Dropover: A Hidden Gem of an App
Automation, Productivity, Efficiency, File Management… if you are into any of these, then you have to know about this INCREDIBLE little app.
Hey guys! I’ve meant to share more about how I use Dropover for a while. It’s a cool little app that I see mentioned and recommended in lots of forums and threads online, but it’s way more powerful than it looks. Most people only scratch the surface of what it can do, so I want to show you how I use it so hopefully you can get some ideas that work of you.
You can check this video, and if you want to go check some of the most common actions I’ve setup shortcuts and automation with this app, you can go all the way to the bottom.
WHAT'S DROPOVER?
Dropover is all about creating temporary shelves for your files. Imagine you're working across different folders or apps and need a quick spot to stash some files. That's where you’d use Dropover. Just shake your mouse while dragging files, and boom - a shelf appears!
BASIC FEATURES
Watch Folders
In the settings, you can set up watch folders. Any file that lands in a watch folder automatically gets its own shelf. I use this for my downloads folder because I like to deal with new files right away. You can even tell Dropover to ignore certain file types in these folders.
Clipboard Magic
Dropover can make a shelf from your clipboard. If you are a keyboard-first kind of user, this can be INCREDIBLE! I have a macro that copies whatever I've selected and then tells Dropover to make a shelf from it. Super handy!
Actions
Dropover has many actions you can execute from the right-click menu. You can convert, move, compress, or airdrop files, among many others. It even gives you 8GB of cloud storage, which is something uncommon for a one-time payment app. Oh, and you can set up to nine favorite actions that can appear automatically when you drag files into a shelf. No more digging through menus for the stuff you use all the time.
Some of my most used custom actions are simply “open with” for my most used apps, but you can easily set actions with specified parameters (like move to a specific folder, or resize to a specific size) and perform those with a simple drag on top of its quick action. If you do not set them as quick actions, you will still have them on the right-click context menu.
Hovering Keyboard Shortcuts
When you're hovering over a shelf, you also can perform some useful keyboard shortcuts. There's a search bar for pretty much anything you can do from the right-click menu (again, handy for keyboard-first users), you can Quick Look at what's in a shelf, or you can dock the shelf to the border of your screen for later use.
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Now, here's where it gets really exciting. Dropover integrates with the Shortcuts app on Mac, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities, even if you don’t know about scripting or coding. You can access the files in a shelf from within a Shortcut and send their paths to other automation apps like Alfred or Keyboard Maestro. Or you can simply run some of the native Shortcut actions on them. With this you can adapt Dropover to your workflow, whatever it is you do… it literally is like having an extra hand holding, moving, and executing actions on files for you.
Things I do with Dropover
Using Karabiner I’ve setup a layer on my keyboard with several of my most used Shortcuts, Keyboard Maestro Macros, and other actions for Dropover. Here’s my Karabiner configuration file using Goku if you want to take a look. I also use Kando in a similar way, to trigger many of the following actions using only my mouse.
IMPORTANT: While I will share a link to the Shortcuts, Macros or Presets. Do keep in mind that I am NOT optimizing these for sharing, so they may or may not work in your system (especially if they require other apps, external scripts, or files). Take them more as a form of inspiration for your own actions. KM Macros (which are basically xml files) do need to be downloaded directly from Github’s interface. If you have any questions, leave me a comment and will be happy to help if I can.
Whisper Transcribe Using Kiki or MacWhisper if Open. Shortcut | KM Macro
Reveal in Finder. Shortcut
Dropover Optimize Quick (using Clop). Shortcut | Alfred Workflow
Dropover Optimize Aggressive (using Clop). Shortcut | Alfred Workflow
Pin Images on Shelf (using Cleanshot X). Shortcut
Previous Shelf. Shortcut
Dropover Cloud. KM Macro | Requires Find Shelf Macro
Airdrop. Shortcut
Dropover to Imgur. KM Macro | Requires Find Shelf Macro
Close Shelf. Shortcut
Alfred Actions on Shelf. KM Macro | Requires Find Shelf Macro
Shelf from Selected File Through Clipboard. I currently do this with Karabiner. Looks like this using Goku:
[:c [:!Cc :!STv]]Clop Alfred Workflow on Dropover Shelf. Shortcut | Alfred Workflow
Shelf Search Bar. KM Macro | Requires Find Shelf Macro
Drag from Shelf to Mouse. KM Macro
WRAPPING UP
Dropover is one of my favorite one-time payment apps EVER. At $5.99 it’s a total steal. I don’t have any affiliate links for this (I wish!), I just think it’s an incredible tool that has much more potential than what it advertises. I use this everyday and being without it would definitely slow me down a lot. There’s similar apps, but I haven’t found one that offers this amount of flexibility and ease of use.
How do you use Dropover? Do you have any tips & tricks of your own? I’d love to know!
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