Dropbox is one of the best sync tools out there to keep your files up to date among many computers, no matter you are using Windows, Linux or Mac.

A couple of day ago they release version 0.7.79, which adds besides perfomance and memory improvements, a long awaited feature, LAN Sync.

What does that mean exactly? Well, when you add a file to your computer’s Dropbox, the file is then synced with Dropbox servers. Dropbox will then initiate the syncing process as soon as it determines a change has been made to the file. All linked computers and shared folders will then download any new version of the file. With LAN syncing, Dropbox will look for the new file on your Local Area Network first, bypassing the need to download the file from Dropbox servers, thus speeding up the syncing process considerably.

LAN sync is an extra advantage for use in locations where computers are networked together over the same router or other local area network.

In order to take advantage of Dropbox’s LAN Sync, go to the Preferences screen and check the “Enable LAN Sync” option. Of course, you still need to have internet access in all the network computers to use this feature.

If you still don’t have a Dropbox account, you can sign up using this referral link and get 2GB plus 250MB of extra storage space.