DropOff Service

DropOff Service

The DropOff Service lets you exchange files solely with the intended recipient, and is run on computers at the University.

It can be used by:

  • an external person to send files to a member of the University
  • a member of the University to send files to an external person
  • a member of the University to send files to another member of the University
  • a member of the University to request someone sends them some files.

People often exchange files by sending them to the recipient as an email attachment. However, this is not appropriate if the file exceeds the maximum attachment size or, for contractual reasons, cannot have its content stored on an external system such as the University’s Google Mail service.

The DropOff service is a useful solution to this as:

  • You can upload sets of files (a "drop-off") to the DropOff Service at its University of York hosted web site
  • Each set can be up to 20 Gb in size

How to use the DropOff Service

Help

The About DropOff link at the foot of every page on the website gives information about the service and how to use it.

Go to https://dropoff.york.ac.uk/ and log in with your University username and password.

Select to either:

  • Drop-off
  • Pick-up
  • Request a Drop-off

After the files have been uploaded into the DropOff Service, a notification email is sent to the intended recipient telling them the files are ready to collect, along with instructions on how to pick them up from the service.

Each set of files will be available for collection for up to 14 days.

If you know an external person is to send you some files you can simplify the process for them by logging in to the service and using the Request a Drop-off button. This will send the other person a pre-authorised invitation to upload their files; without this they will first need to complete some steps to prove they are a person and that they own their email address.

Sensitive data

Please note: Although this service provides a secure way to transfer standard files between users, if your data is sensitive, you should still consider encrypting the file or adding a digital signature as appropriate.