Our road map and new feature development is driven by our users, and we’re excited to announce a new feature inspired by a number of our customers, including a French government ministry – the ability to lock and protect individual cells within spreadsheets. This exciting new feature empowers users to exert greater control over their data and collaborate more effectively than ever before.

How does it work?

Locking individual cells in Collabora Online is intuitive and user-friendly. Simply select the cells you wish to lock, right-click, and choose the “Format Cells” option from the menu. Cells can then be toggled as protected or not. To then apply the protection, right click on the sheet, choose “Protect Sheet”, and you may set a password and choose whichever permissions you intend to give to the protected/unprotected cells.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Spreadsheets

With the new feature of protecting cells, Collabora Online empowers users to take control of their data and optimise their collaborative workflows. Whether you’re working on financial models, project plans, or data analysis, locking cells provides you with peace of mind and confidence in your spreadsheet creations.

Welcome back to our series looking at how Collabora Online matches the document-editing needs of different sectors. Today, we will dive into the world of finance, where information and data means money, and security is key. Collabora Online stands tall as the guardian of your document vault, keeping your information more secure than a Swiss bank.

Building Your Document Fort Knox

In finance, information security is paramount. At Collabora Online, we get it. So unlike other cloud-based document editors, Collabora Online will keep your files secure on your server, in your premise, under your jurisdiction, all the time. Rather than duplicating and posting copies to every file editor or reader’s browser, Collabora Online retains your files centrally, and operates more like a hyper-efficient remote desktop than a browser-based document editor, yet still allows end users to view or edit documents depending on their permissions.

For users without editing privileges, there can be no unauthorised stripping of permissions, and download or copy/paste access is controlled in a way that other document editors can only dream of – fully enforced from the server, with no reliance on client-side access controls.

Documents can also be further watermarked with user IDs, burnt into the document pixels at the server, reducing any remaining likelihood of leaking screenshots or photos, and ensuring the source of any information loss is immediately identifiable.

Dictum Meum Pactum – ‘My Word is My Bond’ might be the motto of the London Stock Exchange, but we’d rather not risk it…

Your on-premise cloud

You might be wondering, “Does this ultra-secure, on-premise document editor mean sacrificing remote accessibility and collaborative efficiency?” Fear not – Collabora Online not only ensures top-level security, but also unleashes the power of remote access and seamless collaboration.

Collaborate on your financial reports, spreadsheets, and documents from anywhere with an internet connection. Our platform is designed to maximise security, whilst still retaining accessibility, giving you the freedom to work without compromise. You can think of it as giving each user their own unique and trackable pen to write on the same document concurrently, but you are holding the document centrally throughout the process. This methodology is different to most other browser-based document editors that essentially function by making copies of documents, distributing copies to every editor to work on individually, before collating all the changes made centrally.

With Collabora Online your files don’t venture into the unknown, they stay within the confines of your server or trusted local hosting partner. No unauthorised sharing, no uninvited guests, just your documents and your users.

A safe bet with Collabora Online

Choosing Collabora Online is a smart investment, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s don’t do document editor ratings, but if they did, we’d be AAA. With all the functionality you know and expect, real security, a familiar interface, robust version history, redlining, tracked changes and more, your financial documents will have everything they need.

Smart money collaborates with Collabora Online.

Keep your data secure with Collabora Online.

Try the Online Demo

Collabora Online – Safe, Powerful, Flexible.

In our ongoing exploration of how Collabora Online empowers various sectors, we’ve discussed use cases within education, governments, and national defence. Now, let’s turn our attention to the legal world, where accuracy, control, and security are paramount. Collabora Online, our flagship collaborative office suite, continues to prove itself as a versatile and robust solution, aligning seamlessly with the unique needs of the legal profession.

Document Security at Its Core

In the legal realm, confidentiality and document security are non-negotiable. Collabora Online builds a fortress of security around your legal documents. Unlike traditional document editors, where files travel between servers and devices, Collabora Online adopts a server-centric approach. Your documents never leave the secure confines of the server, offering unparalleled control over sensitive legal information. This stands in stark contrast to other document editors such as Microsoft Office, where files are copied in their entirety and sent to users’ browsers for editing, with changes then merged centrally. Collabora Online in effect gives multiple users their own set of unique and trackable pens to work on the same document concurrently, and crucially there isn’t a (metaphorical) photocopier or secretary frantically looking for and merging changes in sight. This all provides legal professionals the assurance they need in an era of increasing data privacy concerns.

Track Every Change, Preserve Every Version

For legal professionals, clarity in document history is indispensable. Collabora Online’s robust version history, redlining, and track changes features are tailored to the meticulous requirements of legal document management. As mentioned above, since the document never leaves the confines of your own on-premise (or trusted hosting partner’s) servers, there is no way for third parties to alter contents without your knowledge. Read-only files stay read only, download permissions are controlled, and any screenshots watermarked with user details to prevent unauthorised sharing – something other browser-based or offline document editing suites struggle to control (as the U.S. Department of Defense recently discovered). Any and all changes can and will be clearly displayed in the document history. Whether it’s scrutinising the evolution of a contract, identifying modifications, or preserving a pristine or unpublished version, Collabora Online offers a comprehensive toolkit for legal practitioners to navigate the complexities of document collaboration with ease.

Genuine Compliance

If you are using Microsoft Office 365 as your document editor, it is becoming increasingly unclear if they are in any way compliant with GDPR regulations, or indeed if they have any intention to comply with the law. This is the conclusion of the latest two-year study carried out by the German privacy regulator DSK (Datenschutzkonferenz). Worryingly, DSK’s accusations are not merely legal nit-picking, but relate to how Microsoft shares data with U.S. authorities. “[Microsoft may] provide disproportionate access rights for U.S. intelligence services and there is no judicial recourse for EU citizens.”¹ “To compensate for the fundamental rights inadequacies of [U.S. laws providing extensive access rights to US intelligence services] identified by the European Court of Justice, it would be necessary to take measures to prevent or render ineffective the access of U.S. authorities – and thus Microsoft – to personal data.”²

Whilst the DSK report appears to have public services in mind, and is primarily concerned about schools and other public bodies, for any legal practice these allegations should be sounding serious alarm bells. With a locally hosted Collabora Online deployment, you can be sure your documents will always stay within your local legal jurisdiction, or for maximum control, host your documents on-premise.

Don’t delay

Collabora Online provides a quality solution that meets the rigorous standards legal practice demands. Already in use by government departments, educational institutions, and across the private sector sector, Collabora Online enables legal professionals to focus on their expertise, while handling the legal and security intricacies of document editing and collaborative working.

Keep your data secure with Collabora Online.

Try the Online Demo

Collabora Online – Safe, Powerful, Flexible.

Collabora Online Empowering Series:

Empowering Education: A Smart Choice with Collabora Online

Empowering Governments: Collabora Online and Sovereignty

Empowering National Defence: The Strongest Solution with Collabora Online