How to Publish Your Library Using Dropbox

Update, September 2016: DropBox has sent the following notice out to its users. The publishing method outlined in this blog post is no longer viable:

We’re writing to let you know that we’ll be discontinuing the ability to render HTML content in-browser via shared links or Public Folder. If you're using Dropbox shared links to host HTML files for a website, the content will no longer display in-browser.

Please note that this change will take effect for your account on October 3, 2016, and only impacts how shared files are displayed on the web. Your files will remain safe in Dropbox.

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With MobileMe being phased out, we know that finding alternatives for web publishing is a major concern for customers. Luckily, we have a great (and free!) option. Below are simple step-by-step instructions for how to publish your library using Dropbox.

1) If you don’t have Dropbox installed, go to dropbox.com and follow the directions to install Dropbox and set up an account.

2) Open Delicious Library and click 'Publish' at the bottom of the application window. Select 'Configure…'

3) Double-click on 'Folder' under 'Publish To:' and go to 'Choose.' Find and select the folder called 'Public' under your 'Dropbox' folder.

4) Choose whether you want to publish everything or just certain shelves under 'Publish What:'

5) Click 'Publish Now' When it's done, a finder window will pop up with your published folder selected. Note: publishing times will vary depending on the size of your library. The resulting files will have a blue badge while they’re being copied to the Dropbox servers, which will change to green once they’re ready to access from other computers.

6) To view your published library, right click (or hold down the 'Control' key while you click) the file called 'index.html' and select 'Dropbox' > 'Copy Public Link.' You can now paste this link into a browser window, bookmark it on your smartphone for on-the-go viewing, and share it with friends.

We've also been getting a lot of e-mails recently asking if users can publish to iCloud in the same way they used to publish to MobileMe. Right now, the answer is no, but that's not our decision. Apple has removed all of their iWeb services meaning that publishing is not possible on iCloud. However, we're still in the early days of iCloud and Apple is still making decisions on what features to provide. If you feel strongly about it, you can write to Apple and ask them to consider web publishing as a feature in iCloud. You can provide feedback to Apple here.

We know all these changes can be confusing, so we're here if you have questions!