Perforce Software has announced a free cloud-based document collaboration solution that  aims to combine the simplicity of modern social applications with the version management capabilities of advanced software development tools. 

Commons Cloud can host a team of up to 20 participants to iterate on and evolve any type of file with no limit to the number of teams that can join.

It is designed for distributed teams who work in parallel on highly iterative digital assets, Perforce says Commons Cloud eliminates the manual effort of searching for the right file, resolving conflicts among file versions and merging edits to a document.

Users can simply drag a file anywhere into system and the File Valet stores the file to the right place, notifies of potential conflicts and recommends actions. 

Commons maintains an indelible record of all files, versions and comments.

"Documents evolve so quickly that most teams are hard pressed to keep pace," said Christopher Seiwald, founder and CEO of Perforce. 

"Knowledge workers lose time everyday searching for the right file, manually resolving conflicting versions and trying to piece together the contributions from colleagues. We created Commons Cloud to extend the power of enterprise version management to teams that are working on things like PowerPoint files, artwork and Microsoft Word documents. It's a flexible and easy-to-use way for all types of knowledge workers to collaborate, but it makes no compromises to enterprise needs for compliance."

Commons Cloud is now available for free at commons.perforce.net