Proton, the Swiss-based pro-privacy productiveness app maker, has a brand new feather in its cap after bringing doc creation, enhancing and collaboration capabilities to its safe cloud storage providing. The launch of Docs in Proton Drive, as the brand new product is branded, follows its acquisition of safe note-taking app Customary Notes in April.
Proton launched Proton Drive, its end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) cloud storage service, again in September 2022, beginning with internet help and increasing to cell later the identical 12 months.
The brand new collaborative doc options are being made obtainable inside Proton Drive, additional extending the corporate’s trademark pitch of sturdy safety to a different key productiveness device for each data staff and people alike.
Proton is pitching the combo of Docs in Proton Drive as a safe and privacy-focused various to Google Drive and Docs, on condition that the latter’s rival merchandise lack Proton’s flagship zero-knowledge structure.
“This landmark addition to Proton’s suite of privacy-focused merchandise supplies a strong various to current doc editors like Google Docs, making certain that privateness and safety are paramount — with out compromising on important options,” the corporate wrote in a weblog publish.
E2E encryption refers to a technical structure whereby the entity offering the software program is unable to entry person content material because it doesn’t maintain encryption keys. This permits Proton to make a trustless pledge of privateness that gives a transparent differentiation versus data-dependent enterprise fashions, akin to Google’s.
“Docs gives the identical stage of encryption as Proton Drive, which means all of the contents are protected by E2EE,” an organization spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. “Even adjustments and keystrokes are encrypted, in addition to file names and file paths.”
“Constructing collaborative paperwork that retain E2EE was extremely tough, and one thing that we haven’t seen anybody else doing in the marketplace. It includes key alternate and synchronized key data, plus the power to ask individuals to collaborate, and revoke these permissions, in addition to to share paperwork privately,” the corporate additionally mentioned.
Proton says it’s going to replace its web site within the subsequent few weeks to enter extra element about how Docs works behind the scenes. The corporate notes it had already launched enhanced sharing options on Proton Drive a couple of weeks in the past in anticipation of this launch.
Per Proton, Docs in Proton Drive consists of standard and “important” options, akin to full help for markdown and wealthy textual content, code blocks and checklists. It additionally confirmed compatibility for a number of file varieties, together with Microsoft .docx, and the power to embed pictures in paperwork.
Collaboration options embody the power so as to add and reply to (and resolve) feedback, and see who else is viewing a doc in actual time with “collaborative cursors.” Invitations to collaborate on docs are additionally supported; members and not using a Proton account can be prompted to create a free account to realize entry, which may assist it drive extra registrations and stoke its development.
Consistent with Proton’s freemium ethos, the brand new doc options could be accessed free of charge by way of Proton Drive, which gives as much as 5GB of free storage. After this threshold, customers eager to faucet the doc capabilities might want to improve to a paid tier of Drive.
Extra options are within the improvement pipeline. Proton mentioned its roadmap will intention to boost person expertise and productiveness beginning with extra highly effective collaboration instruments for groups. Given Proton’s safety pledge, it’s pitching Docs in Drive at companies which are topic to excessive knowledge safety compliance necessities, akin to these in industries like healthcare, media, finance and authorized. Nevertheless, particular person customers can profit, as properly.
The corporate confirmed that code for docs can be open-sourced “quickly,” permitting for unbiased auditing and verification of its safety claims.
In an additional reassuring step for customers, final month Proton introduced it’s transitioning to a nonprofit basis construction mannequin, with the brand new basis changing into the primary shareholder within the (for-profit) enterprise. It mentioned this governance change is designed to safeguard its pro-privacy mission for the long run by enabling it to be self-sustaining and unbiased of different business agendas.
The app maker, which was based a decade in the past as an E2EE webmail service (ProtonMail), has grown utilization over time by increasing to supply a set of pro-privacy freemium productivity-focused apps, together with its cloud storage service, together with a calendar app, VPN and password supervisor device.
Proton now reviews greater than 100 million person accounts in complete, with 500 workers preserving all its tech ticking over.
