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Secure documents on BlackBerry with WatchDox

Aliza Sherman — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 07:34:01 +0000

As mobile devices become more prevalent at work, the need for security continues to rise. WatchDox provides document control, tracking and security features through a web app, apps for iPad and iPhone (we covered it late last year) and now for BlackBerry. WatchDox aims to ease concerns about mobile devices being a risky way to transmit and view sensitive documents by adding a layer of security and control to documents sent through its system.

On the BlackBerry, WatchDox users can render PDF and Microsoft Office. It offers features allowing users to:

Share and view documents securely on BlackBerry devices.
Restrict shared documents from being copied, printed or forwarded.
Eliminate documents remotely, if needed.

The company also announced updates to its Apple iOS app, including:

Document sync. Users can securely sync their online documents or their virtual data room folders through the secure app versus less secure consumer-grade syncing methods.
Passcode protection. In case of device loss or theft, a passcode provides an additional layer of security against information leaks.
Performance enhancements. Access to documents should be speedier.

While there are several subscription levels for WatchDox including Personal, Team and Virtual Data Room, pricing is customized so you’ll need to contact the company for a quote, although general plans typically start at $49.99 per month per user. The company does offer a 14-day free trial.

How are you securing your documents on your mobile devices?

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Soonr Brings Cloud-Based MS Office Document Editing to the iPad

Aliza Sherman — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:04:47 +0000

The iPad can be a handy remote working tool, but only to a point. So far, tablet computers seem to have been more useful as “data consuming” tools than genuine work devices. One stumbling block I’ve found is the inability to easily edit documents that you’ve stored in the cloud. Until now, that is.

Soonr is the first cloud file storage service to offer integrated editing for Microsoft Office documents on the iPad. Unlike cobbling together of file storage apps such as Dropbox and SugarSync with editing apps such as QuickOffice and Documents-To-Go, Soonr brings it all together so you can directly edit any files stored in the cloud using a single app. No configuration, no hassle, no cross-app interdependency. It also works offline when you don’t have a Wi-Fi connection and will sync back up when you do. And you can store, share, access, search, edit and sync your files from any tablet securely through Soonr.

Available both on iTunes and the Android Market, Soonr offers a 30-day free trail. A Premium account costs $7.95 per month for three users with 10 GB of storage, while Soonr Pro is $19.95 per month for five users and 40 GB of storage. Soonr supports Mac and PC, and mobile devices including Android, iPhone and BlackBerry; and iPad and Android (Honeycomb) tablets. The Soonr editing feature currently supports Microsoft Office 2003 (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) and Microsoft Office 2010 (Word only) files.

Here’s a short video demo of Soonr’s editing function:

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ideapi Helps You to Collaborate on Briefs, Documents and Ideas

Simon Mackie — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:05:25 +0000

ideapi is a simple online tool for creating documents and collaborating on them with others. Unlike other collaborative document editing tools like Google Docs, each ideapi document is based around discrete sections. These sections can be commented upon and edited separately, which makes idapi ideal for creating and collaborating on highly structured documents like briefs and proposals.

Documents can be created using the app, formatted using the Textile markup language and then shared with others, who can be given permission to edit, comment on and approve each document. Documents can be tagged for easy retrieval and can also be printed. Templates can also be made to quickly produce specific document types.

ideapi has a number of collaboration features. Users with appropriate permissions (“Authors”) can edit documents directly. “Collaborators” can comment on the various sections in the document. Collaborators can also submit submit ideas for each document, which can also have files attached. Ideas (and their associated file attachments) are then approved or rejected by users with “Approver” permissions.

ideapi concentrates on document collaboration and discussion, and has no really advanced features like built-in project management tools. That simplicity means that it’s very easy to pick up and use, which should be useful if you want to collaborate on a proposal document with a less tech-savvy client, for example. I can imagine it being very useful or putting together documents like briefs and proposals. However, there are a few improvements to the app that I’d like to see:

It would be useful if there was a way to embed ideapi documents on other websites, rather than having to get everyone you’d like to share the document with to sign up for an account.
It’s unclear as to why files can only be attached to a document via the “Ideas” interface; it would be good to have a separate page or tab for file attachments.
I’d like to have an easier way of adding images inline into document. While you can add them using Textile markup they need to be hosted somewhere online; you can’t just upload an image and insert it into a document.
Finally, the light green text used on the site sometimes appears on a light gray background, which makes it a little hard to read, at least on my monitor; a different color scheme (or, even better, a choice of color schemes) would be helpful.

