# PaprPlain

> Turn your Excel Sheet into a working business app. PaprPlain turns the Excel Sheet a small business already keeps into a connected workspace for customers, orders, stock, payments, jobs and staff. It builds the records, screens, totals and checks for the business to check over. From ₹599 a month.

PaprPlain builds the software a small business runs on, out of what that
business already has. It reads the Excel Sheet they already keep — or listens to
them describe how the business works — and builds the whole workspace from it:
the tables, the links between them, the screens people work in, the totals, and
the rules that stop wrong entries. The customer checks what it built; they do
not design it. It is a
hosted product — customers use it in a browser and there is nothing to install
or maintain. It is commercial software, not open source. It is built for small
businesses anywhere, working in their own currency, language and date format.

Last reviewed: 2026-10-01. Contact: hello@paprpla.in.

## What it is not

Not an Excel Sheet, and not a replacement for one — an Excel Sheet is still the
fastest way to work a number out. Not accounting software: it issues
invoices — numbered in sequence when issued, with lines and tax, printable as
PDF, shareable by link, with payments and credit notes — but it does not keep a
ledger, file tax returns or register invoices for e-invoicing. Not open source, and not something you
install or self-host; there is no download and no server to run. Not sold per
seat — a plan covers the whole business. Not a blank database a customer is
expected to design: the workspace is built for them and they correct it.

Some things are not built yet. A reminder on a date or an automation that runs
on a schedule cannot be set up in the product, approval workflows do not exist,
and PaprPlain never emails anyone outside the workspace — invoices and reports
reach customers as a PDF or a shared link that the business sends itself.

## Setup

Businesses are onboarded one at a time so each workspace is set up properly.
Everything described on the website is built and running today.

## Pricing

Monthly. The price list is quoted and invoiced in Indian rupees, with GST
charged on top where it applies; the dollar figures are the same prices held for
customers who do not think in rupees, at ₹95 to the dollar. Every plan is the
same complete product; the plans differ only in limits.

- **Solo — ₹599/month ($7)**: 1 user, 1 project, 1 workspace. One person running the whole thing themselves.
- **Team — ₹1,999/month ($22)**: Up to 10 users, 5 projects, unlimited workspaces. A business where several people keep the same records.
- **Business — ₹5,999/month ($64)**: Unlimited users, Unlimited projects, unlimited workspaces. Several branches, or several businesses run side by side.

Every new workspace runs free for 7 days. There is no checkout and no card
form anywhere in the product: a customer chooses a plan from inside PaprPlain,
an operator activates it, and the invoice is sent separately. A trial that runs
out closes the workspace until a plan is chosen — nothing is deleted. New
customers are still walked through setup on a demo call.

