Spring weather has finally hit the Beegit headquarter office, and our development team is coming out to see the sun after months locked away in the lab. They’ve brought with them a release as robust as any we’ve ever done. Internally, we’ve dubbed this our real-time release, and it’s packed with features and improvements requested and suggested by our customers to make collaboration easier. Because there are so many updates, we’re breaking this overview into three categories: simplified collaboration, editor improvements and a better file tree experience. Here’s a quick look at all three and what it means for teams using Beegit. Simplified collaboration To make real-time collaboration easier, it’s now far more intuitive to see who is editing the file, what they’re doing, and hand-off control of the editor. Pass editor control – When you’re editing, you can now quickly pass editor control to a fellow collaborator. By clicking on their avatar, you can see their name, username and access level and there’s an option to pass them control of the editor. Additionally, you can stop editing the file by hitting the ‘stop editing’ button, and the editor will be available for someone else to use. Real-time visibility – When you’re viewing a file someone else is editing, you can follow what they type with a live view of their cursor as they work. @mention reminders – Usernames now show an @ in front of them to remind you that automated email notifications in comments and revision notes can be sent directly to collaborators by mentioning them with an @ symbol. Editor improvements The editor has been optimized for our heaviest writing teams to give the functionality and time-saving shortcuts our super users need. Word count clarity – The word and character counts now show a count for a selected section. This counter has also been moved to make it available in distraction-free mode. Comments support Markdown – File comments now support Markdown formatting. Extended timeout – The inactivity timeout has been changed to a 30-minute duration. When you return, you no longer have to refresh and your cursor position is maintained. Auto reconnect after connection disruption – If your Internet connection temporarily drops off, you will receive a red notification that your connection is lost. When it returns, there’s no need to refresh, your connection will be restored automatically and you’ll receive a notification that you’ve been reconnected. Text and image links prepopulate – When you select existing text or image links inside the editor, they will prepopulate in the field boxes when you click on the link or image icons to make editing them easier. Spell check shut-off – Spell check can now be disabled for users writing in non-English languages. Simply request this option through our in-app support chat. H4, H5 and H6 shortcuts – For headers beyond H1-H3, there are now keyboard shortcuts for H4 (Ctrl/⌘ + 4), H5 (Ctrl/⌘ + 5) and H6 (Ctrl/⌘ + 6). File tree improvements Finally, updates to our file tree make the whole system faster. That means the overall writing environment feels more lively because files load more quickly. The drag and drop of files is also more seamless, eliminating syncing issues between teammates when multiple folders are being moved. OK, we’re going to catch our breath after this big release. But, as always, we’d love to hear feedback from you on all these updates. Sign in or sign up to see all these improvements. Once you’re in, we’re always available and listening via in-app chat. Painless content production and collaboration for teams Beegit is the online writing platform that removes barriers across your organization to create, edit and approve web content. Try It Free Request A Demo by Mike Cottrill Co-founder and CEO of Beegit. Content marketer and recovering journalist. All blog posts planned and made fresh in Cleveland, Ohio.