facebook-messages“Facebook?” I hear you say? Why would you want to use a social media platform for file transfer? File sharing with friends, maybe, and posting pictures online, but file transfer?

Well, think about it. Most every file transfer solution requires you to either plug in a cable or fire up an app. If you have Bluetooth on 24/7, then good for you, but I find that Bluetooth is not the most reliable file transfer mechanism, especially across platforms. Between mobile devices, or between mobile device and desktop, the failure rate is often very high. Plus, you have to go through the rigmarole of pairing devices in the first place.

Dropbox, Google Drive, and other similar cloud solutions? All well and good, but do you really want to fire up an app or log in to the website every single time you want to transfer a file, especially a small one? The ideal solution for me would be something like a permanently available corkboard where you can peg up files and pull them off later onto whatever device you desire, without any access or connection hassles.

As it happens, Facebook is just that. It’s always-on and available, and I’m always logged in. (Of course, not everyone else may be, but I suspect that large swathes of the online population are.) So, from any device with a web browser, I just go to the Facebook website, use the message feature, write a message to myself, and attach the file. Bingo.

Of course, this is far less likely to work for big files, but for documents, or ebook files, it works like a dream. So far I haven’t found a single file type that Facebook won’t recognize. Any time I want to put an ebook onto my tablet or phone now, I only need to send it via Facebook – no more cables, and the files are held for later access on other devices if I need them. It’s so handy that I hardly use any other method these days.

I don’t use the Facebook Messenger app, so I have no idea if it works for this too. But for the web version at least, thank Facebook it’s file-friendly.

Publisher’s note: We all have our pet methods for file transfers. I myself use a mix of Gmail attachments and Dropbox—mostly, the former. – D.R.

 

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