Buzzword makes it easy to share a document online with one person, several people, or a large group. As the author of a document, you have complete control over who has access to your document and what changes they can make. You can set different levels of access for individuals and groups. For example, you can give a large group the ability to read your document and two individuals the power to edit the document.

Buzzword has user roles and document access levels. Each individual is assigned a user role: Reader, Reviewer, or Co-author. The user role determines how individuals can interact with the document. Each document has an access level: No access (the default setting), Reader, Reviewer, or Co-author. The access level of a document determines how people not explicitly sent an invitation to share the document can interact with the document.

The following user roles are available in Buzzword:

• Authors are the original creators of a document. Authors can invite others to share a document and assign any user role. In addition to adding collaborators, authors can change the user role of any other collaborator or remove a collaborator. Authors can write, edit, and add to comments made by others. Authors are the only ones who can delete a document. The Author role is permanent; you cannot transfer document authorship to another user.

• Co-authors are like authors, except co-authors cannot delete a document. A co-author can remove a document from their own organizer, but the document remains for others. Co-authors cannot change the user role of the author or remove the author.

• Reviewers can add, edit, and delete their own comments. They cannot add comments to comments made by others. Reviewers cannot share a document with others.

• Readers can view a document but cannot comment or share the document with others.

In the Collaborator bar, move the pointer over a name and click the context menu button to display the menu of user roles. If you are the document author or co-author, you can change the user role of any other collaborator or remove them from the document.

Two or more users can collaborate in real time by sharing control of the document. When one person edits the document, that person has control and others cannot edit at the same time. To release control, click the Synchronator or go to Document > Save. A document is also released after an auto-save. For example, if one collaborator is inactive for a time, the document auto-saves and automatically becomes available to others for editing.

You can add comments at any time if you have author, co-author, or reviewer rights. Even though two users can't simultaneously edit a document, reviewers and co-authors can collaborate in real time using the comments feature. For example, if a co-author is writing, another co-author or a reviewer can add a comment that immediately appears in the document.

Note: Click the Synchronator at any time to save your changes.

The commenting feature allows users who are not online at the same time to communicate with each other, answer questions, and edit as a team.

Comments are small documents within the main document. You can add formatted text and tables to a comment. A co-author can cut content from the comment and paste it directly into the document. See Using comments.

Comments are stored with the document. If you delete a comment during a review, you can retrieve previous versions of the document that contain the deleted comments.

Buzzword enables you to share and publish documents so anyone with the document URLs can read them. The access level determines how people can interact with the document, even if they have not been explicitly invited to collaborate. Common sharing situations include:

Each Buzzword document has one of four access levels:

No Access

Document is only accessible to users shown on the Collaborator bar. No Access is the default setting for new documents.

Reader

Anyone with the document URL can read the document without signing in. Buzzword has three types of readers:

• Anonymous readers are not signed in to Buzzword and are therefore unknown to Buzzword and others sharing a document. Anonymous readers do not have an Organizer; they view documents in the Editor. An anonymous reader has read-only access to a document even if the access level is set to Reviewer or Co-author.

• Private readers are known to Buzzword, but do not appear on the Collaborator bar. Users who sign in and open a Reviewer or Co-Author access level document, but decline the higher access level, become private readers. Accepting the higher access level promotes private readers and they appear on the Collaborator bar.

  Private readers can see documents in their Organizer. When the Organizer is sorted by user role, private reader documents appear in the Reader category.

• Explicit readers are known to Buzzword and appear on the Collaborator bar. Explicit readers have been invited to view a document and have accepted the invitation. If the invitation is from someone they already share documents with, the invitation is automatically accepted.

Note: Signed in users explicitly invited as reviewers or co-authors, become explicit reviewers or co-authors even if the access level is set to reader.

Reviewer

Anyone with the document URL can read the document without signing in. When the access level is set to reviewer, any Buzzword user who signs in can add comments to the document.

Co-author

Anyone with the document URL can read the document without signing in. When the access level is set to co-author, any Buzzword user who signs in can add comments and edit the document.

Note: For a comparison of access levels and user roles, see Using Buzzword to share documents.

Set a document access level to control how others, particularly groups, interact with a document.

