Collaborative Editing

PlexTrac offers collaborative editing to save time and reduce errors when working on reports, narratives, and findings. Collaborative editing is a process in which multiple individuals work together to create, edit, and refine content in real-time, with contributors simultaneously working on the same document.

Collaborative editing exists in rich-text fields (RTFs) within the platform, such as:

• In the Description, Recommendations, and References RTFs of the Findings Details tab of a finding

• In the Value RTF within the Custom Fields tab of a finding

• In the RTF of the Narrative tab for a report

• In the Description, Recommendations, and References RTFs of the Readout tab of a report

• In the Description, Recommendations, and References RTFs of a writeup in WriteupsDB

• In the Section Body RTF in NarrativesDB

Avatar Notification

When editing one of the relevant fields listed above, an avatar is displayed at the top right of the content box.

The avatar is the user's profile image in PlexTrac. If no image has been uploaded, the user's initials are displayed. The user's full name is provided if hovered over by the cursor. Up to six avatars are displayed.

When another user is editing the page, their avatar will appear.

When two or more users edit the same RTF, avatars for all users (up to six) will appear to provide visibility that more than one person is editing the same field simultaneously.

A warning icon will appear if there is a potential conflict. It is recommended to avoid editing that field to prevent possible loss of content due to the time lag of autosave synchronization.

Avatars only appear to others when a user is active in a text box. If a user leaves the browser or engages elsewhere on the page outside of the RTF, the avatar will not appear in that text box to other users.

Auto-Save Rules

Messaging at the top right of the page where collaborative editing exists indicates when content was last saved.

On pages with multiple content sections, autosave is per section (not page), and the time stamp will update when one of the collaborative editing content blocks is modified.

For example, when one user updates the finding description at the same time another user updates the finding recommendation, both updates are saved, and the time stamp represents the last edit.

Offline Messaging

If the internet or VPN connection is lost, an error notification will indicate the connection has been lost.

or

The user cannot modify any collaborative editing sections until they return online.

Track Changes

Track changes is a feature that records any modifications made to the text, formatting, or other elements and can be enabled for a particular RTF or at the report level.

When the track changes feature is enabled, any modifications made to the document are highlighted and displayed. These changes can include additions, deletions, formatting adjustments, and comments. The original content remains visible, while the modifications are marked with specific indicators, such as colored text, underlines, or strike-throughs. Additionally, users can leave comments or annotations to provide further context or explanations regarding the changes made.

Collaborators can accept or reject individual changes, and the document owner or editor can review and make final decisions on which modifications to keep. This feature is helpful when multiple individuals must work on a document simultaneously or when documents undergo several revisions.

Track Changes at the RTF Level

The toggle to enable track changes in an RTF field is located in the RTF toolbar.

Click the button to turn on track changes for the field. Now, additions will be shown in green, and deletions will be red.

A log of changes is displayed on the right. Changes can be accepted or rejected by clicking the checkmark or X in the audit box.

Once accepted or rejected, the box and markup will disappear, and the content will reflect the choices.

Track Changes at the Report Level

Track changes can be controlled at the report level and apply to all RTFs within a report when enabled (or from all RTFs when disabled). This toggle displays to the right of the tab headers to notify users whether report-level track changes are enabled.

In reports with track change enabled at the report level, individual RTF fields will indicate track changes are on, but the ability to turn off for an RTF is greyed out. If turned on at the report level, track changes will be turned off at the report level.