Working together
Workspace members, sharing a project, roles, live editing, comments, suggestions and version history.
Who can do what
Access works like sharing a document. It is set in two places and nowhere else.
The workspace. Everyone in a workspace can open and edit every project in it.
| Workspace role | Can |
|---|---|
| Member | Read, comment and edit in every project of the workspace |
| Admin | The same, plus manage members, project settings and sharing |
| Owner | The same as an admin; the person who created the workspace |
The project. A project can be shared with anyone by email. That includes people outside the workspace, who then see only that project.
| Project role | Can | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Viewer | Read | A friend reading a draft |
| Commenter | Read and comment | A beta reader |
| Editor | Read, comment and edit | An editor or co-writer who shouldn't see your other projects |
If someone is both a workspace member and has a project role, they get whichever lets them do more.
There are no permissions on single notes or folders. Everything in a project follows the project. A viewer reads the whole project, unrevealed secrets included. If part of a story must stay hidden from someone, put it in a separate project, or give them an export or wiki made at a spoiler horizon.
All of these roles are on both plans of the hosted version. How many people you can add depends on the plan: Free allows 3 workspace members, counting the owner, and 5 guests on each shared project; Pro allows 25 members and 200 guests. A guest is someone a project is shared with who is not a member of the workspace. See Plans and billing.
Inviting people to the workspace
In the workspace's settings, under members, enter an email address and pick member or admin. They get an email with a link; when they accept, they are in.
Sharing a project
Open Share in the project and add an email address with a role.
- If that address already has a verified account, they have access at once.
- Otherwise they get an email with a link. The access goes to the account that opens the link.
People a project is shared with find it on their Shared with you page.
To change a role or remove someone, use the same dialog. Removing access takes effect on their next request. If they have a note open, live editing stops for them within a few minutes.
A read-only link
The Share dialog can also create one link for the project that opens without an account, for reading only. Anyone who has the link can read the project, so treat it like a public page. You can switch it off again, or make a new link, and the old one stops working.
Writing at the same time
Open the same note as someone else and you see their cursor and selection, with their name. Text from both of you is merged as you type; you don't take turns and nothing needs to be locked.
The status bar shows who is in the project. Viewers and commenters are connected read-only: they see changes live but can't type.
If your connection drops
Keep writing. Your changes are kept in your browser and merged with everyone else's when the connection returns. This works for notes you have already opened in that browser. The status bar shows whether you are synced.
Comments
Select text and choose Comment (⌘⌥M). Comments are threads: people reply, and a thread can be resolved and reopened. The Comments tab in the inspector lists the threads for the open note.
Type @ and a name to mention someone. The mention is highlighted; it does not send a notification yet.
Suggestions
Suggesting mode is track changes. Turn it on with ⌘⇧E. What you type is marked as an insertion and what you delete as a deletion, and nothing is final until an editor accepts or rejects it from the Comments tab, one by one or all at once.
Only people who can edit can make suggestions. A commenter can comment but can't suggest.
Version history
The History tab in the inspector keeps earlier versions of a note.
- Save a version yourself whenever you like, with a name if you want one ("Before the rewrite").
- Plotra also saves one automatically about every half hour while a note is being edited. The latest 40 automatic versions are kept. Versions you named are not removed.
- Open a version to preview it and see what changed between it and now.
- Restore brings a version back. The current text is saved as a version first, so a restore can be undone.
Version history works for canvases too.
Review workflows
With the Review & editorial module on, a project gets its own list of stages in place of Draft, Revised, Final, for example Draft, Beta read, Edit, Proof. A stage can be locked, so only approvers can change notes in it, or need approval from named reviewers. The Reviews view collects what is waiting for you. This module is less tested than the rest of this page.