## What it does

- An account can hold more than one workspace: a whole separate business, with
  its own records and its own people, sharing nothing with the others. Most
  customers need one. The Solo plan covers a single workspace; Team and Business
  cover any number.
- Inside a workspace, a project is one complete, connected business. Customers,
  orders, stock, payments, jobs and staff all live in the same project, because
  an order has to be able to know whose it is. A project is NOT one department
  or one spreadsheet. Almost every business needs exactly one; a second is for
  something genuinely run apart, such as another branch. Plans are priced by how
  many are needed.
- The workspace is built rather than designed. A customer brings an Excel or CSV
  file, connects a Google Sheet, or simply describes how the business works, and
  PaprPlain works out what the business keeps track of, which columns identify a
  row, which lists point at which, and what people need to look at. It then
  builds the tables, the links, the screens, the totals and the first checks.
- How much review a new workspace gets is decided from the data. A small file
  with nothing in doubt opens straight away as a working project, with no setup.
  Otherwise the customer is shown what will be built, in business language
  rather than as a schema, is asked only where the data supports two readings,
  and then creates the workspace; nothing is created before that.
  In practice that is which column identifies a row, and — where a column holds
  stages such as Open, Packed, Dispatched — what order those go in and which of
  them mean work stopped early. A file lists those words and says nothing about
  their order, so it is asked rather than guessed, and presented as a list to
  arrange rather than a box to retype. "These are not stages" is an accepted
  answer.
- A proposal may include a few example rows so the shape is visible. Every value
  reads "Example ...", and none is ever saved.
- Anything built automatically can be renamed, changed or removed afterwards,
  and a table, column, check or screen can still be built entirely by hand.
- Records link to records: an order to its customer, a payment to its order, a
  line to the order it sits on. The link is made on a value the file already
  holds — the phone number, the order number — rather than by rewriting rows, so
  re-reading a source keeps working. Either side opens the other.
- Totals are worked out and kept right rather than calculated once: an order
  adds up its own lines, a customer adds up their orders, a job knows how many
  days it took. Changing a line updates every total above it. A missing price
  leaves a blank total rather than counting as zero.
- Deleting a row that others point at is refused with what is in the way named,
  or empties the pointing cell, depending on how the link was set up. Nothing is
  left pointing at nothing.
- Bring in Excel or CSV files, or build a table from scratch.
  PaprPlain sets up the columns from the file.
- Or connect a Google account and pick a Google Sheet, or an Excel or CSV file
  kept in Google Drive. A connected sheet is read again on request rather than
  re-uploaded. PaprPlain can read only the files selected through Google's file
  picker, rather than asking for access to the rest of the account's Drive.
- A column can hold anything an Excel Sheet column would: names and notes, money,
  numbers and percentages, yes or no, dates, email addresses, phone numbers, web
  links, and photos or documents. Money adds up and lines up down the column,
  dates sort as dates, and a photo or a signed order sits on the row it belongs
  to rather than in a folder somewhere else.
- A column knows what it holds and refuses what does not fit, naming the column
  and what it needs — "Outstanding must be a number" — rather than reporting a
  validation error. Amounts are read in the workspace's own conventions, so a
  currency symbol or code, any way of grouping thousands, another locale's
  decimal separator, another script's digits and accounting brackets for a
  negative are all accepted; a value like "TBC" is not a number and is refused. You can also say what
  must always be filled in and what must never be entered twice.
- Checks: rules that run whenever a row is added or changed. A check can insist
  something is filled in, fill something in automatically, or mark where a job
  stands, and can wait until something else is true first.
- Screens are made by describing them in one sentence ("everyone who owes us
  money, newest first"), or by opening one that is already made — for stock,
  customers, orders, payments, work, suppliers, checks or people — and
  changing it.
- A screen shows one list, whichever way suits: a plain table for the detail, a
  simple list, cards with the photo on them, a board jobs move across, or a
  month. Each board card carries a picker for the column it should be in, and
  moving it really does change where that job stands. A month view opens on the
  month the rows are actually in rather than the current one, and states how
  many rows have no date rather than leaving them out silently.
  Above the rows sit the totals that matter; below the heading, a search box and
  filters. Narrowing the rows re-computes the totals.
- A project's Home surface shows the numbers that matter for that business, with
  anything needing attention first, and every number opens the rows behind it.
- A table can be given the stages its work moves through. A row then cannot be
  created halfway along, cannot make a move nobody listed, and cannot reopen
  after an ending such as Cancelled. A move can require columns to be filled
  first, and is offered as "Dispatch - needs Tracking number" rather than as an
  absent button. This is off unless it is set up: a choice column with no stages
  declared takes any value in any order.
- Where a table says who is responsible for a row, everything across the whole
  project assigned to the signed-in person is gathered into one list, soonest
