Collaboration and shared-document tools
Collaboration tools give writing teams shared access to documents, comments, ideas and tasks, with different controls over editing, versions and permissions.
Choosing tools
Cloud collaboration tools serve four distinct purposes: document review and editing, collecting and sharing ideas visually, brainstorming on virtual whiteboards, and tracking responsibilities and timelines. A visual board supports discussion of images, messaging and project plans, while note services collect and organise text, documents, web clips, photographs and images. A virtual whiteboard supports brainstorming and image collaboration when people cannot gather around a physical board. Task tools range from shared to-do lists to full collaboration workspaces, with some suites adding customer relationship management, Gantt charts, timelines and budgets. Web conferencing can also support collaborative document review.
Before adopting an application, its privacy and security policies should be understood and checked against employer, client and personal policies and risk tolerance. Online tools can supplement and enhance face-to-face collaboration, although they are unlikely to replace every aspect of in-person brainstorming and discussion.
Shared documents and content systems
Traditional word processors developed around a single writer making frequent edits to a document. A collaboration-software vendor argued in 2013 that file-based document management systems mainly added metadata and access control, leaving teams to divide documents into separately owned files and later collate and standardise them. The vendor favoured database-based collaboration systems in which contributors edit different subsections simultaneously, with automatic formatting, layout and numbering and web access across locations and organisations. Such systems can maintain content in a single repository, reuse it across documents and update live documents together.
Free online services already supported geographically dispersed work, access while travelling and off-site file backup in 2009. Google Docs then provided online creation or upload of documents, forms, presentations and spreadsheets; simultaneous editing; view-only permissions; change logging and restoration; comments and live chat; export; publication to a website or blog; folders; templates; and ownership transfer. Uploads accepted Word, CSV, HTML, ODS, ODT, PPT, RTF, XLS and plain-text files; downloads included Word, ODT, RTF, PDF, HTML and ZIP. Google accounts were required, and uploaded PDFs could be previewed and shared but not edited. Its Google Gears offline mode stored edits locally until reconnection and was not recommended for public or shared computers.
The 2009 Google Docs limits were:
| File or account | Limit |
|---|---|
| Stored document | 500 KB, with embedded images up to 2 MB |
| Documents and presentations combined | 5,000 files per user |
| Spreadsheet | 256 columns, 200,000 cells or 100 sheets, with no row-number limit |
| Spreadsheets per account | 1,000 |
| Uploaded PPS or PPT presentation | 10 MB or 200 slides |
In 2009, Zoho had 23 applications, including free document management, email, writing, spreadsheets, presentations and planning tools, with business applications available for a trial or limited number of users. Zoho Docs supported document creation and upload, folders and subfolders, read-only or read/write sharing, emailed attachments from its integrated mail utility, and export to DOC, HTML, ODT, PDF, RTF and SXW. Uploaded files were scanned for viruses and infected files refused. Offline work used Google Gears or a free Microsoft Office plug-in for Office 2000 and later, with changes to Zoho Writer and Sheet files synchronised online. The free tier held 1 GB; professional subscriptions began at $3 per user per month for 5 GB, with discounts for half-yearly and yearly subscriptions and nonprofits. Calendar, Creator, Mail, Sheet, Show and Writer were available through Zoho's mobile website on Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile devices.
Cloud-suite workspaces
By 2021, cloud content collaboration platforms such as Office 365 offered workspaces, simple workflows and granular security restricting access to teams and their documents. OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint supported sequential, parallel or simultaneous work by authors, stakeholders and reviewers on one section or separate sections.
In the 2021 Office 365 configuration, the tools differed in their access controls and intended groups.
| Tool | Workspace and access | Collaborative use |
|---|---|---|
| OneDrive | Personal repository based on a SharePoint document library; the owner controls document access | Limited internal work, such as several quality reviewers or a small stakeholder group |
| Teams | Team-level access; versioned files in the team's SharePoint library; messaging, task management and a centrally shared chat history | Internal authors, functional experts and subject matter experts |
| SharePoint | Central repository with stringent permissions, usually granted at page or folder level by an administrator following corporate security rules | Controlled editing or review, especially with clients and business partners |
A SharePoint document library stores, organises and controls files such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook files and images within a SharePoint page. Adding clients or external partners to a Teams workspace needs careful consideration because internal alignment and decision-making discussions may be inappropriate to share with them.
