File sharing, storage and collaboration tools provider Box Inc. is integrating with Quip LLC to create a unified content experience across both platforms.

The integration comes via Box’s new Live App for Quip, enabling users of both platforms to access relevant content from a single, centralized portal. The app will go live later this month.

Quip is a Salesforce.com Inc.-owned company that offers productivity tools for workers to collaborate on any kind of device. The platform comes with chat, documents, spreadsheets, checklists and other features, and delivers these via a minimal interface that helps to ease collaboration. Organizations use Quip documents to manage projects, track business plans and structure critical internal information.

The Box Live App for Quip, available now on the Salesforce AppExchange, is designed to make it easier to collaborate on content managed with Box. Specific features enabled by the app include being able to embed Box files and folders directly into Quip documents. So file types such as PDFs and PowerPoint presentations can now be previewed directly in Quip’s platform, eliminating the need to open these separately.

“By extending your critical files into Quip, your team can make Quip your collaboration hub while keeping your content centralized and secured in Box,” the companies said in a blog post announcing the app.

Screenshot of the Box Live App for Quip

The companies also addressed users’ security concerns, saying that each Box file and folder embedded within Quip will retain the same access permissions set within Box. “Users will only see the files that they have access to in Box, even if they have access to the Quip document where files are embedded,” they said.

Analyst Alan Lepofsky of Constellation Research Inc. told SiliconANGLE that it was “very important” that new-generation web-based tools such as Box and Quip can integrate with one another, even if it means more work for information technology administrators and extra concerns for security teams.

“The end result is a more seamless experience for people using the products,” Lepofsky said. “Employees don’t want to switch between tools if they don’t have to.”

The analyst added that there was a slight clash of interests because Quip’s core document editor compete with BoxNotes. However, Quip’s lack of a full-feature enterprise file-sharing system means the integration still makes sense, Lepofsky said.

“Earlier this year Salesforce/Quip announced its integration with DropBox and now it appears they are following that up with a similar alliance with Box,” he said.

The Box Live App for Quip will be available to Quip users for free.

Images: Box