Now Anybody Can Try Dropbox Paper

Dropbox is throwing open the doors to Paper, its collaborative document and planning tool for teams, allowing anybody to sign up and try. Falling somewhere in-between Slack, Quip, and Google Docs, Dropbox Paper supports multiple people editing the same document simultaneously, along with group to-do lists, media embeds, and more.Previously in closed beta, with a waitlist for those teams which wished to try to the service out, the open Paper beta is also accompanied by one of the most-requested features from earlier iterations: mobile apps. There are now iOS and Android companion apps from which you also make edits.

As a team tool, Paper is fairly hard to classify. On the one hand, its group document editing is similar to that of Google Docs, supporting multiple people within the same file all making changes. Comments on those changes can be left, and there's native sharing support.

However, it also supports media embeds – including YouTube videos – and to-do lists, including the ability to tag specific people for specific tasks.

Connected to a Google Calendar, meanwhile, Paper can be set to automatically create a notes file which is then distributed among all meeting participants later on.

Since launch, the company says, Dropbox has added in search, desktop and mobile notifications for any changes, and improved tables and image galleries. The mobile apps will each support not only reviewing documents but making edits and digging into comments.

There's no shortage of apps promising to streamline how teams interact and keep track of multiple projects, though for Dropbox the stakes are considerable as it attempts to be more than "just another cloud storage" service and compete on cost alone.

That's seen the company push into the app space more aggressively, most recently with mobile software that turns smartphones into scanners. Attempts to blur the division between what's in the cloud and what's on your desktop have also been a priority, as Dropbox tries to make its service the subscription of choice in a crowded marker with big names that include Microsoft, Apple, and Google.

Dropbox Paper is free to sign up to, though you'll of course need a Dropbox account in order to take part in the beta.

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