  first, with overdue work counted and finished work removed. Where nothing in
  the project says who is responsible, the surface is absent rather than empty.
- Automation: when a row is created or reaches a stage, a column can be set or a
  row created in another table — "when an order is dispatched, raise a delivery
  against it". It runs as part of the same save, so a created row cannot survive
  a change that failed, and a failure is recorded against the row rather than
  lost. A reminder on a date, a schedule and approval requests cannot be set up
  in the product yet.
- Every row carries its own history: when it moved stage, what a rule did to it,
  what an automation did, and any note left on it. Notes are append-only; a
  correction is another line. Anyone who can see the row can read its history,
  which is separate from the workspace Activity list an Admin reads.
- Structural changes asked for in words — a new column, a link, a total — are
  shown as a preview of what will change, what it affects and whether it can be
  undone, before they happen. Presentation changes apply with an undo. Deleting
  data or reaching outside PaprPlain always needs an explicit confirmation.
- There is no design mode, no preview and no publish step. Saving is one button.
- The project's Analyst tab answers plain-language questions and shows a line
  saying exactly what it did and which list it read, so no number has to be
  taken on trust.
- An answer worth keeping — a total, a count, a breakdown — can be pinned with
  "Add to dashboard" to the project's Dashboard tab, which everyone in the
  project can open, Viewers included. Each pinned answer is worked out again
  from the latest records when it opens, and its cards can be dragged into
  place and resized.
- Invoicing: a project can be set up to issue invoices, from the start or later
  (linking to a Customers table it already has). Invoices have lines with
  quantity, price and tax rate; issuing one numbers it in sequence — per fiscal
  year, in the country's usual format, such as INV-2026-0001 in the UK or
  INV-26-27-0001 in Australia — and
  locks it with its lines. Payments recorded against it bring its balance down
  and show it as partly paid, paid or overdue. An issued invoice is cancelled by
  a numbered credit note that copies its lines negated, never by editing it.
  Business details — legal name, address, tax registration, payment
  instructions — and starting tax rates come from the workspace's country and
  can be changed. Invoices print or save as a PDF. PaprPlain does not keep a
  ledger, file returns, register e-invoices, or (yet) split one tax into
  separate components on the same line.
- Sharing: an invoice, any screen (with its search and filters) or the Dashboard
  can be shared as a link that opens without an account. It shows a copy taken
  at share time, with sensitive columns left out; it expires after 7, 30 or 90
  days, can be updated or turned off, and is listed in the project's settings.
  On the Solo plan and during a trial, shared links, printed invoices and chart
  images carry a small "Created with paprplain" line; paid Team and Business
  plans do not.
- A chart on a screen downloads as an image for a slide, headed with what it
  counted, the filters in force and the date.
- When a project is started, the person can tap what goes wrong with their
  spreadsheet today — overdue payments slipping, entries missing details, the
  same thing typed twice — and the starting columns and screens change to catch
  it, with or without an AI model.
- Whoever creates a project owns it. Every other workspace member can see it by
  default, and the owner can make any of them an Editor of that project or hide
  it from them entirely. A hidden project is absent from their listings and
  refused by every API path that could reach it, including the scheduled read of
  a connected sheet — it is not merely a control the interface leaves out.
- A Viewer can ask the owner for edit access from the project itself. The owner
  gets a durable in-app notification and an email; repeating the request within
  a day does not send a second one. Access changes notify the person affected
  the same way.
- Notifications appear on a bell beside the profile with an unread count, and by
  email. There is no push service, no FCM and nothing to install.
- A project owner renames, describes and deletes the project from Customize →
  Project settings.
- A source connection can be removed. Doing so requires confirmation, stops
  future reads of that sheet or file, and preserves every table and row already
  imported from it — it ends a feed rather than deleting data.
- Admin, Editor and Viewer roles, teammate invitations, and an Activity list of
  what happened and who did it. On the one-person Solo plan there is nobody to
  give a role to, so roles are offered from the Team plan up. By default members
  can adjust how the workspace is built as well as work in it; an Admin can
  restrict that to leave everybody able to add and edit rows but not to change
  the structure.
- Sign-in by email and password plus a six-digit code from an app on the phone,
  or with a Google account.
- Download any list as a real Excel file or a CSV, with your own headings, at any
  time. A single download covers up to 50,000 rows; a longer list is taken in
  parts, and the limit is stated rather than the file quietly cut short.
- Each workspace sets the language it works in, the money it deals in, and
  whether a date like 05/09 means the 5th of September or the 9th of May. Names
  are then put in the order that language puts them in rather than an English
  one. Set once, every amount and date in the workspace follows it.
- Screens stay quick at ten thousand rows: scrolling, searching and totalling a
  long list works the same as on a short one. That figure is what the product is
  built and tested against rather than an estimate.
- Light, dark, or whatever the phone or computer is already set to. The choice is
  remembered on that device.
- Works on phones, so staff add rows where the work happens.

