People looking for a way to edit documents on the go or by using multiple devices were delighted with Quip, a modern word processor that launched last July.

Despite its youngness, Quip is gaining traction.  It’s being used by schools to coordinate faculty, and acts as a collaborative way of writing assignments on iPads.  And beyond the education sector, small businesses such as one fashion startup SS/FW are using Quip to manage international teams and other creative work.

Like many cloud-based collaboration products now hopping onto the BYOD bandwagon, Quip saw a pattern in user adoption beginning with one user that introduces the software to others at work: it starts with one user using Quip to create documents, who shares it with others not on Quip, who sign up and the cycle starts again.

In one of its first major updates since launch, Quip has added a few new features in hopes of getting more people interested in its product, as well as improving the experience for existing users.  Most notable is the hefty integration with popular cloud services, like Dropbox.  Such third-party support will be key in Quip’s strategic growth and user appeal, and the team had to overcome challenges particularly for mobile devices when building out these points of integration.

“The main challenge we faced was making document import work seamlessly on mobile devices,” says Bret Taylor, former CTO of Facebook, and CEO and CoFounder of Quip. “We want to enable you to import a document from an email attachment or a cloud storage service your phone so you can instantly start editing and collaborating without having to go back to your computer. These cloud services vary greatly in their mobile APIs, and we have done a lot of work to make the experience seamless on phones and tablets as well as the web.”

What’s New

Import documents

Users will now be able to import documents from Microsoft Word, Dropbox, Google Drive and Evernote directly into Quip.  If you’re using the web, just drag and drop the file from your computer to your Quip Desktop.  The file will be automatically converted to a Quip document.

If you’re using your smartphone or tablet, just select the Import Document option from the gear menu or tap the import button at the bottom of your inbox and choose where the document will be coming from.

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Inbox filters

Most of us have unruly inboxes, which means we sometime fail to see important emails. Quip doesn’t want that so it introduced Inbox filters that allows you to organize your inbox.  This way you can filter out documents you’ve already read, or make it so that Quip shows only your own private documents.

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Focus mode

This is for people who do not want distractions while writing.  By enabling focus mode, the conversation threads go into hiding, so even if your colleagues are chattering their head off, you won’t be disturbed and can focus solely on your writing.

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Notification settings

Not everyone is interested in getting all the updates regarding shared documents.  To address this, Quip now allows users to turn notifications on or off for both documents and folders.  Or even hide a document from your inbox if you think the document doesn’t really concern you.

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Accountless

And finally, you no longer have to have a Quip account in order to use it.  Before, if someone sent you a document, you need to sign up for the service in order to start using Quip.  Now, you can use Quip without an account, giving you one less thing to manage in your personal and work cloud life.

 But the downside to not registering is you won’t be able to collaborate, all you can do is create and manage your own documents.  If you want to start sharing or collaborating, just register your email address.