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Dropbox Paper – An extensive guide to collaboration

by Casey Schmidt  |  October 10, 2019

2 min. read
A paper lightbulb.

Dropbox Paper is a way for business teams to collaborate with one another. It is a digital space where teams can work together in real time. Here’s a comprehensive guide.

What is Dropbox Paper?

Dropbox Paper is a product that is free with a Dropbox account. It is a program that lets users collaborate on a specific digital document. Numerous users are able to edit a single document simultaneously with Paper.

Imagine a group of coworkers sitting at a large table. In the middle of the table someone places a large empty poster board and some markers. The team members then work together to draw relevant items on the board together. This is essentially what Dropbox Paper is, only digitally.

A line of markers on an empty board.
Paper is like a collaborative real life template for workers.

Ways to use paper

There are many ways companies use Paper, treating it like a space to connect members of team projects and more. The two main ways it’s used are internally and externally. Let’s take a look at how it helps in both situations.

Internal use

One powerful way Paper connects team members is meetings. When you account for all the items that need to be addressed and actions to be taken, having a concrete rundown for all to see becomes vital. Paper offers a way to address everyone at once at the meeting and explain all the details.

External use

Paper simplifies the process of working with outside clients by offering a single, shared document to place all valuable information. For example, if either party wishes to provide project data, they can present it immediately within the shared document using Paper. Furthermore, after the project, this same document is the perfect place for feedback.

A group of coworkers researching data on a laptop.
With Paper, team members can share project data immediately.

Benefits of paper

Paper keeps everyone organized and on-task. From it, you can create tasks and assign roles to specific people. Furthermore, you can get immediate feedback and clarification about all project steps. Plus, all the feedback is instant and every user within the shared document has access to it immediately.

To visualize the effectiveness of Paper, imagine a company is creating their logo. They begin with a basic outline and put the image into Paper. Then part of the image is shaded. The attributions feature tells them which team member shaded it. They can give instant feedback on the shading and continue working on the logo.

You should have a strong grasp of how Paper works now. Consider using it to boost team collaboration for your next project.