ONLYOFFICE DocSpace Review

Whether you’re an individual or a team, cloud access to your documents from anywhere helps you stay more productive. With ONLYOFFICE DocSpace, you’re able to access and create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more, while organizing the way you want. I recently tried this cloud platform to see how well it works.

This is a sponsored article and was made possible by ONLYOFFICE. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author, who maintains editorial independence even when a post is sponsored.

Overview of Features

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is a collaborative workspace that features real-time document creation and editing. Everything happens in “rooms.” These are individual workspaces to organize files and team members. The benefit is that you just need to set permissions for a single room versus individual documents.

For better collaboration, use the chat features or make audio/video calls. Also, leave comments on files to keep better track of changes and what needs to be done next.

While ONLYOFFICE is open source, it’s highly compatible with Microsoft Office file formats. You’re able to create, edit, and work with:

• Word documents
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations
• Digital forms
• PDFs
• Ebooks
• Multimedia

If you need to upload audio/video files as part of a project, ONLYOFFICE supports this, too. All your relevant files are in a single place.

ONLYOFFICE makes security a priority. In fact, it’s surprisingly easy to find all security details right on the DocSpace homepage. Security features include:

• Data privacy compliance for GDPR and HIPAA standards
• AES-256 encryption
• HTTPS
• TLS encryption algorithm
• Advanced permissions
• JWT
• Activity tracking and reporting
• IP restrictions
• Trusted domains
• 2FA
• Single sign-on
• Data backups

To make things even more private, you can create private rooms where everything is fully encrypted.

While cloud access is a major benefit, ONLYOFFICE does offer offline access, thanks to Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux apps. Currently, there isn’t a self-hosted version available, but it is in the works.

Getting Started

Getting started with ONLYOFFICE DocSpace couldn’t be easier. Simply sign up, name your space, and you’re ready to start working.

The dashboard has an incredibly clean, minimal layout. Your rooms and latest documents are listed in the center, and all your actions are on the left. Even if you don’t create a room, you’re still able to create, upload, and edit the various document formats.

I started by creating a room. I was able to choose between two types: Collaboration and Custom. With Collaboration, everything’s set up automatically for collaborating. With Custom, you set up all the details from scratch.

However, the process for creating both is the same initially. Select a room name, add tags, and upload an icon. It’s that simple.

Of course, you’re able to invite members to the main dashboard or individual rooms at any time.

Customizing the Look and Feel

After creating a room, I decided to explore a bit to see if I could customize the look of ONLYOFFICE DocSpace. Within the DocSpace settings, you’re able to choose between light and dark themes, along with changing the accent color. Pick between six preset colors, or customize accents and buttons with your own color choice.

If you’re a paid user, you’re also able to upload your company name and logo to create consistent branding across your company’s tools. It’s actually really easy to make adjustments in the branding area, and there are multiple types of logos (for different areas of the platform) you can upload.

Further Customizing ONLYOFFICE DocSpace

I was a free user during my review, so I can’t comment too much on all the premium features. However, even as a free user, you’re able to set your minimum password requirements, turn on 2FA, enable IP security, turn on administrator messages, and enable session lifetimes. As a paid user, you get access to the full login history and an audit trail, both of which are incredibly useful tools for managing teams.

Within the customization settings, you’re also able to do the following:

• Set up backups and restore from backups – this includes from third-party sources.
• Enable integrations – right now, I only saw 10 integrations, but they included major tools/platforms, like Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn, AWS, OneDrive, and Facebook.
• Developer Tools – further customize the size of windows.
• Delete/Deactivate – I’m a huge fan of any platform that makes it easy to deactivate and delete your account and data without jumping through hoops.
• Payments – manage your plan and payments, along with seeing how much space, rooms, and users you’re currently using.

Document Editors

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to the various document editors. If you’ve used Google Docs or Microsoft Office before, you’ll be in familiar territory. In many ways, I actually liked the layout of the toolbars a little better, but that may just be my personal preference.

Naturally, you’re able to upload files to share with others or to edit. During my test, I had no issues with uploading. I use LibreOffice and Microsoft Office most of the time and had zero formatting issues when uploading existing files. This is a huge improvement over Google Docs, which doesn’t always agree with Microsoft Office files.

To create something new, all I had to do was click the big + button and choose my document type. It’s that easy.

As with most cloud-based platforms, DocSpace saves all changes immediately, so you don’t have to worry about losing your work if something goes wrong. If you’re working offline, changes are uploaded when you reconnect.

The editors are incredibly fast. I noticed both editing and uploading tended to be faster than Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs. This is especially true with big presentation files and larger spreadsheets.

I’d highly recommend taking a screenshot of the hotkeys available in DocSpace until you learn them. You’ll find these by clicking on the dots beside your name on the left sidebar and selecting “HotKeys” or by pressing Ctrl + /.

My only complaint is the communication tools aren’t immediately obvious. I had to read the user guide to discover you need to enable a plugin when you’re in an open document to start chatting or making an audio/video call.

Pricing

Currently, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace offers two plans:

• Free Startup – for a limited time only.
• Business – $30/admin or power user. Currently, it’s just $15/admin or power user.

Both plans offer unlimited regular users. The Business plan offers unlimited admins, power users, rooms, and users per room. Plus, you get 100 GB of storage per admin/power user.

The free plan limits you to 2 GB of storage, 1 admin, 2 power users, and up to 12 rooms. Plus, you can’t customize branding, and support is only available via the community forum.

Final Thoughts

Overall, ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is a welcome alternative to Google Docs and even Microsoft Office 365 in terms of document management, creating, and editing. The layout is much cleaner and easier to use, and it’s perfect for teams.

Another benefit is the focus on security and privacy. It’s also surprisingly cost effective, as you don’t have to pay for standard users.

Try ONLYOFFICE DocSpace and start creating collaborative rooms for your team.