Dropbox Camera Uploader for MacOS... without Dropbox?
June 17, 2019 2:43 PM Subscribe
The recent changes to Dropbox made me reconsider paying for it. Is there a standalone app that replicates its camera import and upload functionality?
I don't really need folder sharing right now, and I have local and cloud backups. But I do like how Dropbox automagically pulls in images from an SD card and renames the files to their EXIF timestamp. I'd like to be able to do that without the whole Dropboxiness. (I've seen this quick action to rename files, but it's Mojave only and I'm stuck on High Sierra.)
I don't really need folder sharing right now, and I have local and cloud backups. But I do like how Dropbox automagically pulls in images from an SD card and renames the files to their EXIF timestamp. I'd like to be able to do that without the whole Dropboxiness. (I've seen this quick action to rename files, but it's Mojave only and I'm stuck on High Sierra.)
Someone in the article you linked mentioned pCloud.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:09 PM on June 17, 2019
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:09 PM on June 17, 2019
Can you clarify where you want the photos to be uploaded to? I'm not sure if you're saying you want the photos to be upload to Dropbox but without using Dropbox's desktop client software, or if you just want them stored somewhere in the cloud.
Half-Answer #1: Google Photos
If you want to trade one big company for another, Google Photos offers free (compressed) photos storage and has a Camera Uploading experience similar to Dropbox's. (though not as high quality in my experience)
Half-Answer #2: Use the Dropbox client but disable new features.
If you're worried about the changes to the Dropbox client, just don't opt-in to the changes. Eventually everyone will be forced to use the update, but you can disable most of the features in settings. I braved the risks and started trying out the new Dropbox and can confirm the new stuff just seems to be a skin/UI but that the underlying Dropbox client syncing code seem to be the the exact same.
Like someone else said, if you're code-ish there's lots of other options too. You can use the script WCityMike posted and copy the files to folder mounted with rclone which will then upload them. (rclone can mount most anything...Dropbox, GDrive, pCloud, etc)
posted by varenhizzles at 12:40 PM on June 20, 2019
Half-Answer #1: Google Photos
If you want to trade one big company for another, Google Photos offers free (compressed) photos storage and has a Camera Uploading experience similar to Dropbox's. (though not as high quality in my experience)
Half-Answer #2: Use the Dropbox client but disable new features.
If you're worried about the changes to the Dropbox client, just don't opt-in to the changes. Eventually everyone will be forced to use the update, but you can disable most of the features in settings. I braved the risks and started trying out the new Dropbox and can confirm the new stuff just seems to be a skin/UI but that the underlying Dropbox client syncing code seem to be the the exact same.
Like someone else said, if you're code-ish there's lots of other options too. You can use the script WCityMike posted and copy the files to folder mounted with rclone which will then upload them. (rclone can mount most anything...Dropbox, GDrive, pCloud, etc)
posted by varenhizzles at 12:40 PM on June 20, 2019
Response by poster: My bad: I shouldn't have mentioned 'upload' in the question: I want to use local / NAS filesystem storage. So what I want is the import / copy to folder / rename with EXIF timestamp functionality, which WCityMike's script does. (I'd need to tweak it to detect an SD card being mounted and only copy image files that haven't already been copied, but I'm scripty enough to give that a shot.)
The lazy option might be to downgrade to a free Dropbox plan and see if I can use the importer and then move the imported files out of the Dropbox folder with something like Hazel or a script / Automator action.
posted by holgate at 4:58 PM on June 20, 2019
The lazy option might be to downgrade to a free Dropbox plan and see if I can use the importer and then move the imported files out of the Dropbox folder with something like Hazel or a script / Automator action.
posted by holgate at 4:58 PM on June 20, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bluecore at 2:55 PM on June 17, 2019