You can sign up for ideapi here. It’s currently free to use, although paid plans will likely be introduced at some point in the future.

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WatchDox Brings Secure Documents to iPad and iPhone

Aliza Sherman — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:00:24 +0000

Smartphones and Wi-Fi-enabled devices are without a doubt essential business tools for many of us. With mobile communications and connectivity comes security issues, though. How can we share and manage sensitive documents over the airwaves?

WatchDox is one solution. It’s document management and security application that lets you control, track and protect your digital documents. Confidela — the maker of WatchDox — just announced that its software is now available on iOS devices as a native app. WatchDox’s web-based secure document platform is built using Flash, and while it has been available on Android devices for a while, the use of Flash has kept it off of the iPhone and iPad until now.

While you can’t generate secure digital documents from your iOS device, you can open and read documents that have been secured using WatchDox. With a subscription, you can use the website’s tools to secure your documents, including authenticating users and restricting the forwarding, copying or printing of those documents. You can track activity on a document, including who opened it, what they did with it, and even if they accessed it from their iPhone or iPad. You can also watermark your digital documents, or put in a “time bomb” to limit the duration any user can view it.

Note: The application was still pending approval from the App Store at press time. You can read more from our previous coverage of WatchDox at:

How do you manage mobile document security?

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WatchDox Bringing Document Security to Android Devices

Aliza Sherman — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:00:16 +0000

The document management and security product, WatchDox by Confidela, will today announce a new offering for Google’s Android platform. A BlackBerry version is coming later this year, as soon as BlackBerry supports Adobe Flash, and a native iPhone/iPad app is also in the works.

I initially wrote about Watchdox when it first launched and then again when it discontinued its free service and went pro. Since that time, the company has:

Added an Outlook plug-in to give you easy access to security and management features for documents you share with others.
Offered an offline MS Office PDF plug-in so you’re not locked into the browser-based viewer (both parties need to download the plug-in). This feature allows document collaboration.
Opened up APIs to developers, which means that you can integrate WatchDox functionality into other systems you’re using, including Sharepoint and Salesforce.
And, as of today, the company is rolling out mobile device support.

Some examples the company cites as ways to use WatchDox include protecting any proprietary IP and distributing e-books, training documents and other subscription-based or paid materials that you offer electronically. Graphic designers can send drafts or spec work with added WatchDox security protection so that their designs cannot be seen by anyone but the recipient. Consultants can share proprietary reports, proposals, pricing and invoices.

The individual price for WatchDox is $49.95/month.

What are you using to protect and manage the documents you distribute electronically?

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Revizr: Red Pen Collaboration Goes Wiki

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:00:41 +0000

Document collaboration with distributed teams can be a bit of a headache, as I’ve noted in previous posts. No doubt, if you’ve ever tried it yourself, you don’t need me to remind you. More tools are available than ever before for getting this kind of work done, but with a plethora of choices comes a conundrum. What kind of tool works best for collaborating on a single document? A specialized web app, a wiki, something like iWork.com that integrates with your word processing program, or a Google Docs/Zoho Writer shared document? I’ve yet to find a definite answer, but not for lack of trying.

Revizr is a new app that combines wiki elements with change tracking features that preserves the integrity of your original document, so you can see exactly what your collaborators have added (or taken away) from your copy. And it does so in an app that’s so easy to use, you’re actually using it the moment you visit its homepage for the first time. In order to manipulate your own documents, and work together with others, you will have to sign up, but if you’re just looking for a taste of what Revizr can do before you enroll, the trial is the site itself.

If you want to dig a little deeper, sign-up is quick, free and easy. Just pick a username, enter a password and an email address, and you’re ready to go. Alternatively, you can sign in using your OpenID credentials (including Yahoo and Gmail email addresses) and skip registration that way. Once logged in, you’ll have access to stored documents and be able to upload new ones. Revizr works with .doc/.docx, .odt, .rtf, HTML and .txt files. You can also cut and paste or compose a brand-new document using Revizr’s built-in word processor, which allows graphics, tables and pretty much anything else you’d expect a word processor to be able to handle.
For each document, you can set an access policy that allows you to specify who can view and make changes to the work in question. There are three options, which include people who already have access (who could be no one besides yourself), people who have the protected link (which you can generate and distribute from the permissions page), or anyone on the Internet. (There could be some creative potential with that option, maybe.) You can also set levels of access for new users, and allow them to see edits done by others, check previous versions, and even control content like an administrator.

