How to Edit an Article with Multiple Contributors at the Same Time

Your documentation rarely comes from one person. The writer is updating the content, a product expert needs to make a correction, the reviewer has feedback, and someone else is already working on the article. Until now, that meant waiting for your turn.

With collaborative editing in Document360, multiple contributors can work on the same article at the same time. You can see exactly where everyone is working and watch changes sync as they happen, with no locks and no passing the article back and forth.

This tutorial will guide you through collaborative editing in Document360. You will learn how to start a session, track who is working where, add media and comments alongside other contributors, publish without interrupting anyone, and review contributor-level changes in revision history.

Collaborative editing is being rolled out in phases, so if you do not see it in your project yet, it is on its way.

Starting a Collaborative Editing Session

To get started:

• Open an article created with the Advanced WYSIWYG editor.
• Click Edit.

Another contributor with edit permission can now open the same article and start editing too. There is no need for the first person to finish or leave the editor.

Up to 10 contributors can work on the same article simultaneously, and reviewers count toward that limit.

Seeing Who Else Is Editing

As people join, their colored avatars appear at the top of the editor, so you can always see who is currently working with you. Each contributor gets their own color for the session, and hovering over an avatar shows the contributor’s full name.

Inside the article, you will also see everyone’s cursor in their assigned color, moving in real time. Instead of wondering whether someone else is changing the introduction, fixing a table, or working further down the page, you can see exactly where the team is.

Editing Together in Real Time

Changes made by one contributor are synced to everyone else in the session in real time. You can work on completely different sections of the article, or edit the same section.

If two contributors change the exact same content at the same time, the most recent edit is retained.

Adding and Editing Media

Collaboration is not limited to text. While others are writing, you can:

• Insert images, videos, and screen captures.
• Replace, resize, or update media that is already in the article.

If two contributors edit the same media item at the same time, the most recently saved change is retained. Note that you will not see an indicator when another contributor is working on the same media item.

Commenting and Reviewing Alongside Editing

Reviews can happen while editing continues. Add an inline comment and the rest of the team sees it in real time. New comments, highlights, replies, and resolved comments are all updated as they happen.

Comment filters and the expanded or collapsed state of the comment panel apply only to your own view.

Using Eddy AI While Collaborating

You can use Eddy AI during a collaborative session.

When one contributor uses Eddy AI to generate or rewrite content, the article temporarily becomes read only for everyone else, and they see a message showing who is using Eddy AI. Once the operation is complete, everyone can continue editing.

Publishing While Others Are Editing

When the article is ready, a contributor with publish permission can publish it even while others are working. Once published:

• Everyone in the session sees an Article published notification.
• Document360 automatically creates a new draft.
• The contributor who published moves to the new draft, while others stay where they were and keep editing.

If you do not have permission to publish, the Publish button stays disabled. Hover over the button to see why.

Tracking Who Changed What

With several people contributing, knowing who changed what becomes even more important. Open Revision history to see the active draft alongside your previous versions. Only one active draft exists for an article at a time, which keeps everyone working from the same source.

Published, Unpublished, and System Backup versions are clearly identified with their own tags.

Open the draft and Document360 breaks down the changes by contributor. Additions, deletions, and edits are highlighted in different colors, so you can see how the article changed and who contributed to it. Content carried over from the previously published version remains in black, so the new work stands out immediately.

To look further back, use Compare with to see the overall differences between two versions. Compare with shows version-level differences rather than individual contributor changes.

If you use Copy to draft to restore an older version, Document360 automatically creates a System Backup of the existing draft first, so your team’s previous work is preserved. Everyone currently collaborating is notified, and they can select Take me to the draft to jump straight into the new draft.

Key Limits to Remember

• Collaborative editing supports up to 10 active contributors, with reviewers included in that count.
• If the limit is reached, Edit is disabled for the next person who tries to join.
• It is available only for articles created with the Advanced WYSIWYG editor.
• Only one active draft exists for an article at a time.
• Code view is available only when you are the sole contributor editing the article.
• Collaborative editing is not supported in the Markdown editor, snippets, templates, custom pages, interactive decision trees, or step-by-step guides.

Conclusion

Collaborative editing removes the queue from your documentation process. Writers, product experts, and reviewers can work on the same article at once, see each other’s changes as they happen, and keep a clear record of who contributed what.

Publishing no longer stops the work, and revision history keeps the whole team accountable. Open an article in the Advanced WYSIWYG editor, bring your contributors in, and start writing together.

 

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