of integration with DropBox (attaching files from DropBox and saving attachments to DropBox), they can probably add some integration of the file storage with DropBox (such as being able to copy file or folders between the file storage and DropBox, or perhaps syncing a folder in FM's storage with a folder in DropBox).


There's plenty of unused potential in the file storage service.

[JeremyNicoll]

Originally Posted by hadaso

...probably one can bookmark them in browser, but then it would not be available on any other browser

For precisely that reason I don't use any browser's own bookmarks except to store two standard bookmarks - one goes to Google's advanced search page (which I use in preference to any search toolbar), the other to a locally-stored (ie file://.... URL) disk file which contains very simple sets-of-links html.

I have eight of these html files, each of which contains links (along the top) to all of the others and a terse reminder of its nickname. Each page is themed - eg news organisations, tv+radio channels, (computer)-programming info, and (the one used most often) "daily" for sites/pages/forums etc that I visit almost every day. Each contains markup for tables of entries ... which are bookmarks and brief reminders of what some of them are for.

I normally have one of them open in the leftmost tab in any browser I'm using ... and usually it's the "daily" page but I can use its top-line links to get to one of the other sets of bookmarks instantly.

Although I use Windows, I'm a CLI sort of person and have very brief commands I can type in a terminal window, or in my text editor which also has a command line (for editor commands or external OS commands), that will immediately open up a specific one of these html pages in an editor. So if I want to add a bookmark to one of the files all I need to do is copy it from the URL bar or link on a displayed page, type the brief command & the html page concerned's "nickname" in a terminal window or an open text editor screen, which opens that html page in the editor, then edit the required part of that page. It takes longer to describe it than to do it.

The html pages are all in Dropbox so when I had several computers all of them (at least if they were online) instantly saw the same set of pages.

Because these are just local disk files, their contents can be searched with a normal file search utility if needed.

[TenFour]

Another option is the online bookmark manager Raindrop. The free version is quite robust and I found it quite useful. You can create a collection of bookmarks that can be shared with others. https://raindrop.io/

[JeremyNicoll]

Originally Posted by TenFour

Another option is the online bookmark manager Raindrop.

It seems to me that telling some company what all (or many) of my most-often used bookmarks are isn't great from a privacy point of view.

I say "many" because in fact I do not store any bookmarks for banks etc on my bookmark pages; instead I dig those out of a more secure location as and when I need them. And I /always/ use my stored copy of banks' URLs rather than finding them via a search or clicking a link in an email (no matter how sure I am that such emails from specific banks are genuine).

[TenFour]

It seems to me that telling some company what all (or many) of my most-often used bookmarks are isn't great from a privacy point of view.

I don't bookmark critical stuff I log into (banks, credit cards, etc.). Those bookmarks are stored in my password manager where they are secure from prying eyes. Personally, I find it too useful having my bookmarks in Chrome and therefore on any device I am using. Unless someone gets access to my computer, my phone, or my Google account they will not be able to see those.