How live co-editing works, who sees what, where two people can clash, and how to keep a version first. Documents, sheets, decks, designs and projects.
A three-person tender response is a good test. One person owns pricing, one owns the methodology, one owns the executive summary. The usual path is a file called “Tender v7 FINAL (Sam edits)” going round by email, and somebody’s changes get lost on the way.
Live co-editing removes the attachment. Everyone opens the same item, sees the same text, and changes arrive as they are made. It does not remove the need to agree who writes what, and most of the advice below is about that.
Most live editors rest on a data structure called a CRDT, short for conflict-free replicated data type. Each person’s copy of the document accepts edits straight away, without waiting for a server to approve them. Later, the copies exchange their changes and are designed to end up identical.
The Yjs documentation, the open-source library Oppermind builds on, puts the practical side simply. It says that as long as all changes eventually arrive, the documents will sync, and that the order in which document updates are applied does not matter.
The promise has a limit. “Merges without error” means the copies end up the same, and says nothing about whether the result reads well. If you and a colleague both rewrite the same sentence, both rewrites can survive and sit next to each other, and a human has to tidy it.
Not every editor is live. In Oppermind, live editing works in Document, Sheet, Slide, Design and Project. PDFs and conversations can be shared but have no live editing, so annotations someone saves to a shared PDF show up when you next open it. Other editors may show a Share button without live editing behind it, and the Academy page on sharing lists which is which.
| Editor | What you see of other people | Where it clashes |
|---|---|---|
| Document | A named cursor for each person | Two people in the same paragraph |
| Sheet | Cell changes as they happen | Last value typed into a cell wins. Charts and frozen rows or columns are not shared live |
| Slide | A coloured dot beside the slide number showing which slide someone is on | Two people on the same slide |
| Design | Only the page on screen is shared | Work on a multi-page design one page at a time |
| Project | Task changes as they happen | Last change to a task wins |
Open the item, save it if you have not (only saved items can be shared) and click Share at the right end of the toolbar. Type an address, choose Can view or Can edit, and send. The person gets an email naming you and the item, and the item appears under Shared with me when they sign in. If they have no account yet, they are listed as pending and the item turns up once they sign up with that address.
Only the owner decides who has access. People you invite cannot add anyone else, at either level. Sharing by email depends on your plan, and the dialog says so if yours does not include it.
In the tender, the two levels split the team sensibly. The person approving the pricing gets Can view, so they can read along as numbers change without being able to type over them. The two writers get Can edit.
The Share button carries the state. A green dot means the item is live, a yellow dot means you are following it view-only, and a blue number counts the other people who have it open. Hover over it and it shows their names. In a document, each person’s cursor carries their name.
Anyone with Can view sees a notice that the item is view-only and can read along as changes arrive. A person with Can edit gets a message when they join that their changes are shared as they make them.
On a phone, Shared with me opens documents, spreadsheets, presentations, designs and projects full screen, and all but PDFs update live.
Oppermind’s assistant, Lato, writes documents, sheets and decks from a prompt, so a sensible order for a bid is to ask for the skeleton first and invite the team afterwards. Everyone then edits a draft that already has headings, a pricing table and a timeline, and the argument over structure is mostly over before it starts.
If you ask the assistant to rework a section, such as “tighten the methodology section”, tell the others which part you are handing over so nobody types into it at the same moment.
Document, Sheet and Slide each have Version history under Files and Export in the More menu. Click Snapshot now to save the current state as a version. Saving does not add versions by itself, so a snapshot before several people start editing is what gives you something to go back to. Restore puts a version back after you confirm, and it replaces the current state, so snapshot the current one first if you may want it.
Only the owner can take a snapshot or restore a version. A co-writer you have given the final call will need to ask you to take or restore a snapshot.
A few behaviours are worth knowing before the deadline day, all from the Academy page on sharing.
In Document, select some text, click Comment, type your note and add it. Anyone who can edit can reply, resolve or delete it, and people with Can view can read comments but not add them. For a reviewer who should not touch the text, that is often the better tool than a second editing seat.
Share link, under Files and Export in a document’s More menu, copies a link that opens only for you and people you have already shared with, after they sign in. It is not a public link.
Share one working document with one colleague this week, with you as owner and them on Can edit. Take a snapshot first, split the sections, and watch what a live session does before you rely on it for a bid or a board pack.
Plans are priced per month and subject to plan terms (Free, Starter A$9.95, Pro A$29.99, Pro Plus A$59.99). Sharing by email depends on your plan.
No. The live session is just the shared copy, so one person can work while the other is away and the changes appear when they open it. Each person needs a connection to join.
Not live. People with Can edit can save annotations to it, and those appear when others open the PDF again.
Yes.
Also on the blog, for the file-format side, a Microsoft Office alternative with AI.
Oppermind is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Yjs project.