Papaya 1.3.2

Papaya turns your Mac system into a web server for the purpose of transferring files. The application allows users to upload, download files and folders, and especially favors graphic transfer by integrating screen capturing and annotation tools. You will be able to monitor all web server activity and limit user access with the help of authentication details.

The program provides multiple methods for making files available for transfer; you can drag and drop files and folders directly from Finder, paste image or text data into the Papaya interface. In addition to this, folders may be automatically compressed as archives, which would make it more bandwidth friendly for both yourself as well as users that are downloading data from your server.

All the data you add to the web server becomes available for transfer as links (a URL is made up of your own IP address, as well as of the file or folder name).

One important feature is the ability to capture the screen in a variety of ways: whole screen, freehand or window. Papaya includes an image viewer but also a graphic annotation tool. Immediately after taking a snapshot of your screen, I was able to add text, blur custom sections or change the download quality of the image. Both image capture as well as annotation are features I did not find in other file sharing dedicated tools.

The Activity Log monitors different types of events: downloads, uploads, failures, server status. Papaya provides secure (HTTP) services for user specified ports.

I found Papaya quite simple to use and despite working with a web server, it requires minimum configuration. With most HTTP servers, however, you can also setup accounts and associated privileges which is something Papaya does not currently provide.