Let's say that you want to share a single photograph with a bunch of people. Perhaps the photo is related to an event you went to and you want to share it with everyone on your Twitter account.

This is what the Public folder is all about. As explained in Chapter 2, the Public folder is automatically part of your Dropbox folder when you start an account. It is the only folder that automatically creates a public link to every file it contains.

The term "public" is a bit loose here. Anyone who has a link to a public file can share it with anyone they'd like, and it is theoretically possible that someone could guess the link to a file in your Public folder even if you never shared that link with anyone. That's not likely, however - files in your Public folder can generally be considered private until you share them. Still, if you took some photos of yourself streaking down Main Street during a night of drunken debauchery it is probably a good idea not to place them in your Public folder.

You can find the link to a file in your Public folder in two ways. If you have a Dropbox client installed on PC, Mac or Linux computer you can right-click on the file, navigate to the Dropbox menu, and then click Copy Public Link. This will place the link to your file in your clipboard so you can paste it into any web browser. Files that your browser can open, such as video files and pictures, will open automatically. Files the browser can't open will be available for download instead.

Sharing files in this manner is also possible if you're using the web interface. Simply open the Public folder and then place your cursor over the file you want to share. Click on the drop-down menu that appears to the right and then click on Copy Public Link. The link won't be copied to your clipboard automatically: a prompt displaying the full link address will appear in your browser.

Please note that files in your Public folder may take a few moments to become available. If you place a file into the Public folder and try to view it immediately you might be greeted by a 404 File Not Found message. Don't fret; check back after a few minutes.