What I like best about Revizr’s user control system is that it is incredibly simple, and yet very powerful, if you need it to be. There are only six options total, in two categories, and yet I can’t think of anything I’d add or change.

Users can also opt to “follow” documents, which sounds like (and probably is) a term borrowed from Twitter. All it really means is that if anyone makes changes to documents you’re following, you’ll receive email notifications of what’s been done. By default, you’ll automatically follow changes to any document you upload or create yourself. This is another feature I really appreciate. It’s something that should be a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how often something like this isn’t included. Working with only one other person, the need for it isn’t particularly great, but if you have a larger group, you risk some people missing entire versions without it.
Possibly Revizr’s weakest point is how it handles the actual editing itself. I tested it out by making some changes to my own document as an anonymous user while logged out, and I found the experience frustrating. It’s unclear where the cursor is. There are three icons (one to insert text, one for commenting, and one for inserting a paragraph) but the choice of which to click isn’t very intuitive. Selecting and removing text works well enough, though, if that’s all you want to do.

Viewing of revisions could also have been better executed, in my opinion. Deleted text is represented as a strikeout, which works, but text additions are displayed in the margin with an arrow indicating where they fit in. It’s clumsy and hard to read, especially when keeping the additions in the main body of the document wouldn’t seem to have been that difficult.

As a free tool, Revizr gets the job done and has some nice backend features. Because of the limitations of the editor and change display, I wouldn’t personally go in for the paid versions, which start at $29 per month and range up to $99.

Have you tried Revizr? Did you find working with the editor frustrating?

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Embed Your Files with embedit.in

Aliza Sherman — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Need to embed a file into a blog post or web site in a tasteful document viewer? Increo Solutions has come up with embedit.in, a simple and straightforward document embedding app. You may remember I blogged about Increo’s handy and elegant Backboard application for moving through a design or creative approval process.

Increo Solutions will be announcing a new version of the app this week. I heard about this new release last week so went straight to the beta site to check it out.

embedit.in lets you start uploading and embedding right away. The site does not require registration: All you need is a Google or Yahoo account, or an OpenID.

I experimented by uploading a PDF version of my resume and then embedding it into my Typepad blog.

The problem with the the old embedit.in viewer was that the width was fixed at 466 pixels (400 pixels high) and was too wide for more narrow blog content columns.

The new version has a slider to adjust size as well as the ability to customize the player background color. The new version also gives you three ways to display your document:

1. as an embed;

2. as a link to the document (still requires JavaScript); and

3. as a thumbnail, linking to full document.

Two new features in the new version really help separate embedit.in from the competition, like Scribd and Docstoc:

1. Markup. You can annotate the document prior to embedding it into a site, calling out a portion of the PDF, for example, with a red markup pen tool.

2. Analytics. You can get some deep and interesting stats about how users are interacting with your document, including a “heat map” overlay that can show you the most read areas of a page, a map showing where readers are coming from who view the document, where the document is embedded, and a graph measuring additional activity.

With embedit.in, you have full privacy and security controls, including control over whether your document can be printed or downloaded, and even where the document can be embedded.

For publishers with links to many documents on their site, embedit.in offers a single line of code that will automatically display all normally linked documents as embedded docs using the embedit.in player.

embedit.in is free of charge, can deal with almost any type of document of image file up to 20 MB in size, and uses Flash so should work with nearly any browser.

It wasn’t until I was on the phone with the company’s CEO, Kimber Lockhart, and going through a visual presentation of the new embedit.in that I realized how young the company team actually is. I just had to add how impressed I am with it. While we might say “age is just a number,” it is exciting to see young people with creative ideas, the skills and talent to execute well, and the ability to get financial backing for their work. Kudos to Increo Solutions.

Now go and enjoy embedit.in, and let us know what you think in the comments. I think you’ll be impressed, too.

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