What is a collaborative presence feature?

Collaborative presence features provide users with visual cues of who is collaborating on a shared document and what they're doing. They include live cursors, user avatars, live selection highlighting, and carets, all for improved workspace awareness in SaaS real-time collaboration. Let’s go over the common collaborative presence variations.

Avatar displays

Almost all collaborative editors show an avatar or an initial for each active collaborator. These are often shown as an avatar stack UI at the top of the page. There can be extra spin - for example, active users shown in color, and inactive in greyscale.

Location indicators

Aside from listing who is online, many editors indicate where each person is editing. You have seen these in the form of an inline presence flag – a small label or avatar that appears at the paragraph or block a user is working on.

Visual styles for cursors

Live cursors can be represented simply as colored bars or with additional flair. For example, graphic editors like showing the cursors moving around, labeled with names. The exact format can differ, but what matters most is that cursors should be distinguishable from each other - here colors or icons come to help.

Selection highlighting

Many collaborative editors will show the text that another user has selected or is editing with a light highlight in that user’s assigned color (such as light pink, blue, etc.) If highlights prove too distracting, some apps give an option to hide them.

Toggling presence indicators

Not all users always want to see collaborators’ cursors or highlights, and this is when a toggle comes in handy. Hiding multiuser cursors or switching to a “view mode” helps when you’re trying to read or present a doc without the distraction of live edits.

When multiple users are editing a document at the same time, these features allow all the users to see exactly where the others are working. For example, when a user is typing, their live cursor is shown in the document with a special color. This facilitates multiplayer editing easily and prevents any confusion that might arise from multiple users working on the same part.

Does your app need a collaborative presence feature?

If your SaaS product thrives and survives on real-time co-authorship or simultaneous editing, then collaborative presence features are non-negotiable. Not only do they contribute to the user experience, but also simplify team workflow. How? They enable transparent, seamless interactions within the tool.

For users, the document templates feature means

For business, it translates into

Increased transparency.

Users can immediately view who is editing which portion of the document.

Higher team productivity.

Workspace awareness tools like live cursors and user avatars help your team work in perfect sync, reducing time for workflow coordination.

Better coordination.

Real-time cursors and live selection highlights help avoid overlapping edits because users see exactly what others are doing.

Improved user satisfaction.

Real-time collaboration features make teams happier and close-knit, improving your SaaS application’s chances to become a favorite.

Higher engagement.

User avatars and live highlights provide a social aspect to collaboration, encouraging teamwork.

Increased retention.

Smooth and intuitive collaboration makes users more likely to stick around with your app.

Less redundancy of work.

Merely showing who is editing what prevents re-editing the same section, minimizing redundant work.

Scalable solution.

Effortless collaboration experience scales with your product, whether your user base is 10 or 10,000.

Collaborative presence feature use cases: as seen in your favorite products

The majority of leading SaaS applications use real-time collaboration capabilities to provide improved multiplayer editing and team coordination. Let us explore how some of the leading platforms integrate collaborative presence features.

Google Docs

Category: Collaborative Editor

Google Docs pioneered real-time collaboration with live cursors and user avatars. Individuals can see other people's edits in real time, highlighted in different colors. This visibility allows multiple team members to edit a single document without interfering with one another. The changes appear in real time, and individuals can even see the exact location where a person is typing.

Notion

Category: Collaborative Workspace

Notion includes user avatars and inline live selection highlighting to let users know where their collaborators work. The seamless inclusion of these real-time collaboration features allows for easy collaboration on long, complex documents and makes it easy to track progress and divide tasks efficiently.

Figma

Category: Design Tool

Figma uses live cursors and avatars for the users to enable collaboration in real-time design sessions. Each collaborator's cursor is visible, making it easy to identify who works on which part of a design. It enables simultaneous design editing, encouraging rapid iteration and feedback during collaborative sessions.

Confluence

Category: Knowledge Management Tool

Confluence's real-time collaboration takes a further step with live cursors and avatars showing who is doing what in an area of a document. This workspace awareness prevents teams from trampling each other and minimizes confusion when multiple team members contribute to project documentation.

Collaborative presence features have become a necessity for modern teams. Not only do they improve editing, but they also improve collaboration and user engagement.

Myron Mavko

Co-Founder & CEO, Flexum

When do you NOT need the collaborative presence feature?

Although real-time collaboration features are strong, there are situations in which they may not be necessary for your product.

Asynchronous workflows

If your product is designed for users to work at different times, live cursors and avatars might not add much value.

Small teams

Where small teams collaborate on simple, uncomplicated documents, multiplayer editing features may not be necessary.

Low-volume collaboration

When collaboration occurs sporadically for users, less advanced collaborative presence features like showing the last editor of a document can suffice.

Focus mode

Some teams prefer to work alone without distraction. In these cases a focus mode that hides live cursors can be ideal.

Although collaborative presence features are great for large groups and high-intensity projects, less intense use cases do not call for these tools. Always consider the nature of your team's collaboration.

Anton Chuiko

Co-Founder & COO, Flexum

Collaborative presence feature in Flexum projects

At Flexum, we employ modern technologies and libraries such as TipTap, CKEditor 5, ProseMirror, and Slate to deliver silky, responsive user experiences. Need to execute live cursors, user avatars, and live selection highlighting? We have done it and will be happy to do it again!

Blooksy

Category: Collaborative Writing Platform

Blooksy, a collaborative writing platform for authors, sought to improve its user experience by enabling real-time co-authoring. Flexum implemented collaborative presence features such as live cursors, user avatars, and live selection highlighting. This has led to faster content creation and better team coordination. Now, Blooksy is a go-to platform for collaborative book writing.

The release contributed to Blooksy's rapid growth, helping build its client list to over 100 authors, with several more on the waiting list. This factored into the company securing $120K in funding in the next round.

Anton Chuiko

Co-Founder & COO, Flexum

Why Flexum?

Flexum is your go-to expert for state-of-the-art SaaS real-time collaboration features. We bring the most powerful collaborative tools with a focus on ease of use, integration, and velocity. Let us transform your collaboration experience!

Fast results that users love

Interactive features that work as intended, smoothly and efficiently.

Hassle-free integration

We handle design, migrations, and deployment — no effort is needed from your team.

Ability to focus on what matters most

We are honest and open about whether our clients need the required features and if they will help users reach their goals.

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Collaborative Presence Features