Dropbox is giving the masters of the game a taste of their own medicine in the form of their just widely released, Paper. It will bring the heat on competitors like Google Docs and Evernote who have since long been the gold standard for document viewing and collaboration. Paper is entirely different. And here are five ways why we should all consider Dropbox’s new offering.
Rich Content
Paper is rich in terms of content editing and content appearance. Almost anything can be pasted onto a document on Paper without any questions – an embedded link, some code, rich text formatting, pictures, videos, .gifs, emoji, and even Google Doc links and files. The best part is that everything arranges itself neatly and stacked so that there is no fumbling around trying to manoeuvre over each object on the sheet.
Collaborations
Paper makes it certain that only those who are being shared with will have access to the document. Users can mention each other in the doc itself and they can also start a little chat box amongst each other through the sheet. Documents added can be mentioned for users for better referencing as well. The whole layout is completely smooth for the user experience and everyone who has access to the doc can make changes to it, should they be given the necessary permission for it.
Checklists and Comments
This is where the team activities can be monitored and checked, specifically for large processes with multiple people in it. People can make live comments on certain highlighted text made by someone else so they can share their views/corrections and they can also make to-do lists with the necessary people’s names mentioned so that once the work is done, it can be ticked off, live on the sheet itself so everyone knows what is happening.
Search
Everything is searchable in the document – from files to people who sent those files and very inconveniently named them ‘untitled’. While everything otherwise has to be in someone’s folder somewhere in their system, users can easily search for what they are looking for within the document. If it has been shared at some point during the collaboration and accessing of the doc, it will be easy to find.
Presentation Mode
Here’s something that most apps don’t provide nowadays – a ready-to-use presentation mode. What Paper does is merely make the entire sheet that has been worked on, look more presentable so that it can be made to showcase the document as a form of presentation for those sudden team meetings and explanations about current projects and what-nots. Because the workflow is so streamlined and cleanly aligned and kept, it isn’t difficult to convert the entire document into a presentable one. It will come in handy when people are pushed for time, but it will be one feature that is sure to surprise its users, quite pleasantly as well.
COMMENTS