Collaboration and user rights


#1

How can I add reviewers to a text in StackEdit? Is it only possible via google drive share settings? Or can I do something else with couchDB? Or something else?

All the best


#2

Yes share settings is via Google Drive sharing preferences. DropBox and GitHub have some kind of user permissions as well. With CouchDB, user permissions are set for the whole database, not per document.


#3

It took me a long time to figure how StackEdit worked. I wrote up how to share here:

Concepts

  • Local by default, synced to Google Drive
    • StackEdit is an in-browser app. That means that by default all data is stored locally in your web browser. That’s not very useful, so StackEdit lets you also save your data to the cloud. It supports many cloud options to save that data. Luckily, one of these options is Google Drive, which means that we can make use of Google Drive’s sharing options the same way we share all other Google Docs.
  • Comments added and viewed only in StackEdit
    • While sharing and collaboration are implemented through Google Drive, commenting is not done using Google Docs’s commenting mechanism. Instead, comments are stored in a hidden HTML comment at the bottom of the document and are synced to the cloud along with the rest of the document.
  • Document synced/saved in Markdown, not HTML or rich format
    • Documents are not automatically rendered in rich web page format on Google Drive. To view nicely rendered output, you either open the document in StackEdit, or export it out of StackEdit in HTML format and save it locally. You can open that local HTML file by dragging and dropping into your web browser.
    • If you further want to share that rich rendered format in Google Docs, you could copy and paste that rich text into a new Google Doc—but note that this new document would be entirely separate from the original Markdown document that’s stored in Google Drive.
  • StackEdit Workspaces are mapped to Google Drive folders
    • Even though you can share individual documents via Google Drive, it’s easiest just to share an entire StackEdit workspace which is backed by a Google Drive folder. That way, we only have to share once for a whole set of documents.
  • Realtime-ish synchronization
    • Unlike Google Docs, StackEdit does not sync in real-time. It syncs every 3 minutes or when you click the sync icon at the top.

When someone gives you a link to a Workspace

  1. Click on the link. This will open an app in your browser.

    1. If you get a permission error, tell the sender that they didn’t properly share the linked Google Drive folder to the entire company. Later, try again
  2. Click OK, GRANT and, if necessary, login to Google Drive.

    1. If you see a checkbox for “Restricted Access”, leave it blank. It’s safe to let StackEdit have full access to Google Drive as the app runs locally on your web browser, doesn’t any data to a third-party server, and the code is open source on Github.
  3. To add comments, select some text, and click on the icon that appears in the left margin.

    1. By default, other users won’t know who you are; it will just say “Someone”. To let people know who comments, you need to join Google+

      1. Go to plus.google.com
      2. On the left, click Join Google+
      3. Feel free to change your last name to an initial, put in an invalid birthday (as long as it’s over 18).
      4. Choose some sort of avatar (doesn’t have to be your photo) so that others recognize you easily.

Sharing a Workspace

  1. At the right, click Workspaces

  2. Click Add a Google Drive backed workspace

  3. Leave Folder ID blank and click OK

    1. This will create a new folder on Google Drive
  4. Let’s rename and share that new folder:

    1. Under Workspaces , click Manage Workspaces
    2. Click on the icon that lets you open the workspace at docs.google
    3. Using the folder’s pull-down menu, click Rename to give the folder a good name that others will understand
    4. Using the folder’s pull-down menu, click Share , then Advanced , then Change… , then select On - Anyone at Organization with the link
  5. Now you can go back to StackEdit and copy the URL in the address bar and send that to others.

    1. Don’t send out the Google Drive URL
    2. It should look something like https://stackedit.io/app#providerId=googleDriveWorkspace&folderId=k32i239fjakslnceio34l

How do I share my workspace on Google Drive with other people in my company so they can edit
Collaboration Help
#4

Does this Google Drive sharing work anymore?
It appears that the latest version of StackEdit saves into my Google Drive App Data folder, which is hidden. And as far as I can tell I can’t share that with anyone (I can’t even see the folder without some elaborate workarounds which suggests Google Drive doesn’t want me to have access to it).

Also, the “Copy Workspace URL” button only seems to bring up the main link (https://stackedit.io/app). I’m not sure if this is just because I only have the 1 workspace. Did this used to allow me to share the workspace with others?


#5

It works for me. I created the workspace in an existing Drive folder, though.