Dropbox Paper advances Dropbox from a cloud storage and file storage service 5 Dropbox Tips to Get More Done 5 Dropbox Tips to Get More Done Did you know Dropbox has so much more to it than cloud storage? We show you the Dropbox productivity tools that will help you get more done. Read More
Paper will establish the service alongside other collaboration tools like Google Docs and Microsoft Office Online, and this is a tough market to break into. Established players have strong platforms and significant numbers of users. In addition, a number of services in the suburbs offer excellent services that are already competing with the big names.
Dropbox Paper has just officially launched. Can it make waves in the collaborative workspace market?
On first impressions, Dropbox Paper has great potential. With a tagline of “A home for your projects, not just your files,” you begin to understand exactly how the next evolution of Dropbox is going to shape up. Dropbox has several of the top contenders in the collaborative workspace space. In no particular order:
These represent some of the best free options currently available. Alternatively, simple collaborative document editors like Etherpad are an option, but they don't offer a significant range of features. So how does Dropbox Paper stack up against its more established competitors?
Dropbox Paper does several things well, including the following:
While the everyday side of my office suite begs for more fonts, styles, and layout options, the simplicity of Paper is refreshing. Paper could just as easily be a simple collaborative notepad in a meeting, as it could be a detailed team planning tool.
Similarly, sharing is extremely easy. Each document has a nice large. Share Button in the upper right corner. Entering a collaborator's name invites them to the Paper, or you can enter an email address to invite people to Paper. Similarly, you can make your document visible to other members of your team using the “@” feature. If they are not already in the document, they will receive a notification to come and join. It's incredibly simple..
In collaborative documents, attribution is important. Therefore, Paper automatically displays an author's name along with their contributions. Plus, it's easy to add comments. Once added, comments can continue their own thread at the edge of the document. They also feature Dropbox-designed emoji stickers that you can amuse or frustrate your colleagues with.
Collaborative creators will enjoy the wide range of embeddable content. Paper supports Facebook, Framer, Github, Google Docs, Instagram, Pinterest, Soundcloud, Spotify, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and more. That's a substantial list, even without considering the internal Dropbox integration. You can instantly add any file hosted on your Dropbox account to your document.
Image galleries are another nice feature to embed. If you drop a number of images on Paper, the images automatically rush into a gallery view. It's not a mind blowing feature, but it's useful if you're using more than a handful of images.
Dropbox Paper isn't just for regular consumers like you and me. Paper represents Dropbox giving a big boost to enterprise markets. Alongside Paper, Dropbox announced Smart Sync. Smart Sync allows users to manage files as if they were local, using all the files and folders available to the local desktop.
It presents an interesting solution to a constant problem:storage space. Smart Sync works on all platforms and is backward compatible. Which means all devices and operating systems can take advantage of Smart Sync.
Unfortunately, this feature will not be available to non-business users. Team collaboration is currently center stage. The combination of Paper and Smart Sync gives Dropbox an opportunity to gain a foothold among its established partners.
Along with Smart Sync, Dropbox has introduced a range of additional security features. Dropbox teams have complete control over all their data, team members, and access privileges.
Just as collaboration is a hot topic, so is security, and Dropbox seems to have taken it seriously.
Dropbox Paper is a strong new entry into the collaborative workspace market. It's not the best though, but it does outperform its competitors in certain areas. Let's see how it stands out.
Evernote is really note taking oriented. As such, its text features can feel lacking at times. Paper has an immediate advantage as it offers various text editing options. That said, the role is still limited. Currently there is only one emphasis option:bold, and we are limited to H1 and H2 tags.
Evernote and Paper are very similar in most other areas, minus the actual collaboration. Real-time article collaboration and comment conversations easily beat Evernote's Work Chat feature.
Google Docs collaboration credentials are well established How to easily collaborate on Google Drive with Online Annotation How to easily collaborate on Google Drive with Online Annotation Specialized annotation web applications are available that integrate with Google Drive and make it easy to communicate with others about your document. We look at the best annotation tools for Google Drive. Read More Paper has bundles of potential, but Google Docs is a multi-user editing environment in its own right. If you're doing work that requires substantial formatting, you should choose Google Docs.
Google Docs is a direct competitor to Microsoft Office, and that really shines. I don't want to downplay Dropbox Paper too much, because I think it might implement additional formatting options in the future. And in other areas, like incorporating rich media content, Paper could teach Google Docs some important lessons. But right now, as sublime as Paper looks, the substance is in the established product Zoho Writer versus Google Docs and Microsoft Word Online:Is it time for a change? Zoho Writer versus Google Docs and Microsoft Word Online:Is it time to change? If you're not completely satisfied with Office Online or Google Drive, try this free online word processor:Zoho Writer 4.0 comes with a clutter-free interface optimized for widescreen monitors. Read more.
Paper encounters similar barriers compared to Microsoft Office Online. The online office suite is packed with editorial features Don't buy Office 2016! Here's why you don't need it Don't buy Office 2016! Why don't you need it? Should you buy the standalone suite version of Office 2016? We make our case for why we think you shouldn't and show you what you can do instead. Read more . Plus, you have access to the most Microsoft Office tips 10 for using PowerPoint online 10 tips for using PowerPoint online You can easily collaborate in real time with PowerPoint online. Bring your PowerPoint experience to the web browser with these tips for better presentations. Read more . You'll find that Microsoft Office is much better suited to creating detailed documents that require large amounts of formatting. Plus, collaboration options are more advanced 3 Microsoft Office online collaboration and teamwork tools that impress 3 Microsoft Office online collaboration and teamwork tools that impress With Office 2016 and its free online counterpart, Office Online, Microsoft has released new tools for teams to collaborate remotely and in real time. We show you what you cannot miss. Read more too.
However, similar to Google Docs, Office Online can't quite compete with Paper in terms of integrated media, and it's a strong contender in terms of broader integration.
Nuclino is one of my favorite new collaborative workspace tools. Comparatively, Dropbox Paper is very similar to Nuclino. The latter makes good use of clean aesthetics, smart internal tagging, using @ to call other collaborators, and easy document sharing. Adding to Nuclino's appeal are slightly expanded text editing functionality and a chart feature that displays your team's collaborative document as collections of bubbles.
If your team doesn't require the additional insert features that Paper offers, Nuclino checks many, if not all, of the same boxes.
Dropbox Paper has potential. Above all, excellent onboarding and integration features, clean and open design, and purposeful file management tools provide a strong foundation for Dropbox's collaborative workspace tool. It currently works as a lightweight collaboration tool for taking notes. However, if it wants to really compete with Google Docs, I think Paper will have to offer a bit more editorial functionality.
Most importantly, it clearly illustrates where Dropbox is headed in the near future.
Have you used Dropbox Paper? How does it fit into your favorite collaborative workspace? Would you make the switch to Dropbox Paper? Let us know your thoughts below!
