Dropbox Shutters Online Editing App Hackpad

Dropbox is shuttering Hackpad, a browser-based document editor that the company acquired in 2014, citing its new Dropbox Paper service as a suitable replacement. Existing Hackpad users will have until July 19, 2017 to either transfer their data to Dropbox Paper, or export them to a zip folder.

Dropbox Paper launched in open beta last August to help users create collaborative documents in real-time. Teams can use Paper to share notes and collaborate, embedding videos and files from Google and Dropbox.

According to Dropbox, since the company acquired Hackpad, it has been building on Hackpad to create Dropbox Paper. Hackpad founder Igor Kofman is the Dropbox Paper lead.

“I’m writing to let you know we’ll be shutting down Hackpad on July 19. I’m so grateful for all the enthusiasm and feedback from the Hackpad community over the last several years, and I’m excited to share what’s coming next,” Kofman said. “That feedback has been really helpful for designing Dropbox Paper—a product inspired by the Hackpad community. With millions of docs created by teams around the world, Paper is off to an exciting start. Paper takes many of Hackpad’s best features—like instant collaboration, comments, and real-time editing—and adds a lot more, including additional security features, faster search, and more visibility for teams.”

Dropbox has details about how Hackpad users can transfer their pads to Dropbox Paper, or download them outside of Hackpad or Paper, on its website. One important note (no pun intended) is that pads will be automatically migrated to Paper by July 19 unless a user opts out.