## Missing capabilities

Requests are welcome and get built when they are sensible and fit the product,
at no extra charge — customers talk directly to the people making it. Ask rather
than assume something is impossible.

## Security and privacy

- Whose business a person belongs to is part of every lookup, so one customer's
  data cannot come up in front of another.
- Sign-in requires a six-digit code from an app on the phone as well as a password.
- Five wrong sign-in attempts on an account stop further tries for fifteen
  minutes. The count stays with the account, so moving to another phone or
  another office does not start it over.
- A six-digit code works exactly once. A code somebody has watched being typed,
  or got hold of some other way, is no use to them.
- Roles limit what each person can do, on the Team plan and above; every change
  is recorded with who made it.
- If two people open the same row and both save, the second is told somebody got
  there first rather than quietly overwriting them.
- Uploaded files open through a link that stops working shortly afterwards, never
  an address anyone could guess or pass on.
- A shared link is a copy taken when it was shared, never a live view: sensitive
  columns are left out and nothing else in the workspace is reachable from it.
  Links expire, can be turned off at once, ask search engines not to index them,
  and are not passed on to other sites as a referrer.
- Nothing a person or a model writes is ever run as a program; a screen is kept
  as a description of what to show, and only what is on a fixed list of allowed
  things is accepted. A question can only look at rows — there is no way to
  phrase one that changes or deletes anything.
- Nothing is used for training. To read a file and answer questions, a model
  is shown table and column names, facts measured about each column, and a
  small sample of rows — a handful per table, never a whole table, never files,
  and nothing from a column marked sensitive. The privacy policy
  (/privacy#ai) gives the exact limits.
- Credentials, card numbers, keys and similar secrets are detected and removed
  before anything is sent, and the built request is checked again before it
  leaves.
- A model proposes; it never decides. It does not parse files, generate
  identifiers, write rows, evaluate a total, authorise an action, or judge its
  own output valid. Everything it says is checked against what was actually
  measured in the file, and anything unsupported is dropped before it can become
  part of a workspace.
- PaprPlain controls which models are used and the privacy terms they run under.
  Customers cannot select a model, a provider or a cheaper analysis mode, and a
  deployment that cannot meet the required privacy terms turns automatic
  generation off rather than quietly using something weaker.
- Customer data is not sold or shared, and can be exported in full at any time.
- PaprPlain does not claim any security certification it has not completed.

## How a business starts using it

1. Bring your file, or say what you do. Upload the Excel or CSV file you already
   keep, connect a Google Sheet, or simply describe how the business works.
2. It builds the workspace. The tables, how they connect, the screens, the
   totals and the first checks — worked out from the data, not designed.
3. Check what it built. A straightforward file opens straight away. Otherwise
   you see what it will build, in plain words, answer only where your data
   supports two readings, and create the workspace. Everything remains
   editable afterwards.
4. Give it to your team. Invite people as Admin, Editor or Viewer. Everything
   they do is recorded.

The first 7 days are free, and new
customers are set up on a half-hour call, with their own file, before they
commit to anything.

## Reading these pages

Every page listed below is also served as Markdown — the same words with the
navigation, the icons and the sample interfaces taken off. Ask for it with
an Accept: text/markdown header, or add .md to the address — https://paprpla.in/pricing.md.

## Pages

- [Home](https://paprpla.in/): what it is, how it goes, and where the product stands.
- [What it does](https://paprpla.in/features): every capability that works today.
- [Vs. Excel Sheets](https://paprpla.in/spreadsheet-alternative): replacing a shared Excel Sheet the team works in.
- [Pricing](https://paprpla.in/pricing): the three plans, what is in every one, and how to book a demo.
- [Security & privacy](https://paprpla.in/security): how customer data is handled.
- [FAQ](https://paprpla.in/faq): straight answers.
- [Compared](https://paprpla.in/vs): PaprPlain next to the other tools, on setup,
  pricing and what a team gets on day one.
  - [vs Glide](https://paprpla.in/vs/glide): Glide alternative for small businesses.
  - [vs AppSheet](https://paprpla.in/vs/appsheet): AppSheet alternative for small businesses.
  - [vs Airtable](https://paprpla.in/vs/airtable): Airtable alternative for small businesses.
  - [vs Zoho Creator](https://paprpla.in/vs/zoho-creator): Zoho Creator alternative for small businesses.
  - [vs Clappia](https://paprpla.in/vs/clappia): Clappia alternative for small businesses.
- [Answers](https://paprpla.in/answers): one question a page, answered in the first
  paragraph.
  - [How do I turn an Excel sheet into an app?](https://paprpla.in/answers/turn-excel-sheet-into-app)
  - [Why has our shared spreadsheet stopped working?](https://paprpla.in/answers/spreadsheet-stopped-working)
  - [How do I stop staff entering wrong data?](https://paprpla.in/answers/stop-wrong-entries)
  - [Why do my spreadsheet formulas keep breaking?](https://paprpla.in/answers/formulas-keep-breaking)
  - [Too many people editing one Google Sheet](https://paprpla.in/answers/too-many-people-editing)
  - [How do I find out who changed a spreadsheet?](https://paprpla.in/answers/who-changed-the-sheet)
  - [How do I track orders without buying an ERP?](https://paprpla.in/answers/track-orders-without-erp)
  - [Cost to turn a spreadsheet into an app](https://paprpla.in/answers/what-it-costs)
  - [How can staff update records from their phones?](https://paprpla.in/answers/staff-updating-from-phone)
  - [When should a business leave spreadsheets?](https://paprpla.in/answers/excel-or-software)
  - [Is no-code worth it for a small business?](https://paprpla.in/answers/no-code-worth-it)
  - [Can I keep my Google Sheet and still get an app?](https://paprpla.in/answers/connect-google-sheet-to-app)
- [Privacy policy](https://paprpla.in/privacy): what is held, who touches it, and how long it is kept.
- [Terms of service](https://paprpla.in/terms): the agreement — monthly, cancellable, and your data stays yours.

