Set up Drop
Want to hand someone a file without opening an upload site? Drop sends it from your notch straight to a friend’s notch, or as a link anyone can open, and getting files is always free. Here’s how to set it up.
Set it up
- Open Drop. Open the notch and click the Drop widget. If it isn’t on one of your pages yet, add it there first.
- Sign in. Choose Continue with Apple, Continue with Google, or email. Email sign-in opens Settings › Crest Pro, where the password form is. Signing in here doesn’t start the free week.
- Pick your name. Type a name and Crest adds 4 digits, so you get a name#tag like sam#4170. That’s you on Crest. You can change it later in Settings › Drop.
- Add a friend. Press Add a friend, type their name#tag exactly as Crest shows it on their Mac, and press Send request. Or press Copy invite link and send it: it opens Crest on their Mac, or the download page if they don’t have it yet. When they accept, they show up in Drop. Nothing is shared before that.
- Send a file. Drag a file to the notch and let go on a friend’s picture. Or right-click a file on the file shelf and choose Send to.
- Or make a link. Let go on Copy link instead, or choose Send to › Copy link on the file shelf. The link is copied as soon as the server has the file, while it keeps uploading. Without Crest Cloud a link lasts 1 hour.
- Get files. Files sent to you wait under For you. Save puts them in Downloads › Crest Shared, in a folder named after the friend. Files are kept 7 days, or until they’re saved.
Limits
| Free | Drop + Cloud 100 GB | Drop + Cloud 500 GB | Drop + Cloud 1 TB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One file | Up to 2 GB | Up to 20 GB | Up to 50 GB | Up to 100 GB |
| Sending a month | 20 GB (5 GB in your account’s first month) | 200 GB | 1 TB | 2 TB |
| Waiting in Drop at once | 10 GB | 50 GB | 150 GB | 300 GB |
| A link lasts | 1 hour | Up to 30 days | Up to 90 days | Up to 1 year |
| A file sent to a friend waits | 7 days, or until it’s saved | 7 days, or until it’s saved | 7 days, or until it’s saved | 7 days, or until it’s saved |
Bigger files and longer links come with Crest Cloud: files up to 20 GB and links up to 30 days on 100 GB, 50 GB and 90 days on 500 GB, 100 GB and 1 year on 1 TB. A link that lasts longer than 7 days is kept in your Cloud and counts toward its storage.
If something goes wrong
Your Mac is offline, so the file hasn’t left yet. Crest sends it by itself the moment you’re back online.
You don’t need to do anything, because it goes out on its own once you’re online.Crest sends files up to 2 GB each.
Send a smaller file, or keep it in Crest Cloud and share a link from there.You’ve sent 20 GB of your 20 GB this month. Sending comes back on the 1st.
Wait for the date it names. Receiving still works.You have 10 GB waiting in Drop, and Drop holds up to 10 GB at once. Space comes back as your files are saved or expire.
Ask friends to save what you sent, or wait for older files to expire.Drop is taking a short break from new files. Receiving works, and sending comes back by itself.
Try again a little later. Nothing you sent is lost.sam hasn’t opened Drop on a Mac yet. A link works now.
Make a link instead, or ask them to open Drop once.Confirm your email to make links. We sent the link to your inbox.
Open the email from Crest and press its link.This Mac’s Drop keys don’t match what the server has. Reset Drop on this Mac in Settings.
Open Settings › Drop and reset Drop on this Mac.Crest couldn’t write the file to Downloads › Crest Shared. It stays ready to save until the day it names.
Free some space or check the Downloads folder, then press Save again.Drop needs a newer Crest. Crest updates itself, usually within a day.
You don’t need to do anything. Crest updates itself and Drop comes back after that.
Still stuck? Write to us and say what the notch showed. The developers read every message.