Soon your Proton Drive will include Proton Docs.
By Jack Wallen/ZDNET
It was just a matter of time. After Proton has acquired note-taking app Standard Notes In April 2024, we knew that Proton would integrate the service into its Drive, a cloud-based storage offering. Proton propulsionNot even three months have passed and here we are.
Proton launched Proton Drive for the web in September 2022 and for mobile in December 2022. The startup also develops Proton Mail, which includes other features such as a calendar, a VPN, and even a password manager. All of these features are accessible from the Proton Mail app (or any other app in the suite).
According to the Proton Official Blog“Proton Drive Docs are built on the same privacy and security principles as all of our services, starting with end-to-end encryption. Docs lets you collaborate in real time, leave comments, add photos, and store your files securely. Best of all, everything is private—even your keystrokes and cursor movements are encrypted.”
Also: Proton Mail has a serious chance of becoming my next email client for Linux
A very important aspect of Proton’s new Docs service is that, given the company’s privacy-first business model, it will allow:
- We do not collect any of your data.
- Use end-to-end encryption, so that only you (or those you collaborate with) can see the contents of a document.
- Do not allow third party access.
Proton Docs puts you in control of your data, meaning not even Proton can see your documents. Feature-wise, Proton Docs includes:
- Sharing and invitations to collaborate
- Real-time collaboration
- Be able to see who else is viewing or editing a document
- Comments and answers
- Import and export
The most important feature, however, is the open-source end-to-end encryption that ensures the security of your information. Although Google uses 256-bit AES encryption on its Drive servers, those documents are not end-to-end encrypted. That means Google can read your files. OneDrive and iCloud also don’t use end-to-end encryption, so if you need to ensure that only you (and/or your collaborators) can view the content, Proton Docs should be a welcome option.
Proton Docs is rolling out to Proton accounts starting today and should arrive in your account in the next few weeks. I logged into my account and found that it hadn’t appeared yet: I can upload files to my Proton Drive account, but I can’t edit them (yet). Hopefully the rollout will be quick, so that anyone with a Proton account (even the free version) will have access to Proton Docs soon.
As for Proton Docs features, you can expect support for Markdown and rich text, code blocks and checklists, support for multiple file types, adding/replying to/resolving comments, and more.