Collaboration is vital for successful teams, but hybrid work modalities make connection more challenging.Â
The good news?Â
From team alignment to synchronous and asynchronous communication, Lucid has the tools to keep your team collaborating effectively.
This articleâs content is taken from the Collaborate on Diagrams training course.Â
How to collaborate on diagrams with your team in Lucidchart
Whether youâre working in-person or remotely, output improves when everyone has a say and actively participates. Creating ownership by allowing collaboration also improves communication, creating a more aligned business. Follow these steps to begin collaborating in Lucidchart and bridge the communication gap.
Share your document
Visualize processes and gain feedback from the entire team. Lucidchart makes this easy. There are two ways of sharing:
- Create a document. Go to âFile,â then âExport,â and select a file type to download the file and email it to your team.
Or for real-time collaboration:
- Click the orange âShareâ button in the upper right-hand corner.
- Select âEmail,â âLink,â âSlack, âor âJoin IDâ to invite others to collaborate directly on the cloud-based document.
- Choose the âEmailâ option if the document youâre sharing isnât meant to be shared with more than a few collaborators. Select the permissions level to the right of the email text input field before sharing to increase security around sensitive documents.
- Add a short description with actionable next steps so your invitees know what theyâre being invited to and what expectations are.
- Click the âInviteâ button.
Pro Tip: If the person you invite to collaborate doesnât have a Lucidchart account, no problemâthey can still view and comment on a document.
Organize collaboratorsÂ
As collaborators join, keep track of contributions with individualized collaborator colors. You can see edits as your collaborators make them in real time. There are two ways to do this:
- Hover over an object with a colored halo to see who the editor is.
- Locate moving cursors with initials to see whoâs editing which object.
Follow team members
Collaboration becomes much more dynamic when itâs easy to see whoâs contributing in real time. Follow along as collaborators explain elements in the document to gain further understanding. Hereâs how:
- Click the collaboratorâs icon in the upper-right corner to follow their movement within the document.
- Click the same icon to unfollow a collaborator.
Invite others to follow you
Want to show the team what youâre working on in the document? Invite your teammates to follow your cursor automatically. Follow these steps:
- Click your icon in the upper-right corner.
- Select âInvite others to me.â
All collaborators will be invited to follow your cursor as you navigate the document.
Leave commentsÂ
Ready to take your collaboration to the next level? Gain feedback both synchronously and asynchronously from written comments on your documents. Collaborators can leave comments and receive replies when itâs most convenient for the responders. Hereâs how:
- Navigate to a shape or other object in the document that you would like to comment on or ask a question about.
- Right click, then select âAdd comment.â
- Type out your comment and click âCommentâ when youâre done.
- Notify others of your comment and invite them to comment in the string. Just use â@â and select their name before clicking âCommentâ to send.
- Comments can be viewed all at once in the right-hand panel by tapping the âCommentâ icon in the upper right-hand corner.
- Click a comment in the right-hand panel to go to the commentâs location in the document.Â
- Use the arrow button at the top of the comment pane to sort comments by newest to oldest, and choose between âall commentsâ or just your own.
- Once youâve addressed a comment, click âResolve threadâ to move to the next one.
- To resurface a resolved comment, click the âResolvedâ header in the comments panel, click the dots in the upper right-hand side of the comments, and select âUnresolve.â
Explore revision historyÂ
Edit without fear of losing work while tracking previously resolved changes or comments. With Lucidchart, nothing is lost forever. Revision history allows you to review a document's change history and restore previous versions as needed. Hereâs how:
- Navigate to âFile,â then âRevision history.â Since Lucidchart autosaves your document every few minutes, youâll be able to see many timestamped versions of your document.
- Select the version of the document youâd like in the âHistoryâ panel to view, restore, or duplicate. To create a new instance of the document from the selected version, select âNew from Versionâ at the top panel of the screen. To restore a specific version, select âRestore.â
- You can also select multiple versions to compare. Select both versions, then click âCompare Versionsâ at the bottom of the panel. When you finish comparing, select âExit compare versions mode.â
Pro tip: Name versions within the âHistoryâ panel by clicking the three dots, then âName this version.â That way, you can distinguish between versions at a glance.
Conclusion
Hybrid collaboration doesnât have to be frustratingâit can be fun with Lucid! Sign up to access the rest of this course for hands-on activities, videos, and training about collaborating effectively in Lucidchart. Being able to collaborate effectively increases alignment and restores the vital human connection that all teams need to thrive.
