Over the past few months I’ve realized that I don’t have a go-to site or app for sharing large files online. That’s probably because most of the popular services currently available are either slow, clunky or just forgettable. Most of them don’t allow users to keep track of what happened to their files, re-send download links or check if they were downloaded.
Where do you go when you need all these features and more? Enter UploadingIt.
UploadingIt presents a no-fuss solution to getting your files online, and makes it easy to share them. There are advanced sharing options, too, and there’s no learning curve. It includes everything you need, and nothing you don’t. Let’s take a closer look and see if UploadingIt is the file-sharing app for you.
Overview
The UploadingIt homepage
UploadingIt keeps things simple from the very beginning. From the website’s layout to the registration form and the file manager, everything is obvious and doesn’t require you to think too hard about how to achieve what you want to.
As a photographer, I often have to share image files with all kinds of people – clients, publishers, printing presses, friends and family. There are several options available, including YouSendIt, MediaFire and MegaUpload, among countless others. I use whichever app comes to mind first; none of them are really memorable and get me to use them again. After a month of use, however, UploadingIt feels like home and is the app I keep returning to each time I’ve a large file to send.
Getting started
Signing up on UploadingIt is quick, and you can choose from four plans including a generous paid plan with 10 GB of space and 200 MB per file. Once you login you’ll be greeted by the file manager window. You can get started by uploading some files – all file types are allowed. You’ll then see your files listed with their file names, sizes, upload dates and download counts. From here, you can prepare to send links and organize them too. These will remain in your account till you delete them.
Plans and pricing
User interface
UploadingIt keeps all of your files stored in folders just like you’d expect on a computer. There’s a toolbar at the bottom of the file manager window that allows you to carry out a variety of functions, including creating folders, moving item to other folders, deleting items, viewing your trashed items (and retrieving them for up to 34 hours), zipping them, emailing them or toggling between list and gallery (icon) views. Each file has an arrow on the right column, which you can click to view options like getting direct/formatted links, moving, renaming, viewing properties and tags, etc.
File manager, with your disk space and bandwidth usage easy to see
To the left is a menu of your favorite folders (populated based on your usage) as well as options to list files uploaded that day or the previous day and to toggle between image files and non-image files. These seem a bit random and it isn’t clear why these filtering options are present when others aren’t. This is one area that UploadingIt could improve, and we’d love to see more filtering options to be able to get the exact files you’re needing.
Using UploadingIt
UploadingIt uses a Flash uploader and allows you to upload many files at once – you can put them in a folder or zip them up together later. You can minimize the upload window and still see a progress bar showing running uploads on the file manager page – a really nice touch. Uploads are quick and the progress bar is informative, showing the upload rate and the number of files remaining. You can also upload files using the simple apps created for the iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, OS X and Windows, which is a great option if you can’t or don’t want to use Flash in your browser.
Uploading files
Once your files are uploaded, you can preview them in a Flash MP3 player or slideshow, and can even embed them on a web page using the code given alongside.You can share files and folders as well – just be sure to enable sharing in their Properties. You can also tag your files for making search easier and password-protect them too. The links you send out will take your users to a page with a download link, similar to MediaFire.
Sharing Files
Free accounts feature ads on each download page. Paid accounts include additional storage and bandwidth, hotlinking of files, priority downloads and no ads on the download page. It’s worth noting that there are no branding options on these pages, so this isn’t the most professional option available. On the free account, you can refer friends to get 250MB more free space per friend, up to 10 GB.
Be sure to remember that files expire after 30 days of inactivity on your account if you’re using a free account.
File download page
On the download page for each file, there are options to share the file link on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon. This would probably be useful to casual users, so it’d be nice to see these available in the file manager itself. The app could also use a bit of polish in places: drag-and-drop uploads, and an option to set links to be emailed as soon as uploads are done would be nice. I also found the occasional typo in the app, which is quite off-putting. All in all, though, it’s still a solid app.
Why choose UploadingIt?
UploadingIt is affordable and is a great choice for basic users. The free plan is comprehensive and upgrading is a snap if you ever need more space. I find myself using this app repeatedly to share files more than any other because of its ease of use and reliability. It’s nice to be able to see your files even after you’ve sent them, and if they’ve been downloaded or not. UploadingIt is certainly worth a try and has the potential to be a keeper for many users.