AppFlow

When it comes to quickly sharing a photo, there are several options you have.  You can open up an IM window and send the file to your contact that way… all be it very slowly.

You can open up your favourite twitter client, upload your photo there, which involves finding the file and dragging it in.

Or, with Cloud, you could just let the application do all the hard work for you!

I like Cloud.  It is an amazingly simple application that just works.  When Dan and I were first discussing Cloud, we came up with a list of features that would make it better – only to find that it already had them!

Uploading

Screenshots

Screenshots have to be one of the most commonly shared files.  I often find myself having a conversation with someone and either saying “Send me a screenshot” or “I’ll send you a screenshot”.  It makes diagnosing problems simple.

Mac OS X has numerous cool features for taking screenshots, my favourite being ⌘⇧4.  Once you take a screenshot it is added to your desktop, but Cloud intercepts it and uploads it to your personal online storage.

Once uploaded, Cloud copies the URL of the uploaded file to your clipboard, so it can easily be pasted into that IM window, or another place where you are sharing said screenshot.

Drag & Drop

When it installs, Cloud adds a little icon to the menu bar.  As well as flashing in different ways to show different things happening, including the progress of an upload, you can drag files onto the icon to upload them.

Once again, the URL is copied to your clipboard so it can easily be pasted into a window where required.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Sometimes, however, you want to quickly share a file that isn’t an image.  What about a PDF? Or a spreadsheet? Or a video?  Cloud can help here also.

Simply locate the file you want to share in finder and select it.  Then entering the key combination ⌃⌥⌘U (this is the default and can be changed easily through the Cloud preferences) uploads it to Cloud.  Once again, the URL is copied into your clipboard fore easy sharing.

Downloading

Downloading a file from a Cloud URL is simple.  Entering the URL that links to a document takes you t a page rather like this:

This is really easy for anyone to download and is pretty much self explanatory!

Privacy

Whenever sharing files is concerned, privacy is an issue.  As with other URL shorteners, a random series of characters is created for sharing your URL.  The difference with cloud is – there are a lot more characters!  This means that it is much less likely for your files to be stolen by someone guessing a series of characters:

http://cl.ly/3b5a675865c1aacb169c

“But what if we want to upload to Twitter?” I hear you cry. Well, never fear, for the guys at Cloud have thought of that also!

If you wish, you can turn down the privacy settings of your uploads, to give them a new, shorter URL with only 4 characters after cl.ly/

http://cl.ly/1XCc

This is done via the CloudApp web interface

The Web Interface

The web interface is where all of your control happens over your files.  You can edit a file name, change it from a private (long url) to a public (short url) file (and vice versa) and delete the file.

Clicking on a file takes you to it’s download page where you can copy the URL if required.

The Desktop App

The clue in the name “CloudApp” is that there is a desktop application part also.  This mostly sits out of the way, but when you open up it’s preferences panel, it becomes a whole different animal!

For such a simple application, Cloud is very customisable.  It’s even extendable by installing ‘Raindrops’.  These are little extensions that allow different things to be uploaded.

Conclusion

CloudApp is an incredibly simple application that makes basic tasks like sharing files as simple as a drag and drop.  With screenshots, it really is Zero-Click!  If you haven’t already been blown away by this app – let me tell you the price:

It’s free!  This is an incredibly useful, customisable and secure application that really does deserve a place on your desktop!