Basic Info ProjectSend |  ProjectSend |  ProjectSend |
 ProjectSend |  ProjectSend |  ProjectSend |
Intro:Several times I've had pretty technically inept clients (friends) that want to send me files to do things with, or I want to get files to. And in many cases, its a recurring theme. With gmail pushing drive so files getting secured and not attached to e-mails and other avenues being either hard to use, or pay to use- not to mention, it's not hosted on your servers- it's hard to find something that just works.
Enter ProjectSend. ProjectSend is a self-hosted application (you can install it easily on your own VPS or shared web hosting account) that lets you upload files and assign them to specific clients that you create yourself! Secure, private and easy. No more depending on external services or e-mail to send those files!
Who is this app designed for:Basically anyone who needs to share files in a secure and convenient way, but doesn't want to rely on public or expensive services.
ReviewInstallation was a breeze. Download and unzip. Create a MySQL DB on your server and assign a user. Replace the appropriate parameters in the config php file. Upload it to a directory, and browse to it. Set up your admin user. Profit.
Usage was a breeze on the admin side - create a user (must have a unique e-mail address as its keyed off of that instead of the username). Assign permissions. You can also make groups of clients... so that if you're sending the same file to a group of customers, you can manage them as a whole.
Usage is pretty dead simple on the client side also- though there are a bit too many menus if you want to upload. The client goes to the URL to login, and is presented with their client page. It shows all files that they have uploaded or have to download with a download button. To upload, you click the files menu, and upload file. (Remember- technically inept). Thankfully, once they're logged in, they can just go to the URL, so you can send them that for reference. It has a drag/drop interface for uploading which is welcome, and files are indexed by the title the client gives, rather than the filename which is useful. The client gives that and an optional description, and you're notified when they upload.
You can also log into a client view in order to see what they will see when uploading, and to debug any problems. Very useful feature! Though one thing to be aware of is that if you *do* anything from the client view, it will still be as if you were doing it from the admin view (controls, permissions, etc).
Why I think you should use this productIf you have to share files with others- either on a regular basis or in groups, this makes it pretty simple, hosted on your own server, and is not a conglomeration of several services.
How does it compare to similar appsThere are a few services around dropbox- FileStork is defunct, and sendtodropbox only gives you one location without paying; I understand that people have to make money, but this just doesn't seem like something that for simple purposes is a revenue generating services. There are a lot of other high end services, but they are also similarly priced. This just works, and is free.
