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Dropbox Paper: Collaborate on Documents in Real Time

No installation required β€” Paper runs entirely in your browser. Tap each step to see how it works.

  1. Create a new Paper document

    Go to paper.dropbox.com, or just type paper.new into your address bar, and a new document opens immediately.

  2. Start writing

    Add a title, then freely insert text, images, tables, and checklists into the body.

  3. Invite a collaborator

    Click Share in the top right to invite people by email or generate a shareable link.

  4. See real-time collaborative editing

    When multiple people open the doc at once, each person's cursor shows in a different color, so you can see who's editing what in real time.

  5. Leave comments and task mentions

    Select any text to add a comment, and type @ followed by a name to mention a teammate and assign them a task.

  6. Insert a timeline or calendar

    Type "/" in the document to open the insert menu, where you can add a timeline or calendar element to lay out a schedule visually.

  7. Organize documents into folders

    Move finished documents into folders so you can keep documents organized by project.

Built for writing together in the browser

Paper needs nothing installed β€” anyone with the link can open it in a browser and start editing, which makes it a low-friction choice for meeting notes or a draft that several people need to shape together. Because edits appear instantly for everyone in the doc, it works especially well for live note-taking during a call.

Good for fast drafts, not a full project tracker

Paper is at its best for a single evolving document β€” meeting notes, a proposal draft, a shared outline β€” rather than tracking dozens of ongoing tasks across a team, which is better suited to a dedicated project management tool. Using @ mentions to assign small action items inside the doc itself works fine as long as the list of tasks stays short and tied to that one document.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create a Paper doc from a phone?

There's no longer a dedicated mobile app for Paper, so on a phone you'll need to open paper.dropbox.com in a mobile browser to create or edit a document.

Does mentioning someone with @ send them a notification?

Yes, mentioning a teammate with @ in a comment or the document body sends them a notification, so they know a task has been assigned to them right away.