Hi there -
I am an academic researcher and using Airtable to keep a database of primary source documents that I have scanned and will be using in future grad research. I am not collaborating with anyone on these documents at the moment.
I want to link the actual files to the database entry, but don't think dropping in the actual file will be sustainable over time (thousands of high res scans of various sizes)? I'll quickly overrun my Airtable space, I believe.
When I scan the files at the National Archives, I use a program (ScanSnap) that is much faster and more reliable in saving the file locally to a folder than uploading to Dropbox automatically, though it is a built-in option. So, I'm somewhat torn.
I am a Mac user and was going to go through the (somewhat tedious) process of using iCloud links to put in the columns where I want to link to the documents. I have plenty of iCloud storage space. The only thing throwing me off is when I'm on my Mac, that link just takes me to the file name to open the file. It doesn't actually *open* the document to see it?
I do have a Dropbox Essentials account and could put all the files there instead? The process of creating a dropbox link is easier - and when you click on it, you actually SEE the document. But, in the end, it would require more storage purchased and it's an extra step, plus I have to spend more on storage.
Any thoughts on the merits of one vs the other?
Ideally, I would have the folder on iCloud automatically synced over to Dropbox so I could use those links, but alas you cannot have an icloud folder backed up to Dropbox. It's one or the other. I could COPY them into dropbox but then I'm worried about version control?
Hope this makes sense and thanks in advance for the advice.
~ A
P.S. Currently I have some to both, which is obviously not ideal. Just gave a little screenshot as an example.
