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DropStuff by Aladdin Systems, Inc

Description
DropStuff consists of two components, the program DropStuff, and the StuffIt Engineª. The StuffIt Engine does the stuffing when you drag items onto DropStuff. The StuffIt Engine lives in your Extensions folder in your System Folder and is shared by all StuffIt compression products.
DropStuff is designed to meet two needs:

(1) Create StuffIt archives quickly and efficiently.
Using DropStuff, you can create StuffIt archives by simply dragging & dropping your files and folders onto the DropStuff icon. DropStuff compresses a copy of the information into a StuffIt archive and puts the archive in the same location that you dragged from, using the name of the file or folder as the name of the archive.

(2) Enhance third-party products that use the StuffIt Engine.
There are many programs written by other companies that will take advantage of the StuffIt Engine if it is present. Once you have installed StuffIt Lite these products can stuff and expand files using the StuffIt Engine.

About Archives
An archive is a single file which acts like a container, holding one or more files or folders. Usually the files in an archive are compressed, so they take up less room on a diskette or hard drive, and take less time to transmit over networks and modems. Unless the archive is Òself-extractingÓ (.sea), you need a separate utility to access the files in an archive. StuffIt Expander lets you decompress the contents of archives. All archives created by any version of StuffIt are supported, including files created with other members of the StuffIt family, including StuffIt Deluxe, StuffIt Lite, DropZip or DropTar. Self-extracting archives (.sea) will not self-extract on Mac OS X. Such files must be expanded using StuffIt Expander or StuffIt Deluxe when used on OS X.

Using DropStuff
Files, folders, or disks can be stuffed by dragging their icons onto the DropStuff icon.
1) In the Finder, select one or more items that you want stuffed.
2) Drag them over the DropStuff icon until it is highlighted.
3) Let go of the mouse/trackball/trackpad button. DropStuff will compress the item(s) you selected. DropStuff will automatically quit, when it finishes stuffing.

If you prefer to manually stuff your files or want to compress items from multiple locations:
1) Double click the DropStuff icon.
2) Choose ÒStuff...Ó from the File menu.
3) In the dialog that appears, locate and select the item(s) you want to stuff. (To select more than one item, hold down the Shift key while clicking.)
4) Click the 93Stuff94 button.
5) In the dialog that appears choose the location you want the StuffIt archive to be saved in and click the 93Save94 button.

To create a self-extracting StuffIt archive that any Mac OS user can unstuff (.sea), even without a StuffIt product (StuffIt Expander or StuffIt Deluxe will be needed to unstuff these archives on Mac OS X):
1) Double click the DropStuff icon.
2) Choose ÒPreferences...Ó from the File menu.
3) Select the ÒStuffingÓ icon from the list on the left.
4) Click the ÒMake self-extractingÓ checkbox (so the box is checked).
5) Be sure that the 93Macintosh94 radio button is selected.
6) Click 93OK94.
You can create a self-extracting StuffIt archive that any Windows OS user can unstuff (.exe) by selecting the 93Windows94 radio button in step 5 above. For self-extracting archives to work, you must choose the appropriate radio button for the OS to which you are sending the file.
Now proceed to stuff files, using either the manual or drag & drop techniques. All new archives you create will be self-extracting until you deselect the ÒMake self-extractingÓ checkbox in the DropStuff ÒPreferences...Ó dialog.
DropStuff is not able to create segmented archives and is therefore unable to create multi-disk self-extracting archives. If you need to segment very large archives to fit onto floppy disks or to satisfy an email size limit, you will need to obtain StuffIt Deluxeª (the Complete Compression Solutionª). If youÕre a registered user of StuffIt Lite or any StuffIt product, you can get StuffIt Deluxe at a special price. Contact Aladdin for details at: http://www.stuffit.com

Special Topics for DropStuff
Shortcuts
While dragging and dropping a file onto DropStuff...
· Holding down the control key will delete the original after stuffing is finished. You are not warned, so use this feature carefully. If you do not have a backup copy of the file, it is not recommended that you use this feature.
· Holding down the option key brings up the one-time preferences dialog. Any preferences you set in the preferences dialog will be used for the current stuffing operation only.
· If you drop a StuffIt archive on DropStuff with BinHex encoding turned on, the archive will just be BinHexed (as opposed to being re-stuffed and BinHexed).


Known Issues
· OS 8.6 - 9.x ONLY: If DropStuff does not highlight when dragging a file onto it, try rebuilding your desktop by restarting your computer while holding down the Option and Command keys until a dialog appears. Click ÒOKÓ when asked if you want to rebuild your desktop.
· If DropStuffÕs preferences are set to ÒMake self-extractingÓ and ÒEncrypt with PasswordÓ, when you drag a StuffIt archive onto DropStuff it will turn the archive into a Self-Extracting Archive (.sea or .exe) but will not encrypt the .sea or .exe.


Commercial Distribution of .SIT and .SEA Files
When files are compressed, they become .sit files. If they are made self-extracting, they become .sea files. You are allowed to freely send these to your friends, colleagues, and partners as long as you do not charge them for receiving the files. Should you have a fee involved, you must have a distribution license from Aladdin Systems. Contact Aladdin for more information at sitelicenses@aladdinsys.com.
Copyright A9 1996-2001 Aladdin Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
StuffIt, StuffIt Lite, StuffIt Deluxe, StuffIt Engine, StuffIt Express, DropStuff, StuffIt Expander, DropTar, DropZip, DropConverter, DropSegment, Secure Delete, Spring Cleaning, DragStrip, ShrinkWrap, InstallerMaker, the StuffIt clamp, and the Aladdin Logo are trademarks of Aladdin Systems, Inc. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.