Work in a browser

Some co-authors can’t install Oleafly, or aren’t at their own computer. If the collaboration server has browser access turned on, everyone in a shared project can also open it in a web browser and work with the others live. Browser access is part of Oleafly Server, and the server’s admin turns it on, as Browser access explains.

Open a project in a browser

There are two ways in:

• From the project’s link. The page a project link opens on the server has Open in browser beside Open in Oleafly.
• From the server’s address. Go to the server’s address followed by /web/, such as https://collab.example.org/web/. Shared with you lists every project shared with your account. Select one to open it.

The browser can only open projects you’re already in. Someone has to add you to the project first. If you have Oleafly, you can also join through a link there, and then open the project in a browser too.

Sign in

The first time, the server asks you to sign in. The page offers the same options as the app, such as GitHub, your institution’s login or an email link, and the server’s access rules decide who gets in, as in the app. You use the same account, with the same projects and roles.

The browser stays signed in for 30 days. The server counts each browser as one of your devices, so it’s listed under Your devices on the server’s card in Settings → Collaboration. Sign out there ends that browser’s session. In the browser itself, open Account and select Sign out.

Write and review

The project opens with its files, the source, the PDF, comments and chat. On a narrow screen, tabs switch between them.

• Files lists the project’s files. Select one to open it in the source view. Images show as pictures. Other files that aren’t text say “This file can’t be shown in the browser.”
• Source is the editor. Edits sync live with everyone, in the app and in other browsers, and you see who’s here and where their cursors are.
• Owners and editors switch between Editing and Suggesting above the source. Reviewers always suggest. Commenters and viewers see the file as Read only.
• Comments has the project’s comment threads and suggestions. Select text and choose Comment to start a thread. Reply, edit, delete, resolve and reopen work as in the app. Owners and editors Accept and Reject suggestions, one at a time or with Accept all and Reject all, and reviewers can Withdraw their own.
• Chat is the same chat as in the app.

Your role works the same way as in the app. Roles lists what each one can do.

The PDF

The browser doesn’t compile. The PDF panel shows the newest PDF an owner or editor compiled in the Oleafly app, with who compiled it and when, such as “Compiled by Alice Chen”. After each successful compile, the app sends its PDF to the server, at most once a minute, and the panel updates by itself.

Use Zoom in, Zoom out and Fit width to read it, and Download to save a copy. Until someone compiles the project in the app, the panel says “No PDF yet”.

The PDF can lag behind the text. It shows the files as they were at that compile, including any suggestions that were waiting then.

What needs the app

The browser covers writing, reviewing and talking about the text. For everything else, use Oleafly:

• creating, renaming, moving or deleting files, and adding figures
• compiling, exporting and jumping between the source and the PDF
• the shared history, restoring versions and Recently deleted
• adding people and changing how the project is shared
• joining a project through its link