Share and review a document

A document belongs to Personal or a team. Members of the team can open it through the team, with the access the team gives them. Select Share in the editor's page bar to give other people access, or to share the document by link.

Give one person access

In Share document, under People with access, enter the person's handle, choose Can view, Can review or Can edit, and select Add collaborator. Can review lets them comment and suggest changes without changing the text.

Someone who is not on the team will be invited. Once they accept, they join the team as a guest who can open this document and nothing else in the team; see Guests on a team. Until then the drawer lists them as Invited, waiting, with Cancel to take the invitation back. A guest of the team is added at once. Members of the team have access through it and cannot be added; a team admin gives a member an area they cannot use (see Choose the areas a member can use). A document in Personal is shared the same way, and the person becomes a guest of your Personal.

The person finds the document on the Documents page when its team is selected, and under Shared with me otherwise. Everyone who can edit the document sees who has access. Only people who can edit it through its team add or remove people. Removing someone who has nothing else in the team also removes them from it, and the confirmation says so.

Share a document with anyone

Turn on Anyone with the link. The link appears under the switch: select Copy and paste it anywhere, or Open to see what readers see. Anyone with the link can read the document without signing in. The page shows the document as it is now, with its pictures, tables and notes, and without comments, suggestions or anything that edits it. Readers choose Flow for one continuous column or Pages for pages the shape of the document's paper. While the link is on, the bar under the document says Anyone with the link can read it.

To email the link, type one or more addresses in Email the link to, separated by commas, add a Note if you want one, and select Send link. The email says you shared the document, shows its title and your note, and has a Read document button. Replies go to your own email address. You will get an email when someone opens the link you sent them. Emailing the link is part of paid plans; on a free plan, copy the link into your own email instead.

Turn off Anyone with the link to stop the link opening the document; it then shows a page that says the document was not found. Turning the switch on again brings back the same link, so links you already sent work again. Only people who can edit the document can turn the link on or off and email it.

Comments

Select some text, then select Comment in the toolbar (or Insert → Comments) to open Comments and suggestions. Write the comment and select Add comment. The comment stays attached to the text you selected. Replies stay in the same thread. The author of a comment, or anyone who can edit the document, can resolve it or open it again.

Mention someone by @username to send them a notice, if they can open the document. A mention does not give anyone access. Replies, mentions and decisions on your suggestions appear at the top of Comments and suggestions.

Suggest changes

Choose Suggesting in the toolbar, select text, and enter the new wording in Suggested replacement, then select Suggest change. The text does not change until someone who can edit the document selects Accept; Reject discards the suggestion. The person who made it is told which.

Imported Word files keep their tracked changes as suggestions. File → Export DOCX includes comments and suggestions; Export clean DOCX leaves them out.

Version history

Choose Format → Version history. Enter a name such as Before client review and select Save version to keep the document as it is now. Restore puts a saved version back as a new change: the work done after it stays in the history.

Chat and who is here

Chat in the page bar opens a conversation about the document beside it. The page bar also shows how many people have the document open, including you; point at it to see who.

In the mobile app

The document's More menu has Manage access (Can view, Can review or Can edit; add a handle again to change their access; someone who is not on the team is invited, as on the website), Comments (comments, replies, resolve and reopen), Review suggestions (accept or reject), Version history (save a named version and restore one) and Chat. The app does not attach a comment to selected text or make new suggestions.

If a shared document does not open for someone, or a link you turned on says not found, Contact support.