Sometimes it’s nice to have files accessible from more than one location on your computer, but to only actually have one copy of the file (it can save on drive space for really big files!). An example of where I have needed this most, actually, has been with the use of Dropbox on my laptop. Many times I’ve been working out of a folder somewhere on my computer and I’ve needed to make the files accessible to other computers in the research lab. I’ve had to physically copy and paste these directories to my Dropbox folder (or usb drive, before I discovered Dropbox) and then once all the edits had been made elsewhere, had to copy and paste them back to where they belong. If, however, I could place a link to the files in my Dropbox folder, both copy and paste steps could be avoided (as well as the simultaneous confusion of which files were updated, and in what order etc.). Continue reading →