Dropbox Introduces Google Docs Competitor Paper

Dropbox has put a competitor to Google Docs and other online collaboration tools online. Paper is currently in beta, but already available for everyone to use. Along with the browser variant, the storage giant is also introducing apps for iOS and Android.

The collaboration service was quietly introduced to a select group of users sometime in April last year under the name Dropbox Notes. Paper allows several users to simultaneously work on a kind of shared canvas where all kinds of items can be combined, such as photos, tables, task lists, plain text, attributing tasks to people and giving ‘mentions’ to parts by placing a name of a person behind an at sign.

The integration with the apps on Android or iOS ensures, among other things, that @ mentions are grouped in a list. It also allows the user to reply to comments. The entries also come up through the Dropbox application on the desktop. Via the mobile apps it is possible to make small changes to the text and, for example, to place a photo, but it is not possible to place much other, more complex content.

Dropbox also introduced several apps a few years ago, such as the email app Mailbox and the photo gallery app Carousel, but decided to take these apps offline in December last year. Elements of the applications have been incorporated here and there in Paper.

For Android, the Paper app can be downloaded directly. Users in Europe will have to wait a little longer for the iOS version, Dropbox writes on its blog; they will now receive a ‘not available in your store’ message.