If you want to increase your team’s productivity and efficiency, thereby improving the quality of the work you do, real-time editing tools are an incredibly powerful solution.
Real-time editing allows multiple team members to work on a single file, and any changes made are visible to all users almost instantly. Real-time collaboration is cloud-based, allowing any number of users to simultaneously access and edit files from a computer, tablet or mobile device.
Real-time editing tools in Dropbox Paper
Dropbox not only supports real-time editing, but expands on it. Dropbox Paper is a robust collaborative text editor that gives you access to all the benefits of real-time editing and tools that ensure a smooth and consistent workflow.
Dropbox Paper is more than just a collaborative text editor. Your team can turn a blank sheet of Dropbox Paper into a fully functional workspace that will serve them not only during the production phase, but all the way through the project lifecycle.
Create checklists and task lists at any time, and instantly notify your colleagues when changes are made. You can add different types of content to your Dropbox Paper, including text, links, checklists, or even SoundCloud clips and YouTube videos. This means you can lead an entire project from the initial strategy planning stage to completion and feedback in one universal space.
Hold more meaningful meetings
The ability to collaborate with colleagues in real time means you can save not only time, but also finances and resources. Before the advent of real-time editing tools, the only way to collaborate online was to meet in person.
And that meant finding a location, getting everyone in the same room, and either working on a shared computer or constantly sharing files. Collaborating on a document without real-time editing tools still causes delays, even when the team is in the same room.
Of course, if collaboration requires face-to-face meetings, the number of participants will be limited due to their geographic location, but with real-time editing, you can expand the pool of resources and collaborate effectively with experts around the world.
When a face-to-face meeting is still necessary, real-time editing allows you to make the most of it. Dropbox Paper has customizable agenda and meeting minutes templates that, combined with real-time editing, allow for more focused and productive meetings. Colleagues can make real-time notes in a shared document without having to involve a minute taker. All important information is easily accessible to everyone on the team.
Let’s say you and your colleagues have gone to a seminar to learn about new client products you will be promoting. Now everyone doesn’t need to take their own notes and then merge them – everyone can work on the same document without wasting time or missing any details.
Synchronized multitasking with real-time editing support
Imagine team members are writing a blog post for a blog on their website. They can assign one or two people to research the topic and add their notes to a Dropbox Paper file. At the same time, the article writer can follow the research and prepare for the production stage in advance.
If changes are made to summary or supplemental notes after the production stage, workgroup members can easily add those notes as annotations to the same Dropbox Paper and tag the author to notify them instantly.
Without real-time editing, these tasks can be done one at a time, but not simultaneously. This approach is time-consuming, and also involves having to send new versions of files or have lengthy correspondence with each update. If documents start piling up, it can lead to clutter and confusion.
Real-time editing allows all employees to collaborate in a single space. You don’t have to deal with multiple copies of the same files to get what you need.
Efficient proofing with real-time editing
Real-time editing improves the efficiency of your validation and feedback processes.
Let’s continue where we left off in the last example: after writing an article, you may need to pass it on for review not only to a proofreader and editor, but also to clients, partners, the legal department, or other relevant parties. With real-time editing, you don’t have to wait for one person to add their notes before the next person can read the text. All participants can leave notes at the same time, and those in charge can add feedback as it comes in.
If you use two-stage review, real-time editing will save you from having to save and send each modified version separately. Once the first review is complete, you can quickly notify the next reviewer with a click of a button so you don’t slow down your workflow.
There are times when you have to deal with a large work file, such as a spreadsheet with thousands of product descriptions. Then it would be wise to divide the work among several editors, but none of them have to wait for their turn. Real-time editing allows users to work on different parts of the article at the same time, which greatly speeds up revision.