Below is a Q&A session with the team behind the ONLYOFFICE project. This Q&A session provides an insight into the main features of their new product for document collaboration, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace, and points out what makes this revolutionary software stand out in the market.
What is ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?
In a nutshell, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is a web-based collaborative platform designed to make document collaboration simpler, more effective and less time-consuming in an innovative way. Using it, you can create, edit and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, digital forms and PDF files in real-time through flexibly customizable rooms, i.e. special spaces with predefined individual permissions for all users.
What inspired the creation of ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?
The idea of creating ONLYOFFICE DocSpace was born out of the developers’ desire to provide users with a simple and time-saving tool for document collaboration built on top of up-to-date technologies. The ONLYOFFICE team wanted to create a fully functional collaborative platform with advanced security features and support for the commonly used file formats making it possible for users to work on any device.
As a result of many years of work, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is the jewel in the crown of the project, with ambitious plans for constant improvement and development.
What is the main concept that lies behind ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?
Tailored by a team of experienced developers who have been developing productivity software for years, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is intended to remove the barriers when collaborating with customers, business partners, contractors and other external users. Convenience and simplicity are the cornerstones of the platform as it allows you to set up the required access permissions for all your files within a single room without having to worry about sharing each document or folder independently.
Importantly, the room-based concept of ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is meant to facilitate document collaboration by making it possible to co-author documents, spreadsheets, presentations and digital forms either in the cloud or on private servers, from any device and on all available platforms, including web, desktop and mobile apps.
What makes ONLYOFFICE DocSpace stand out in the market?
There are several key features that make ONLYOFFICE DocSpace an ideal tool for document collaboration:
- Different types of rooms for certain tasks — collaboration rooms for real-time co-authoring and custom rooms where you can apply additional access roles, such as reviewer, commenter or form filler, to meet a specific need.
- Built-in online office suite for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, fillable forms, e-books and PDF files.
- Online document collaboration with version history and control, two co-editing modes, document comparison, tracking of changes and communication via comments, text messages, video meetings and audio calls.
- Flexible access permissions for users.
- Advanced security features, including GDPR and HIPAA compliance, open source code on GitHub and flexible deployment in the cloud or in private networks.
- Access from any device.
Is ONLYOFFICE DocSpace powered by AI?
ONLYOFFICE DocSpace’s built-in office suite is equipped with a plugin that allows you to access the ChatGPT API and use the chatbot for a wide range of tasks when editing or collaborating on documents in real time. More specifically, the ChatGPT plugin makes it possible to:
- Generate summaries and keywords
- Analyze words and phrases
- Translate texts into French or German
- Generate images
- Find synonyms
- Write texts
- Look up the required information
The ChatGPT integration makes it easier to work with a big amount of text information, and the ONLYOFFICE developers plan to add new chatbot features in future releases.
How does ONLYOFFICE DocSpace work?
In ONLYOFFICE DocSpace, document collaboration takes place in rooms. When you create your collaborative environment, you become the DocSpace owner. This role allows you to have access to all settings, user management configuration and some other privileges.
To get started with document collaboration, you can invite both members of your team and external users, and they all will be able to interact within the same environment. When inviting others to your DocSpace rooms, you are allowed assign the following user roles:
- DocSpace admins have access to the DocSpace configuration, can create rooms, manage the existing users and invite new ones.
- Room admins are responsible for managing rooms on your DocSpace platforms, which implies the ability to create new rooms and invite new users.
- Power users can create and edit documents but they are not allowed to access the configuration section, create new rooms or manage other users.
- Users have access to the rooms they are invited to and can work with the existing files without being able to create new documents.
- Editors are users with full access to document editing within a certain room.
- Viewers are users with the document viewing permission only so they can’t edit any content.
- Reviewers are allowed to work on documents in Track Changes mode during the collaboration process.
- Commenters can only open documents for viewing and leave comments for other collaborators.
- Form fillers are users who can fill in fields in the fillable forms that they have been given access to. For example, legal agreements or contracts.
The multiple access permissions in ONLYOFFICE DocSpace are designed to make it easier to work with users from the outside. If someone doesn’t belong to your team, you can invite them to your DocSpace environment and collaborate with them as if they were part of your team but with reasonable restrictions for safety considerations.
How does ONLYOFFICE DocSpace make document collaboration secure?
Developed with security in mind, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace complies with the GDPR and HIPAA data privacy standards , and provides a full set of feature to protect sensitive information, such as the AES-256 encryption algorithm, HTTPS, JWT protection, activity tracking and audit reporting tools, 2FA, Single Sign-On, trusted mail domains, session lifetime, IP restriction, data backups and more.
Who can benefit from using ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?
ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is a versatile software tool that finds wide application in a large number of industries and sectors. Wherever a need for document collaboration arises, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is here to get you covered. It’s a good choice for personal use, and even big companies with thousands of users can benefit from using the platform.
What will be implemented in ONLYOFFICE DocSpace in the future?
The ONLYOFFICE team has ambitious plans for their document collaboration platform. In future releases, they plan to extend the existing room-based functionality by adding new room types. For example, private rooms will enable end-to-end encryption for every symbol a user types, making it possible to work with confidential and sensitive information.
Also, the developers intend to introduce an advanced mechanism for electronic signatures by implementing the same algorithm used in crypto transactions.
Another important feature is the implementation of a full-featured PDF editor so that DocSpace users can edit PDF files in one place without switching to a third-party app.
How to get started with ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?
The easiest way to get started with ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is to create a collaborative environment in the cloud. In this case, you will have access to all the features without having to install anything. To try the cloud-based version of ONLYOFFICE DocSpace, you just need to fill in a registration form on the official website. For testing purposes, you can opt for a free tariff plan called Startup. If it’s good for you, it might be a good idea to switch to the Business Plan with more features and capabilities.
If you need more privacy, you can deploy ONLYOFFICE DocSpace on your local Linux server using Docker or the official DEB and RMP packages. This requires certain technical knowledge and skills but gives you total control over your data and important files. For Windows, installation packages will be released soon. Moreover, the developers plan to make ONLYOFFICE DocSpace available on software marketplaces.
You can download the self-hosted version of ONLYOFFICE DocSpace here.
For more information about ONLYOFFICE DocSpace, visit the official website at www.onlyoffice.com or get in touch with the ONLYOFFICE team directly.
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