We tried Dropbox's unreleased document editor, and it's like a prettier version of Google Docs

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Dropbox

Dropbox wants to be more than a place for you to store files in the cloud. With its new Paper app, the company is taking on Google Docs by letting you create and edit documents on the web.

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Think of Paper as a sleek, minimal replacement to Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages. It might become your favorite way to write, especially if you already use Dropbox on a daily basis.

On the other hand, if you already use Google Docs or another online office program, there's not much of an incentive to make the switch unless you really like Paper's design.

At its heart, Paper is a word processor. But it also lets you work on documents with other people simultaneously, have discussions with coworkers, and easily add multimedia elements to documents (like YouTube videos, tracks from SoundCloud, and Google Sheets).

Paper is available as part of an invite-only private beta right now, but Tech Insider got a sneak peek to show you how the app works.

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Making a new document in Paper is easy. Just click “Create” to get started.

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Paper’s interface is super clean and friendly to write in. You don’t feel overwhelmed with formatting options like Google Docs.

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Paper only offers one font to write in with three sizes. You can do bold, strikethrough, and list formatting.

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There are keyboard shortcuts for your formatting options that will be familiar if you’ve used the Markdown writing syntax before.

To its credit, Google Docs is much more full-featured in the formatting department, so Paper has some catching up to do if it wants to be on par with the competition.

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Like Google Docs, you can invite other people to edit a document at the same time. Each person has a different color cursor, and their edits are recorded in the margins.

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If you’ve given someone permission to edit your document, they can also add to-do lists and @ mention people directly.

All of your edits are saved instantly as you type and are synced to everyone who is viewing the document.

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People can comment on your work and leave fun sticker reactions.

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You can view a history of edits on a document along with resolved comments.

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Anything you have stored on Dropbox can be added to a Paper document with a handy preview. Google Docs and Drive are both supported as well.

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The beta we tried only supported images, but eventually Paper will let you quickly add any files in your Dropbox to a document. Files stored in Google Docs and Google Drive (a Dropbox competitor), will also be supported.

Photos in Paper can be dragged around, grouped together into galleries, or blown up to fill the whole browser window.

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Paper’s biggest pro is its interface, which is simple and easy to create in.

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Dropbox

Dropbox is still developing the app while it's being tested by people who have signed up for the private beta, and an official release date has yet to be announced. A mobile app is also in the works.

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