ONLYOFFICE DocSpace: How to use it?

This article explains how our newest solution ONLYOFFICE DocSpace works. You’ll discover features, free and paid plans, security and customization DocSpace.

What is ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is a collaborative platform designed for teams, clients, and partners to collaborate on documents. The platform is based on the concept of rooms, which are special spaces with predefined permissions where users can invite others and collaborate on office documents in real-time or using paragraph-locking co-editing modes.

DocSpace can be deployed on your own server where you have the entire control over any data. Another way to get DocSpace is a cloud version hosted on secure servers based in Europe — no need to spend budget on administration and you’ll also have any updates set up automatically!

DEPLOY ON-PREMISES                  CLOUD VERSION

Is ONLYOFFICE DocSpace free?

Yes, there is a free plan, as well as several corporate versions.

Startup (Cloud). DocSpace is available in the cloud for free with basic capabilities. Those include up to 12 collaboration or custom rooms, 1 administrator, 2 power users, manual backups, and support for all office files and media formats. The Startup plan is the best choice for smaller teams.

Business (Cloud). Need unlimited number of rooms, admins, power users, custom domain name, 100 GB file storage per admin or power user, automatic backups, and more privileges?

Enterprise Edition (Self-hosted). For larger companies who want to deploy ONLYOFFICE DocSpace within their local network prices start at $6550 for 100 simultaneous connections (browser tabs with documents opened for editing at the same time).

Family Pack (Self-hosted). This option is for home use only and costs $330 (one-time payment). Includes 5 power users/admins, unlimited number of rooms, online editors, PDF reader and converter, a single server deployment, lifetime license, and 1 year of updates.

Discover pricing and compare DocSpace editions on our website.

Nonprofit organizations and schools can use the ONLYOFFICE cloud version absolutely for free. Other educational institutions can get a discounted rate.

What user roles are there?

DocSpace users have different privileges and access levels to rooms and files. There are 8 major roles you should know:

• Power User
• Editor
• Reviewer
• Commenter
• Form Filler
• Viewer
• Room Admin
• Room Owner

In this video guide below, you can see the difference between each role and permissions given to various types of users.

How to create a room in ONLYOFFICE DocSpace?

As we mentioned before, collaboration in DocSpace is organized in rooms — secure environments unaccessible for people without invitation. To create a new room, you need to own admin permissions (Room Admin role) and follow these steps:

1. Go to Rooms and click New room in the upper left corner. Alternatively, use the  icon above the list of rooms.
2. Choose Collaboration room for co-editing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and OFORMs with a limited scope of roles — Room admin, Power user, Editor, Viewer.Custom room unlocks more access rights — Room admin, Power user, Editor, Form filler, Reviewer, Commenter, Viewer.
3. Enter the room name and click Create.

The next video guide shows the entire process of adding a room in DocSpace.

How to manage documents and collaborate?

After creating a DocSpace room, you want to add new office files or upload existing text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and fillable forms.

Open any room and click the Actions button at the upper left corner. Choose the desired file type or add a folder.

Now that your DocSpace room doesn’t look empty, invite other people for co-editing or viewing documents. Depending on the room type, you can assign various roles to the invited users.

Click the  icon -> Invite users. Copy and share the invitation link or add the desired profiles manually.

When each editing session ends, a new file version is automatically created in a room and displayed in the version history. In case you need to restore or download one of the previous versions, repeat the steps from this guide:

When you finished collaboration in a room and do not need it anymore, move it to the archive. You’ll have 30 days to restore the room until its permanent deletion.

Is ONLYOFFICE DocSpace secure?

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is designed with security in mind to help protect sensitive information and data. It offers cutting-edge security features to ensure the safety of documents and user interactions.

To open security settings, click  icon and go to DocSpace settings, then switch to the Security section.

Read our comprehensive DocSpace security checklist or watch this overview:

How to customize your DocSpace profile?

In ONLYOFFICE DocSpace profile, you can change name, email, and password. Choose interface language, notification preferences, upload a new photo and enable dark mode.

Click your name at the lower left corner to open settings.

Admins can also change appearance of the entire DocSpace in the Customization section. Switch to Appearance and experiment with color schemes.

Want to replace ONLYOFFICE logo with your own? This option is available within the Business plan in the cloud or Premium for self-hosted DocSpace, and requires admin permissions. In the Customization section of DocSpace settings, open the Branding tab.

We walked through the basic ONLYOFFICE DocSpace features and capabilities — everything you need for seamless document management, sharing, and collaboration.
Need more detailed video instructions and feature overviews? Visit our YouTube playlist dedicated to DocSpace.

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