## How to reach us

Email hello@paprpla.in, or book a demo at https://cal.com/parikshithv/30min. Requests for
capabilities we have not built are welcome and go straight to the people making
the product.

## Answers to common questions

### What is PaprPlain?

PaprPlain builds the software your business runs on, out of what you already have. Bring the Excel Sheet you keep today, or just describe how the business works — it reads what you track, works out what connects to what, and builds the tables, the screens to work in, the totals and the checks. A straightforward file opens straight away; otherwise you are shown what it will build and asked only where your data could mean two things, and then you create it. You check what it built — you don’t build it. There is nothing to install, and it starts at ₹599 a month.

### Do I have to set up the tables and screens myself?

No — that is the part PaprPlain does. It reads your file, or listens to how you describe the business, and proposes the whole thing: what to keep track of, how those things link to each other, the screens to work in, the totals worth watching, and the rules that stop wrong entries. Where your data leaves a real question, you are asked it in plain words before anything is created; a straightforward file simply opens. You can still change any of it afterwards, and nothing stops you building a table by hand if you would rather.

### What if I do not have a spreadsheet to bring?

Then describe the business instead. Say what you do and what you keep track of — "we install and service air conditioners, and I need customers, jobs, technicians, equipment and payments" — and you are asked a question or two back, in ordinary words. You are never asked to name a table, pick a column type or design anything. What comes out is the same workspace an uploaded file would have produced.

### Who is it for?

Small businesses where more than one person keeps the same file — shops, distributors, workshops, clinics, tutoring centres, agencies, transport and service teams, wherever they are. You set your currency, language and date format once, and money, dates and invoices follow the way your country writes them from then on.

### Do I need to know anything technical?

No, and there is nothing to install. You open it in a browser like any website. Bring your file or say what your business does, and the workspace gets built — what you do is read it over and correct anything that is not how you work. Everything after that is adding rows and looking at them.

### Does it replace Excel or Google Sheets?

It replaces the job your Excel Sheet was never built for: four people typing into one file, with nothing to stop a wrong entry and no way to tell who changed what — and with the customers in one file, the orders in another, and nothing joining them up. Keep your Excel Sheets for working out a number. Bring the running lists across. Note that when a file is imported, PaprPlain takes the data — not the colours, charts or macros.

### Where does my data live?

On our servers, kept separate from every other business using PaprPlain — every request is tied to your business, so one customer's data can never be returned to another. We do not sell it, we do not use it to train anything, and you can download all of it as Excel or CSV whenever you want. Our security page sets out exactly how it is handled.

### Is there AI in it, and is my data safe from it?

Yes, and it is kept on a short lead. A model helps read your file when a workspace is built, answers questions in the Analyst, and builds a screen you describe. To do that it sees your column names and a small sample of rows — a handful, never a whole table — and nothing from a column you have marked sensitive. Anything that looks like a password, a card number or a key is stripped out before anything leaves. Nothing is used to train anything, nothing a model says is taken at its word, and a question can only read — it can never change or delete a row. The privacy policy sets out exactly what is sent.

### What does it cost?

₹599 a month for one person; ₹1,999 for up to ten people and five projects; ₹5,999 for unlimited everything. Every plan is the same complete product — the plans differ only in how many people and projects they cover. See pricing. On Team and Business, what you share does not carry the small “Created with paprplain” line.

### Is there a free trial, and do I have to put a card in?

Every new workspace runs free for 7 days, and there is no card form anywhere in PaprPlain — we do not take card details at all. When you want to carry on, you choose a plan from inside the product and we turn it on and invoice you separately. If the 7 days run out first, nothing is deleted: the workspace simply waits until you pick a plan.

### Who runs PaprPlain?

Parikshith, a sole proprietor based in Bengaluru, India, trading as PaprPlain. It is a small operation on purpose — the person who answers your email is the person building the product. Read why it exists, or write to hello@paprpla.in and you will get a real reply. The terms and privacy policy say who you are contracting with and what happens to your data.

### How does setup work?

We take on businesses one at a time and set up the first workspace with you, using the file you already keep. You check what PaprPlain built, and your requests reach the people building the product. Everything described on this site works today.