In 2021, Veeva Vault integrated collaborative authoring, review and approval with auditable document management through a workflow checking documents out into a SharePoint shared library and granting internal or external editing permissions. The Office 365 options worked in browsers and desktop Word, whose fuller features made it preferable for many teams; with autosave enabled, co-authors' changes appeared dynamically. Dedicated review tools such as PleaseReview offered more control of the review workflow and clearer handling of comments.
SharePoint team sites
A SharePoint site can centralise files and links to current templates, client style guides, regulatory guidance and training, while retaining legacy documents in the background. It also supports collaborative authoring with alerts when another person is working in a document. In 2019, the SharePoint suite comprised the organisation-maintained Server, cloud-based Online and free Designer for editing site content.
A recommended cycle for creating and refreshing a team site is:
- Identify content.
- Identify users.
- Create SharePoint pages.
- Periodically review content.
Content determines the relevant users and page design, while permissions range from full editing and deletion to view-only access. In the 2019 interface, pages could start from a templated web part page or a blank page, using Link, List and Text web parts for hyperlinks, customisable lists such as metrics and styled text. Periodic review checks both content relevance and user permissions. Microsoft's guide to creating a SharePoint team site and paid SharePoint courses on LinkedIn Learning were recommended training resources in 2019.
Review and reconciliation
Word's tracked changes and comparison features are common primary review tools. A medical editing consultant's 2014 advice favoured Acrobat for collating individual reviewers' comments into one PDF, responding to revisions in that file and retaining an audit trail, and judged subtle changes easier to spot there than in a tracked-changes document. This workflow then required Acrobat Professional rather than the free Reader, with software costs and some users' reluctance to train as drawbacks. The consultant also recommended Workshare Compare when version control failed, noting that even one copy on the team could help, and observed that sponsors might require tools such as PleaseReview. PleaseReview supported simultaneous review by multiple people by 2019.
Ideagen PleaseReview
In 2024, Ideagen PleaseReview was a browser-based service supporting teams of 2–200 owners, authors and reviewers in an audit-ready environment. It supported simultaneous parallel and offline review and coauthoring by internal or external participants, with accepted changes and comments merged automatically into the master document. Offline edits could be uploaded on reconnection. Collaborators could navigate by comments or mentions, and a reconciliation report in Word, Excel or the browser captured changes throughout the document’s life. Owners had a review dashboard and customisable review-request emails, and integrations included Veeva Vault, Oracle and Documentum without requiring reviewers to be users of those systems.
Its 2024 feature set included:
- Handling Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, images and other formats.
- Secure document access across locations and devices.
- Version control and coauthoring, editing and review in real time.
- Configurable contributor permissions and capabilities.
- Automated progress tracking and reminders, with review in original formats.
- Automatic capture of comments, suggested changes and discussion threads.
- Access and visibility controls for documents and sections, and redaction categories.
- Automatic justification reports and integration with quality management systems such as Q-Pulse.
- Comment categories for structured review.
- Review templates to speed review creation.
Ideagen claimed average savings of 65% in content collaboration time and 35% in review costs.
Meeting and screen-sharing tools
In 2012, GoToMeeting ran on Mac and PC, needed minimal installation and integrated with Outlook to generate invitations containing a meeting link. Participants did not need an account or to provide private information, and could join from iPad, iPhone or Android applications, although organisers had to start meetings from a computer. It offered a 30-day trial, personal and corporate rates and an extra fee for a toll-free number. A freelance medical writer and editor judged it intuitive to start and useful for complex document discussions across countries or states, comparing its setup favourably with WebEx.
In 2012, FreeScreenSharing.com was a free visual conferencing platform for Mac or Windows supporting up to 96 participants viewing one another's screens. It had no audio but could be paired with FreeConferenceCall.com or Skype. A user judged it functional despite finding its appearance less attractive than WebEx or GoToMeeting.