Yahoo Briefcase will be discontinued this coming 30th March 2009. No files will available for download after that, which means you have to download all files before that that.
Few things to remember when you download the files.
- Files downloaded as zipped files.
- Folder can’t be downloaded.
Yahoo Briefcase’s alternatives
There are lot of better and bigger alternatives to Yahoo Briefcase out there. It just a matter of how easy to migrate the data to the new places. Here, I list down 3 alternatives that I already use. Hope that helps.
1. Zoho Docs
Zoho first step up providing steps by steps to import the data from Yahoo Briefcase to Zoho Doc. One good thing about Zoho Doc is, you can upload zip files (Yahoo Briefcase data that you download) which can be unzipped from within Zoho once uploaded.
Although all files can be uploaded, only text files, office documents can be opened. Other file extension such as .php is not viewable.
2. Windows Sky Drive
Windows Sky Drive is more to the online storage rather than web office suite although text file can be opened. If you have huge files, (unlikely since Yahoo Briefcase limited to 30mb) try Sky Drive.
Unlike Zoho Doc, files must be unzipped (or not, if you want to keep it that way). The default Skydrive upload tool is quite frustrating. So to made the uploading process easier, use Gladinet (instruction here) which will mount the Sky Drive and shows just as another directory on your computer. From there, just drag or copy and paste the zip/unzipped files. Don’t worry for the space, you got 25 GB storage there.
Beside SkyDrive, Gladinet can mount Google Docs as well.
3. Google Docs
Although Google Doc is more synonym with document such as spreadsheet and word document, it is accepts pictures which will be then place onto the word document. Different pictures will be kept seperate documents. Take note on the list of files accepted by Google Docs
| Documents (up to 500KB) |
- HTML files and plain text (.txt).
- Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), OpenDocument Text (.odt) and StarOffice (.sxw).
|
| Presentations (up to 10MB from your computer, 2MB from the web, 500KB via email) |
- Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps).
|
| Spreadsheets (up to 1MB) |
- Comma Separated Value (.csv).
- Microsoft Excel (.xls) files and OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods).
|
| PDF Files (up to 10MB from your computer, 2MB from the web) |
If you’re not using Gladinet , you can still uploading multiple files simultaneously. Each Google Docs account have unique email address which can be found on upload page. Compose email to that email address with your files attached , and send it. Your files will be there moments later.
Before choosing which app to use beside web app listed above, it is also depends on what type of files you have on Yahoo Briefcase. Some brief guide.
- Office documents(word, spreadsheet, presentation) – Google Doc, Zoho Doc
- Photos & Pictures – Flickr, Picasa
- Other files type/huge files – Windows Live SkyDrive
Have other alternatives? Put it on the comments section.
Gladinet will ‘mount’ the web storage application such as Live Skydrive, Picasa and Google Doc, and shows them in your My Computer, as if they were your local drive, when they were actually virtual drives. You have to set this up, and signing in to the respective applications before it can be use.
it is lacking very critical feature that should provide greater usability; better files uploader.