The benefits of collaborative online editing — Edit PDFs online.

Are you getting lost with multiple emails and document attachments when you’re reviewing and editing documents, projects, and contracts with colleagues, clients, or classmates in different locations? Collaborate and edit your documents together online. It’s easy to do, and you’ll literally be on the same page as you make changes. Read on to learn what the advantages are, and how to use online collaboration tools to edit PDF documents online.

What you’ll learn

• Who may benefit from online document editing tools?
• Key benefits of collaborative online editing
• Tips for working effectively on collaborative online tools

Who may benefit from online document editing tools?

Remote work has become the new normal over the past few years. Across different sectors, many people either work remotely or engage in hybrid working. This might involve some time in an office or on-site, and the rest of the time working at home or from another remote location or working remotely full-time.

Online document editing and collaboration tools can benefit anyone who needs to work with others to create, edit, and manage documents efficiently and collaboratively, regardless of their industry or profession.

Some of the sectors, and individuals, who can benefit from online document editing tools include —

• Business teams.
  Teams within organizations can collaborate on reports, proposals, presentations, and spreadsheets in real-time with online tools. This helps to create and maintain efficient workflows and ensure that everyone is working on the latest version of a document.

• Educational institutions.
  Students, educators, and academics can collaborate on group projects, assignments, research papers and projects with online collaboration tools. This can help to facilitate and encourage teamwork, peer review processes, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

• Freelancers and remote workers.
  People working as individual freelancers or independent contractors remotely can collaborate on documents with clients and colleagues online. This helps to streamline communication and management of projects regardless of geographical location.

• Non-profit organisations.
  Teams and volunteers working for non-profits can coordinate their efforts, share resources, and collaborate on documents such as grant proposals, fundraising materials, and program plans online.

• Consultants and contractors.
  Consultants and contractors collaborate on plans, proposals, case files, contracts, and other documents online, and be assured that the files and storage are secure.

• Creative professionals.
  Writers, designers, and artists can collaborate on creative projects, such as articles, presentations, marketing materials, and artwork online — and share feedback and revisions seamlessly with clients and co-collaborators.

• Event organisers.
  People coordinating and organising events, conferences, or workshops can collaborate on planning documents, schedules, and promotional materials. This will assist with ensuring that the event planning and execution go as smoothly as possible.

Key benefits of collaborative online editing.

Collaborative online editing is the simple solution to the otherwise potentially messy and somewhat cumbersome process of sending draft documents back and forth via email.

Some of the key benefits of using online tools, such as Adobe Acrobat Online, to collaborate on reviewing and editing PDF documents are —

• You’re in control.
  A great advantage of using online tools to review and edit documents with others is that you’re in control. You can see who has edited the file last, who may still need to contribute, and keep track of the overall status. You also have control over permission settings and the ability to control the types of changes you will allow.

• You save time.
  It’s quick and easy to share files directly through online document editors. There’s no time lost hunting looking for the file you want to attach through your email client. You can all easily access the document to edit PDFs online at any time.

• You have one site to manage versions.
  Document version control is automatically tracked with each PDF document in your online cloud storage. You’ll be able to see quickly and easily who changed what and when with each draft. You won’t necessarily need to review and combine multiple versions of the same document if others end up working on different copies, as often happens with email attachments.

• You reduce errors and mistakes.
  Having everyone focused on the same document online means you’re more likely to pick up errors or mistakes in your content. Everyone can see the changes, comments, and suggestions others have made for a document in one place. You’ll also avoid mistakes such as accidentally using an older version or losing an email attachment. If you do encounter a problem, you can easily roll back to a previous file version.

• Everyone feels like part of the team.
  Online document collaboration can help to build that feeling of connection and being part of a team. Remote work can, at times, be isolating. A benefit of collaborative editing online in real-time is that people can work together and communicate and share their thoughts and feedback quickly. This all contributes to a better overall team spirit and can help to boost productivity.

• People can use any device.
  So long as your co-collaborators have an internet connection, they can work on any device to collaborate on PDF files online with you. Wherever you are, even if you’re on the go, you’re good to go.
  • Adobe Acrobat Online PDF editing tools can be accessed directly from any web browser. These include the ability to —
    • Edit a PDF online
    • Convert files to PDF online
    • Rearrange PDF pages online
    • Rotate PDF pages online
    • Sign PDFs online
    • And much more.
  • Online Adobe Acrobat services also work in conjunction with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Acrobat Standard, Adobe Acrobat Pro and other PDF editing tools that come with these applications.

Tips for working effectively on collaborative online tools.

Online document collaboration is an effective and convenient way to work on documents with other people. To work with others on reviewing and editing PDF documents online, some tips to follow are —

• Communication is key.
  Add comments to your PDF files before you invite others to contribute. Having your comments in a document first will help to make sure everyone is clear about what edits or reviews are expected of them. For example, are you looking for people to contribute and comment on the formatting and presentation of a document, or edit the text and content within it?
  
  That said, don’t rely solely on the written word when you’re communicating document review requirements. Jump on a call or video chat to talk about what everyone needs to do. You can edit a document online at the same time you are on a call or add comments to a document while you are talking to confirm what you have discussed and agreed upon.

• Consider access and document permissions.
  Customize and password-protect PDF files to ensure you have enabled or disallowed other people from changing certain aspects of your document. For example, you can limit people to only commenting and annotating PDF files to protect the integrity of your original content and set permissions around preventing people from copying or printing. You can also unshare a PDF document in your Adobe Acrobat online storage at any time.

Related content.

Are you ready to dive in? Here are some other articles to explore in more detail to help you work collaboratively with PDF files —

• How to use remote collaboration tools and features in PDFs
• Collaborate on PDFs and connect your team
• Document reviews and collaborations — Make it efficient and effective with PDFs