1. Click Share on the left side of the Collaborator bar.

2. Select Share With A Wider Audience. (If you do not want to set an access level or want to remove a currently set level, deselect this option.)

3. For Access Level, click the menu and select Reader, Reviewer, or Co-author.

4. (Optional) Click Copy Link to copy the link to the clipboard. In an e-mail or instant message program, right-click and select Paste to tell others that your document is available.

5. Click OK.

Following are some examples of typical sharing situations:

• To publish so anyone with the document URL can read the document, set the access level to Reader. Send the document link to anyone. Recipients who have the link can read the document without logging in or signing up for Buzzword. Recipients can also forward the link to others.

• To publish so anyone with the URL can read the document and give a smaller group commenting or editing rights, set the access level to Reader. Send the document link to anyone. For the small group of collaborators, send explicit invitations to become Reviewers or Co-authors.

• To share a document with a small group of readers or collaborators, type in e-mail addresses and set the user role for each individual: Reader, Reviewer, or Co-Author.

• To take a document with a mix of collaborators and publish so anyone with the URL can read the document, first copy the document. (You can rename and save the original, or delete the original.) For the new copy, set the access level to Reader. Send the document link to anyone.

You can publish a PDF by using Buzzword to create the PDF and then making it available to others.

1. Create a Buzzword document.

2. Select Document > Export.

3. For File Type, select Adobe PDF.

4. Select or deselect Export Comments as necessary.

5. Click Save and choose a location for the PDF.

6. Do one of the following:

   • Compose an e-mail message and add the PDF as an attachment.

   • Place the PDF on a website and send others an e-mail or instant message containing a link to the PDF.

   • Use the Share program in Acrobat.com to distribute the PDF.

If you have a list of e-mail addresses, you can apply the list to a new or existing Buzzword document. Use a list of addresses separated by commas, semicolons, or a combination of both.

1. Copy e-mail addresses from a program or file by selecting a list of addresses and pressing Ctrl-C/Cmd-C.

2. In a Buzzword document, do one of the following:

   • Click Document > Share.

   • Click the menu next to Share in the lower-left corner of the program and select Paste Sharing List.

3. Use the Role menu to select Co-author, Reviewer, or Reader.

4. Paste the list of e-mail addresses into the Type An Email Address text box. All individuals in the list are added to the document with the role you specified.

5. Click Next.

6. (Optional) Accept the default Email Subject and Message or edit the text as desired.

   The Don’t Send Email option is available only if you already share documents with all individuals listed and each has verified their e-mail address

7. Click Share.

A document sharing list contains the e-mail addresses associated with a document. Sharing lists can be used for several different purposes. For example, copy the e-mail addresses of users from one document and paste the addresses into another document.

1. With a document open, click the menu next to Share in the lower-left corner of the program.

   

2. Select one of the following options:

   Clear Sharing List

   Removes all collaborators from the document, sets the access level to No Access, and cancels any outstanding invitations. This option is enabled only for the author and only when the document has open access (Reader, Reviewer, or Co-author) or at least one collaborator.

   Copy Sharing List

   Copies a comma-separated (Mac OS) or semicolon-separated (Windows) list of e-mail addresses of all sharing list members. (Anonymous readers and private readers are not included.) The list of addresses is in simple text format. The information can be pasted into the Share dialog of another document. The Copy Sharing List option is an easy way to share a document with a group of explicit collaborators already sharing another document.

   Paste Sharing List

   Opens the Share dialog so you can select a role and paste a list of e-mail addresses into an empty name text box. First use the Copy Sharing List option to copy a list of e-mail addresses from a document. (Alternatively, copy a list of e-mail addresses from anywhere.) Select a role first, before pasting the address list, to ensure that all individuals in the list are assigned a role. Duplicate addresses and any addresses already associated with the document are not added. The Paste Sharing List option is enabled only for the Author and Co-authors.

   Send Email To Sharing List

   Opens a new e-mail message in your default e-mail program. In the new e-mail message, the To field contains the e-mail addresses of all sharing list members. The body of the message contains the document name and a link to the document. The Send Email To Sharing List option is enabled for all explicit collaborators.