Stages is still an experimental feature being rolled out gradually. Check your Cloud Drive for the "Stages" option.
CipherDrive Stages is a live, end-to-end encrypted collaborative canvas built into CipherDrive™.
It is designed for work that needs the immediacy of a shared whiteboard without moving the collaboration outside CipherDrive's privacy model. Participants can work on the same canvas in real time while Stage content and collaboration state remain encrypted for authorized members.
A Stage combines a flexible canvas with CipherDrive-native files and participant-level access controls.
Supported Stage workflows include:
arranging and resizing canvas objects;
freehand drawing;
adding formatted text;
creating and arranging shapes;
bringing encrypted images from CipherDrive into the canvas;
bringing an individual page from a PDF stored in CipherDrive;
pasting or dropping new images into the Stage;
seeing presence, live cursors, and synchronized changes from collaborators;
controlling what each participant is allowed to do;
ending live collaboration and keeping the final encrypted canvas as a read-only archive.
Stages uses a deliberate lifecycle rather than treating every canvas as permanently live.
Start: create and name a new Stage. Its title and empty canvas are encrypted in the browser.
Invite: choose Ackaia identities and grant only the capabilities each collaborator needs.
Create live: work together using synchronized encrypted operations, presence, and recoverable pending changes.
End: confirm the final state and stop live collaboration for all participants.
Keep or delete: retain the final encrypted canvas as a read-only archive or permanently remove Stage-specific data.
Stages does not treat Drive files as anonymous attachments detached from their source.
You can use images and individual PDF pages already stored in CipherDrive. When you paste or drop a new image directly into a Stage, CipherDrive encrypts it and saves it to a dedicated Stage folder in your Drive before it appears on the canvas.
Source files that contributors bring from their Drives remain in those contributors' Drives.
Participants are granted access through Stage-ready Ackaia identities. The Stage owner can control capabilities per participant rather than giving every person unrestricted edit access.
If a participant loses Stage access, the identity immediately loses access and CipherDrive rotates the Stage key for future changes and active key envelopes used by the remaining members.
Stages encrypts collaboration state in the browser before it is transmitted. This includes Stage titles, canvas snapshots, operations, live cursor packets, and file-key envelopes.
CipherDrive coordinates and synchronizes ciphertext without needing to interpret the contents of the board.
Core Stages access depends on rollout and account entitlements. Custom Stage fonts are specifically a CipherDrive Plus capability.