Keeping Media Social, Part 2: Sharing documents for editing collaboration

While Dropbox and its many similar platforms that came later may provide what you need for this kind of collaboration (for a price), Google takes the lead again on this front.

Google Drive

As a manuscript editor, as well as a website designer, I need the cloud to hold documents accessible remotely to others. Using Google Drive allows a seamless upload. I instruct my clients to drag and drop the file into a folder with a descriptive name like “Buffy’s Edits of [TITLE],” and then share the folder with me, and Voilå, it appears in my own Drive. They can choose if I have full editorial access, or “read only.” And did I say it’s free?! No constant attempts to get you to upgrade, because there’s not much to upgrade to, except a Google One membership, which is how you increase your storage space. The free version includes 15GB of storage,  and they don’t hold back certain features, so that you feel the need for an upgrade.

Once the document is ready to download, there are several formats available. Remember that edits to the document on your computer will not synch with the version in Google Drive. So, be sure to label your downloads appropriately, preferably with a date.

In fact, I became so frustrated with the app with its slow load time and the apparent loss of basic Word functionality, I took to the internet to find support and camaraderie.

For those of us Mac users, keep in mind that, sadly, Apple doesn’t play well with others. That’s the reality of “capitalism gone mad.” I have avoided purchasing the Microsoft Office suite over the years, because I prefer Apple’s Pages to their Word. Unfortunately, Word is the international standard for simple document exchange. I don't know anyone who has downloaded Pages to their PC, for instance. I have worked around this by using Pages’ “Export” function to convert into a Word DOCX file. 

However, since Microsoft’s most recent Office upgrade I’ve noticed files are getting corrupted during export. Google and Microsoft seem to have (at least a thin) agreement about the use of Office Products on Drive, so that I can upload a DOCX file to Google Drive, edit it, and expect it will arrive back on my Mac, openable in Pages. Lately, that hasn’t been the case, especially with complicated layouts involving columns and multiple images. In either direction, the file becomes corrupted, sometimes in not so apparent ways, like styles being removed. Something to keep in mind, at least until these companies work things out, if they ever do. In the meantime, while you can still upload and download a Pages file, you can't edit it in Drive, and expect it to arrive back to your Mac fully intact.

What You Probably Should NOT Try

Recently, an author client of mine wanted to use OneDrive, Microsoft’s answer to Google Docs, for cloud sharing. So I decided to give it a go. I found OneDrive, purported to be like a version of online Microsoft Word, paled in comparison to Google Drive. In fact, I became so frustrated with the app with its slow load time and the apparent loss of basic Word functionality, I took to the internet to find support and camaraderie. After I had been yelling at the creators of OneDrive by shouting at my computer, I found some comic relief in other’s accounts of their own OneDrive travails. One user on Reddit wrote, “I feel like I’m going to cry. I hate OneDrive so much!” and another: “A total S*it pile.” “Why does OneDrive suck so badly?” I felt better knowing others shared my sentiments.

So until Microsoft makes some improvements (like a complete overhaul!) and/or something else comes along, go with, I hate to say it, the corporate pros who are taking over the world. Some may say that at least the founder of Microsoft, perhaps the largest multinational in existence, has somewhat of a philanthropic bend. But they still need to earn our business with something like this, and they’ve failed on that front. In my opinion.

What Works for You?

As always, I would love to hear from any of you if you’ve found something better to share documents for editing collaboration, maybe more user friendly, and/or cost effective. So drop me a line here.