Swiss tech firm Proton has launched a new feature, ‘Docs in Proton Drive,’ a free, open-source, end-to-end encrypted web-based document editing and collaboration tool. This addition to Proton’s suite of privacy-focused services, which includes Proton VPN, Proton Mail, Proton Pass, and Proton Drive, positions it as a compelling alternative to established platforms like Google Docs.
Proton Drive Docs are unique in that they are end-to-end encrypted, preventing their use in training generative AI models unless the document’s creator actively downloads their content, copies it, and feeds it to an AI model. This encryption also means Proton Docs can’t be exposed by data breaches.
Users can edit, share, and update documents in real time, and share their documents with others by adding their email addresses. They can also revoke permissions later if desired. Prior to this, Proton users had to open any documents in a third-party app to edit them and then re-upload them afterward.
However, Proton Docs is not without its challenges. There are some conversion issues with .docx files, with losses in formatting, missing chunks of text, and lost headers and footers. Proton is aware of these issues and is working on updates and improvements. Apple Pages files are not supported at all, and Proton does not yet have a solution for viewing Excel-style documents.
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