Max Beatty

I love finding new desktop wallpapers that I can hide in the background behind the dozens of windows I typically have open. Every so often I’ll catch a glimpse of one of the nearly 150 I’ve collected over the years. Knowing that I’ll be getting a new work computer in a few weeks, I wondered if there would be a simple way share and sync my wallpapers between a few computers. Dropbox to the rescue!

If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of Dropbox, it’s “software that syncs your files online and across your computers” for free. You can view the full tour of features and use this link to sign up (please do since I’ll get 250 MB in additional space).

I had the idea to move my existing directory of wallpapers to my Dropbox folder so that they would be backed up in the cloud and also available for other computers to use. Dropbox is so awesome that they automatically created a gallery of all of my wallpapers to share with you! Feel free to steal any you like. I got them all for free so I don’t think the original designers would mind.

Mac OS X Instructions

Open up System Preferences and click on the Desktop and Screensaver icon.

Then, click the ‘+’ and navigate to your Dropbox folder. I’ve placed my ‘wallpapers’ folder inside my ‘Photos’ folder which allows me to share them publicly as a gallery.

I then set some general options like centering photos that won’t fill my screen, change picture every 15 minutes, random order, and keep the menu bar translucent.

When I get my work computer that’ll run Windows, I can follow these simple directions and have the same pictures on both computers. Then if I find a new background, I can add it to my ‘wallpapers’ directory on either computer and it will automatically show up on the other.

If you’re looking to share desktop wallpapers with someone else like a coworker, family member, or friend, you could use Dropbox’s share feature to collaborate on your collection.

I hope this little Dropbox trick will spur other interesting and useful uses for both you and me. If you have any wallpapers that are plain awesome, please leave them in the comments so I can add them to my collection!