### What actually happens when I upload my file?

It is read on our side first — every column measured for what it holds, how much of it is filled, whether its values repeat, and whether they turn up in another sheet, which is how a link between two lists is spotted. Anything that looks like a password or a card number is stripped out. Then the shape of the business is worked out, and turned into a proposal: these tables, linked this way, with these screens, these totals and these checks. Simple files open straight into a working project with a summary of what was done. A file with more going on stops and shows you the proposal first.

### What will it ask me?

As little as it can get away with. It only asks when your file genuinely does not contain the answer and guessing would be worse than asking. In practice that is usually one thing: which column identifies a row — the order number, the item code — and, where a column holds stages like Open, Packed, Dispatched, what order those go in and which of them mean the work stopped early. A file lists those words; nothing in it says which comes first. You arrange the list rather than retyping it, and "these are not stages at all" is a real answer.

### What if it gets my business wrong?

Then you correct it, and the cost of being wrong is one of the things it is built around. Where your data could honestly be read two ways, it asks before anything is created, and you can discard the proposal outright; a file with nothing in doubt opens straight away. Either way, anything it built can be renamed, changed or removed like anything else. Where a wrong guess would refuse work your team does every day — the stages an order moves through, for instance — it does not guess at all; it asks. Where being wrong is harmless and obvious, it decides and tells you what it assumed.

### Does it make up data?

No. A proposal can show you a few example rows so you can see the shape of what you are agreeing to, and every value in them reads "Example …". They are never saved. Your real rows come from your file and nowhere else.

### Can I still build things by hand?

Yes, all of it. Start a blank table and type your columns in, write a check yourself, arrange a screen. The automatic path is the quick way in, not the only door — and it is offered rather than forced.

### Can I ask it for a change later, in words?

Yes. Ask for a screen and you get it. Ask for something structural — a new column, a new link, a total — and you are shown what will change, what it touches and whether it can be undone, before it happens. Presentation changes just happen, with an undo. Nothing that deletes data or reaches outside PaprPlain goes ahead without you saying so explicitly.

### Can it read my Google Sheet instead of an upload?

Yes. Connect your Google account and pick a Google Sheet, or an Excel or CSV file you keep in Drive. PaprPlain reads it in, and reads it again whenever you ask — you are not re-uploading a file every week.

### What is a project?

One complete business, with everything in it connected. Customers, orders, stock, payments, jobs and staff all live in the same project, because an order has to be able to know whose it is and a payment has to be able to know which order it settles. This is worth being clear about: a project is not one department or one spreadsheet. Most businesses need exactly one. You would keep a second only for something genuinely run apart — a separate branch, or a wholesale side that shares nothing with the service side. A second project is also how you keep something away from people: each project has its own owner, and can be hidden from anybody who should not see it.

### What is a workspace, and how is it different from a project?

A workspace is a whole separate business — its own records, its own people, nothing shared with your others. A project inside it is one complete, connected operation. Almost everybody needs a single workspace with one project in it. You would only start a second workspace if you genuinely run two unrelated businesses and want them kept completely apart. The Solo plan covers one workspace; Team and Business cover as many as you like.

### Do my customers, orders and payments actually link up?

Yes, and that is the difference from a pile of spreadsheets. An order knows which customer it belongs to, a payment knows which order it settles, a line knows which order it is on. Open a customer and you see what they have ordered; open an order and you see who it is for. The link is made on the value your file already holds — the phone number, the order number — so your rows are not rewritten to make it work, and re-reading the file keeps working.

### Can it work out a total for me?

Yes, and it keeps it right rather than working it out once. An order adds up its own lines, a customer adds up their orders, a job knows how many days it took. Change a line and the order total follows, and so does the customer total above it. Nothing has to be refreshed and there is no formula to drag down a column. If a price is missing the total is blank rather than quietly counting it as zero — reading a missing price as free is how a wrong number gets believed.

### What files can I bring in?

Excel and CSV files, as many of them as you keep. You can also start with a blank table and type into it — most people do both.

### What can it hold?

Anything you would keep in an Excel Sheet column: names and notes, money, numbers and percentages, yes or no, dates, email addresses, phone numbers, web links — and photos and documents. That last one matters more than it sounds: a photo of the delivery or a signed copy of the order sits on the row itself, instead of in a folder somewhere else. A column can also hold a link to a row in another table.

