Dropbox Paper: admin settings for Dropbox teams

Updated Mar 25, 2024

The information in this article applies to certain types of admins on Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus, and Enterprise.

Admins on Dropbox team accounts can control Dropbox Paper privacy and sharing settings for their team.

Note: If your team is using the 2020 release of Dropbox Paper, follow the instructions in the first section below. If your team is using the old release of Paper, follow the instructions in the second section below.

To find out which release your team is using:

Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Create.
Hover over Document.

If you don’t see Dropbox Paper in the list of document types, then you’re using the old release of Paper.
If you do see Dropbox Paper in the list of document types, then you’re using the new 2020 release of Dropbox Paper.

Learn more in the 2020 release of Paper FAQs for team admins.

Admins on the 2020 release of Dropbox Paper

This section is for admins on Dropbox team accounts whose teams are on the 2020 release of Dropbox Paper. Follow the instructions at the top of this article to find out what release you’re using.

On the 2020 release of Paper, Paper docs act like regular Dropbox files so the admin settings for Paper docs are the same as for regular Dropbox files. Here’s how to manage the sharing and privacy controls for regular Dropbox files that now apply to your Paper docs as well:

Some admin controls for Paper haven’t changed with the 2020 release, including:

Additional resources

Learn more about the 2020 release of Dropbox Paper:

Admins on the old release of Dropbox Paper

This section is for admins on Dropbox team accounts on the old release of Dropbox Paper. Follow the instructions at the top of this article to find out which release you’re using.

Enable or disable Paper

To enable or disable Dropbox Paper for your team:

Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Admin console.
Click Settings.
Click Paper under Additional settings.
Toggle Enable Paper on or off.
Agree to the Dropbox terms before turning on Paper.
Click Apply changes.

Note: Paper is enabled by default for all Standard and Advanced Dropbox teams created after August 7, 2017.

Export all Paper docs

When you disable Paper, you can export your Paper docs to Word or Markdown files. To export your docs:

After you disable Paper, click Export # docs.
Choose a file format and click Download.
Once the export is complete, you'll receive an email with your Paper docs in your chosen format. In this email, click Download docs.

All active docs owned by team members are exported. Deleted docs aren't exported.

Team-only sharing

Admins of a Dropbox team can choose who team members can share Paper docs with. Admins can choose to enable sharing outside the team or to within the Dropbox team only. To restrict sharing to within your team:

Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Admin console.
Click Settings.
Click Paper under Additional settings.
Toggle Sharing Paper docs externally on or off.
Click Apply changes.

This setting is not retroactive and only applies to docs shared once the setting is changed. You can see docs that have been shared with people outside of your team in the activity report.

Note: Changing this setting to Off also prevents team members from creating docs in external folders shared with them.

Default Paper doc privacy

Admins can choose the default privacy setting for links to Paper docs. To toggle default Paper doc privacy:

Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Admin console.
Click Settings.
Click Paper under Additional settings.
Next to Default sharing settings, choose from Anyone with link, Members with link, or Disable external sharing.
- Anyone with link allows anyone with the link—whether they are a team member or not—to open the doc.
- Members with link allows only team members with the link to open the doc. Non-team members will not be able to open the doc even if they have the link.
- Disable external sharing prevents team members from sharing docs with non-team members.

Permanent deletion controls

By default the creator can permanently delete a doc or folder after it is archived.

Team admins of a Dropbox team can limit permanent deletions of Paper docs to team admins only. To prevent permanent deletions, team admins can turn the team deletion setting to Off.

Note: If Deletions are set to Off, team admins can permanently delete files by signing in as a user. Learn how to sign in as a user in the section below.

Note: The setting applies to Dropbox files and Paper docs.

Sign in as user

Team admins of a Dropbox team can sign in as a team member. When using sign-in as, admins can:

View Paper docs and folders
Share docs and folders with other users
Move Paper docs and folders
Restore archived Paper docs
Archive and permanently delete Paper docs

Admins can’t create, edit, or comment on docs.

To sign in as a team member and access their Paper account:

Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Admin console.
Click Members.
Click the “…” (ellipsis) beside the name of the team member you would like to sign in as.
Click Log in as member.
Click Sign in to confirm that you would like to sign in as the selected user.
Click the Paper tab.
When you’re done, click Sign out.

Note: All actions performed by the admin are recorded in the activity log.

View team activity on Paper docs

The Member activity tab shows a summary of the most recent activity on a team. Admins can select a type of Paper activity on the Member activity tab or download a full activity report.

Paper events are recorded for:

Doc creation and editing
Doc commenting and resolution of comments
Doc sharing with team members and non-team members
Doc archiving and permanent deletion of docs
Doc access requests from team members and non-team members
Doc viewed by team members and non-team members
Changes to sharing policy

Learn how to view your team’s activity.

Limitations on Paper security for Dropbox teams

Some security options for Dropbox teams don’t yet include Dropbox Paper. Read on to learn which options are not available for teams using Dropbox Paper.

Standards and regulations unavailable for Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper isn’t included in the scope of these standards and regulations:

Germany BSI C5

Learn more about Dropbox compliance with these standards.

Device approvals isn’t included for the Paper mobile app

Device approvals is a security and access feature for Dropbox teams on the Advanced and Enterprise plans. With device approvals, admins can manage the devices that team members use to access their Dropbox team accounts. The Dropbox Paper mobile app is not included in device approvals.

Enterprise mobility management isn’t included for the Paper mobile app

Enterprise mobility management (EMM) helps Dropbox teams on the Enterprise plan manage mobile device usage on company apps, networks, and devices. The Dropbox Paper mobile app is not manageable by EMM.

Network control isn’t included for Paper

Network control is a security and access feature available to Dropbox teams on the Enterprise plan. With this feature, IT admins can manage which Dropbox accounts can be used on their corporate network. Dropbox Paper is not currently managed through network control.

Remotely log team members out of the Paper mobile app

Admins can remotely log team members out of Paper mobile app on all devices so they can’t access team Paper docs anymore.

Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Admin console.
Click Members.
Click the name of the member who you want to log out of the Paper mobile app on all devices.
Under Paper mobile devices, click Click here to log the team member out of Paper on all devices.