Collaborate on Copy Using InDesign’s Share for Text Editing

Sharing and collaborating on copy got much easier with Adobe InDesign's new Share for text editing feature.

Still in beta, this new tool allows InDesign users to invite people to a project and gives collaborators the ability to edit text using InCopy on the web.

In this tutorial, I'll walk you through a role-playing scenario where I am a designer wanting to share a recipe card layout with a writer who is tasked with adding copy to a text frame and editing other copy in the layout.

To download the exercise files for this project, click the link below for the InDesign document and supporting links. You're also welcome to use your own files for this tutorial.

Tutorial Exercise Files.zip

Download ZIP • 21.63MB

Inviting Collaborators

• To access Share for Text Editing, click on the Share button, located in the top right corner of the page. Alternatively, you can also access this feature by going to File > Share for text review (beta). 

• You’ll have to save the document to the Adobe cloud before sharing it. In this case, give the project a proper title such as Plant Powered 2026, choose the Your Files option and then click save to save the document. 

You’ll receive a warning about the linked files in a doc and how they will not appear when the recipient opens the layout using InCopy on the web. In this case, that is fine as the purpose is to have the writer to edit the copy and add the final recipe.

• Click OK to move to the next step. 

The document will take just a few moments to upload to the Adobe cloud. Once it’s fully uploaded, add the recipient’s email address and a short message.

I’ll click invite to edit copy, and the recipient will receive an email with a link to the document. There is also an option to copy the link and share it with others.

It’s important to note that recipients must have an Adobe ID in order to contribute and collaborate on projects. Also, Google Chrome is the only browser that will support this workflow.

Collaborator's Perspective

Switching to the recipient’s view, the collaborator can see that I am in the project as it shows my profile image in the top right corner of the screen.

Because this is using InCopy, only text frames will be active on the page. When hovering over a text frame, it highlights and by double-clicking inside, you will be able to select and edit text can edit text.

The collaborator can paste copy into the empty frame and in this example, you'll notice there is overset text – and that is because it’s not formatted.

By hovering over the overset symbol in the bottom right corner of the frame, it will alert you there is overset text and to edit in focus mode. 

• To access this, click on the Focus Mode option in the floating menu bar.

• This will take you into a different view where you can focus on the copy only without the layout. This is an easier way of editing for the writer. 

Hop back to the original InDesign doc, and you'll notice collaborator is working in InCopy on the web which is linked to this project. 

Jumping to Page 6, you can see the unformatted text for the final recipe is updated, however the text needs to be formatted to resolve the overset text issue. Follow along in the video as I go over how I use existing Paragraph Styles to edit the recipe content. 

Another important thing to note when using Share for text editing is that if a collaborator is working inside a text frame, it'll be locked in the InDesign doc – and visa versa. You'll have to wait for the collaborator to exit the frame in order to gain access to it. Here is an example.

As a final step, jump back to the collaborators' view, you can see the design updates in real-time, keeping this workflow seamless for both the designer and writer.