### What stops someone entering the wrong thing?

The column does. If a column holds money, "TBC" will not go in, and what comes back names the column and what it needs — "Outstanding must be a number" — rather than "validation error". A currency sign, "1,234.56" or "1.234,56", a code like "1200 USD" or a bracketed negative all go in fine; "TBC" is simply not a number. On top of that you can say what must always be filled in and what must never be entered twice, and write your own checks. And a row cannot point at a customer who is not there, or be left pointing at one you have deleted.

### What is a check?

A rule you write once that runs every time a row is added or changed. It can insist something is filled in, fill something in for you, or mark where a job stands — and it can wait until something else is true first. Switch one off or delete it whenever you like.

### Can I change things later?

Yes, at any point. Start recording something new, rename it, or change what it holds. Rows can be added, edited, deleted and searched as you would expect. Where a change would break something — renaming a customer that orders still point at — you are told what is in the way rather than left with rows pointing at nothing.

### How much can it hold before it slows down?

Ten thousand rows on one screen is the size we build and test against, and at that size it still scrolls, searches and adds up like a short list. A download takes up to fifty thousand rows at a time; past that you take it in parts, and it says so rather than quietly leaving rows out of the file.

### Can I change how money and dates are shown?

Yes. You set the language you work in, the money you deal in, and whether a date like 05/09 means the 5th of September or the 9th of May. Names are then put in the order your own language puts them in, rather than an English one. Set it once and $58,985, 58.985 € or ¥58,985 — and 05/09 — read the way your business already writes them.

### What happens if I disconnect my Google Sheet?

The connection goes and the sheet stops being read again — but everything already brought in stays exactly where it is. The tables, the rows, the screens built on them and the history all carry on working; you are stopping a feed, not deleting a table. You are asked to confirm it first, and it is done from Customize, under Data.

### Can I get my data back out?

Any list downloads as a real Excel file or a CSV, with your own headings, whenever you want. Leaving is a download, not a request you have to make to us.

### What happens to my data if I leave?

It is kept for 90 days, and we get in touch during that time to ask what you want done with it — kept in case you come back, or cleared. Nothing is deleted while that conversation is open. After 90 days it is permanently deleted, and if you would rather it went sooner, say so and it goes. You can download everything as Excel or CSV the whole time. Our privacy policy sets this out in full.

### What if PaprPlain does not do something my business needs?

Tell us. We are small and close to the product, and if what you need is sensible and belongs in PaprPlain, we build it — at no extra charge. You will be talking to the people who make it, and if something genuinely does not fit we will say so straight rather than leave you waiting.

### What do I see when I open a project?

Home — the numbers that matter for your business, worked out from your own rows, with anything that needs attention first. Every number opens the rows behind it, so a figure you do not believe is one click from the list that produced it. Below that: your views of the business, a place to ask questions, and — only if something in your business says who is responsible for what — a list of what is yours to do.

### Can I send invoices from PaprPlain?

Yes. Tap "Invoices and what customers owe" when you start a project, or set up invoicing in one you already have. You get Customers, Invoices with their lines, Payments and Tax rates, all linked. Add lines to a draft, issue it, and it is numbered in sequence and locked. Print it, save it as a PDF, or send a link to it. Record payments against it and the balance goes down by itself; cancel a mistake with a numbered credit note. Your business details, tax rates and numbering start from your country and can be changed. PaprPlain does not keep your books, file tax returns or register invoices for e-invoicing.

### Can I share a report or an invoice with someone outside the business?

Yes. Press Share on an invoice, on any screen — with whatever search and filters you have on — or on the Dashboard, and you get a link that opens without an account. It shows a copy as it was when you shared it, not a way into your workspace, and columns marked sensitive are left out. Choose whether it lasts 7, 30 or 90 days; update it to today’s figures or turn it off at any time. Every link a project has shared is listed in its settings. Invoices and shared pages can also be printed or saved as a PDF.

### What is the “Created with paprplain” line on what I share?

A small line with our logo at the bottom of shared links, printed invoices and downloaded chart images, on the Solo plan and during a trial. It is not there on a paid Team or Business plan. Downloads of your data as Excel or CSV never carry it.

### Can everyone see the numbers we care about without asking for them?

Yes. When someone asks the Analyst a question and gets a total, a count or a breakdown worth keeping, they choose Add to dashboard. The project’s Dashboard shows every pinned answer to everyone in the project — Viewers included — worked out again from the latest records each time it is opened, and its cards can be dragged into place and resized.

### How do I make a screen?

Most of them are already there, built from your own data when the workspace was created. For a new one you write a sentence saying what you want to see — "the products we hold, with stock levels I can correct" — and that screen gets built out of your own rows. Or take one that exists and change it.

