OnlyOffice (formerly TeamLab) is a FLOSS office suite and collaborative software platform that provides editors for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDFs. The software includes web-based, desktop, and mobile applications designed for document creation, editing, and collaborative work.

The project is primarily distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL-3.0), with commercial licensing options available for enterprise and developer editions. The software is developed by Ascensio System SIA and its source code is publicly available on GitHub.

OnlyOffice has been adopted by French government organizations, and is available in 45 languages.

History

TeamLab project

The project began in 2009 under the name TeamLab, developed as a platform for internal team collaboration that included social networking tools such as blogs, forums, wikis, and project management features.

In March 2012, TeamLab presented HTML5-based online document editors at CeBIT, a technology trade fair held in Hanover, Germany.

Rebranding to OnlyOffice

In July 2014, the project was renamed OnlyOffice. During the same year, the source code of the editors was published on GitHub and SourceForge under the AGPL-3.0 licence, making the software available as an open-source project.

Desktop and ecosystem expansion

In 2020, the product line was reorganised into several components, including OnlyOffice Docs, OnlyOffice Workspace, and OnlyOffice Groups. In 2021, support for the Web Application Open Platform Interface (WOPI) protocol was added to improve integration with external platforms.

In 2022, the project introduced OnlyOffice Forms, enabling users to create and fill interactive PDF forms.

In April 2023, the developers released OnlyOffice DocSpace, a collaboration environment organised around shared workspaces and document rooms.

In 2023 the company reorganised its corporate structure, establishing a holding company in Singapore while maintaining development and operational offices in multiple countries.

In March 2026, the developers of OnlyOffice publicly responded to Euro-Office's removal of certain licensing terms deemed to be "unenforceable and non-obligatory" additions to the GNU AGPL licence by calling it illegal.

Products and components

The OnlyOffice ecosystem consists of several core applications and tools designed for document editing, collaboration, and workspace management. These include:

Feature/ComponentDescription
OnlyOffice DocsThe core document editing engine providing web-based editors for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF files, and fillable forms. It supports formats including DOCX, ODT, XLSX, ODS, PPTX, ODP, and PDF. The editors provide real-time collaborative editing with features such as comments, version history, track changes, document comparison, and built-in chat. OnlyOffice Docs can be deployed on a private server or used through cloud services.
OnlyOffice Desktop EditorsA cross-platform desktop application for Windows, Linux, and macOS that enables offline document editing using the same core technology as the web editors. The application is distributed under the AGPL-3.0 licence and supports collaborative editing when connected to platforms such as Nextcloud, ownCloud, Seafile, kDrive, or OnlyOffice DocSpace.
OnlyOffice DocSpaceA document collaboration platform introduced in 2023 that organises content into rooms with configurable access permissions. It is designed to support collaboration between teams, clients, and external partners and is available as both a cloud service and a self-hosted solution.
OnlyOffice WorkspaceAn integrated productivity platform that combines OnlyOffice Docs with additional modules including document management, project management, customer relationship management (CRM), email, calendar, and an internal corporate social network.
OnlyOffice Document BuilderA document generation tool that enables developers to programmatically create and modify documents, spreadsheets, and presentations using JavaScript-based scripts without running the editors.
Mobile applicationsApplications for Android and iOS that allow users to view, edit, and collaborate on documents using mobile devices.

File format compatibility

The editors support multiple document formats including:

  • Word processing formats such as DOCX, ODT, RTF, and TXT
  • Spreadsheet formats such as XLSX, ODS, and CSV
  • Presentation formats including PPTX and ODP
  • Portable Document Format (PDF)

Compatibility with formats used by Microsoft Office is a major focus of the software.

Licensing

OnlyOffice is distributed under several licensing models:

  • Community Edition: open-source version released under the AGPL-3.0 licence
  • Enterprise Edition: commercial edition with additional enterprise features and support
  • Developer Edition: licence for embedding the editors in third-party software

Desktop and mobile editors are available for free use, while enterprise deployments may require commercial licensing.

Integrations

OnlyOffice provides connectors and APIs that enable integration with third-party platforms. Supported integrations include file-sharing services, enterprise content management systems, and content management systems such as WordPress and Moodle. The software also supports the WOPI protocol, allowing interoperability with compatible platforms.

Artificial intelligence integration

Artificial intelligence features were introduced to the platform in the early 2020s through an optional plugin architecture. The system allows users to connect external AI services or locally hosted models to assist with tasks such as text generation, summarisation, translation, and grammar correction. Later versions introduced contextual AI assistants within the editors and workspace-level automation tools within DocSpace. AI features are not enabled by default and require configuration by the user.

Organization

Based in Latvia, OnlyOffice owner Ascensio System SIA was a subsidiary of Russian-based New Communication Technologies (not to be confused with the company The New Cloud Technologies, which develops an unrelated office suite named MyOffice (Russian: МойОфис)). Due to EU economic sanctions targeting Russia, European organizations that used the commercial version of OnlyOffice were prohibited from doing so.

Forks

In Russia, Ascensio sold a similar fork under the name R7-Office (Russian: Р7 Офис). According to Ascensio, their Russian business operations were handed to a separate legal entity in 2019, and since 2023, they have "no shared codebase, ownership, or ongoing cooperation" with R7-Office.

In response to EU's digital sovereignty aspirations (particularly for independence from Microsoft Office), and a perceived failed attempt at collaborating with OnlyOffice, a group of EU-based companies started developing a fork named Euro-Office.

See also

External links

Media related to Onlyoffice at Wikimedia Commons