### What can a screen look like?

Whichever suits the job: a plain table when you want the detail, a simple list, cards with the photo on them, a board jobs move across, or a month. The board is how you run work — move a card and that job really has moved on. The month view opens on the month your rows are actually in, not on whatever month it happens to be, and says how many rows have no date rather than quietly leaving them out.

### What is on a screen besides the rows?

The totals that matter at the top — what is owed, how many, the average. A search box, and filters for things like city or status. Narrow the rows and the totals above follow, so a total never quietly ignores the filter you set.

### Can I stop a job jumping a step?

Yes. Say what stages your work moves through and you get exactly that: an order cannot be created halfway along, cannot make a move nobody listed, and cannot reopen once it is cancelled. You can say what must be filled in before a move lands — a tracking number before a dispatch — and the move then reads "Dispatch — needs Tracking number" rather than being a button that is not there. This is off unless you ask for it: a column of stages with nothing said about it takes any value in any order, as it always did.

### How does my team know what is theirs to do?

If a table says who is responsible — an "Assigned to" or "Technician" column you already keep — everything across the whole business that is assigned to the person signed in is gathered into one list, soonest first, with what is overdue counted. Finished work comes off it. If nothing in your business says who is responsible for anything, the list is not there at all, rather than being there and empty.

### Can one thing happen automatically when another does?

Yes, for the kind that happens as part of the work: when an order is dispatched, raise a delivery against it; when a row reaches a stage, set a column on it. It runs as part of the save, so the delivery cannot survive an order that failed to save, and if it does not work you are told on the row rather than never finding out. A reminder on a date, or something that runs on a schedule, is not something you can set up in PaprPlain yet, and approvals are not built. Tell us which one you need and we will build it.

### Is there anywhere to leave a note on a row?

Yes, and it sits in the same history as everything else that happened to that row — when it moved stage, what a rule did to it, what somebody said about it. One place, so nobody has to check two to find out why a delivery was late. Notes cannot be quietly edited afterwards; a correction is one more line. Anyone who can see the row can read the history; leaving a note needs the right to change things.

### Is there anything to set up before my team can see it?

No. The screen you arrange is the screen they open — there is nothing to design first and nothing to publish afterwards. Changes are one Save.

### Does it have a dark mode?

Yes — light, dark, or whatever the phone or computer is already set to. It is one button in the corner, and the choice sticks to that device, so the person on the shop floor and the person at the desk can each have it the way they want.

### Can my team add rows themselves?

Yes, straight from the screen — and whatever they add goes through the same checks as everything else.

### Can I control who does what?

Yes, from the Team plan up. Three roles: Admin, Editor and Viewer. The person who needs to read the numbers does not need to be able to change them. You can invite people, change a role, and remove someone. Solo is a one-person plan, so there is nobody to give a role to — you are the Admin of your own workspace.

### Can I keep one project away from some of my team?

Yes. Whoever creates a project owns it. Everybody else in the workspace can see it to begin with, and the owner can make any of them an Editor of it, or hide it from them entirely — a hidden project is not in their list, and the server refuses it however they ask for it, rather than the button simply not being drawn. So the accounts project can be yours alone while everybody works in the shop project beside it.

### What if somebody needs more access than they have?

They ask for it from the project itself. A Viewer gets a "Request edit access" button; the owner gets a notification in PaprPlain and an email, and grants it from Project settings. Asking twice in a day does not send a second one, so nobody gets chased by their own button.

### Where do I see what needs my attention?

A bell beside your profile, with a count of what you have not read. An access request or a change to your own access appears there and stays until you open it. It is in PaprPlain and in your email — there is no app to install and nothing asks to send you push notifications.

### Can I stop people changing how the workspace is built?

Yes. By default the people you invite can adjust the workspace as well as work in it, which is usually what a small business wants. An Admin can turn that off, leaving everyone able to add and edit rows but not to change the structure. A Viewer can never change either.

### How do people sign in?

Email and password, plus a six-digit code from an app on their phone — so a password on its own is never enough to get in. Or continue with Google, if that is easier for your team.

### Is there a record of what changed?

Yes, in two places, because they answer different questions. Each project keeps a running Activity list — a row added, a check edited, someone invited — each with the time it happened. Every entry is recorded against the person who made it; putting their name on the line is being built now. Separately, each individual row carries its own history: when it moved stage, what a rule did to it, and any note anybody left on it. That one is part of working with the row, so anybody who can see the row can read it.