Collaboration Apps for Online Sharing & Discussion of Docs / Images

In the last few years we’ve seen an explosion in new awesome tools for freelancers including project management apps, invoicing apps, time management apps and to-do lists. One type of app that I think is particularly awesome is the collaboration app. These services allow you to upload images, documents and in some cases videos and flash, and then you, your client and anyone else working on the project can discuss and annotate the work.

When it comes to sharing concepts, particularly for freelancers working over the web, this is literally a revolution in feedback. There are 9 apps listed below, half are extremely feature packed with a few slimmer (cheaper) options and one coming soon app.

Backboard
getbackboard.com

Get feedback on documents (Word, Excel), Powerpoint, images (including Photoshop PSD files), webpages and free-form text. Backboard also features multiple versions of a project, email integration - just send an email with the file for review attached, desktop upload and SSL encryption.

Plans ranging from Free for one non-commercial account (unlimited "backboards") to $49 p/month

ConceptShare
conceptshare.com

Feedback for images (including PSD files), vector files like EPS and PDF, video files, a raft of document types from Powerpoint to Word, and of course live web pages.

Add notes and discussion to points on the item being shared, a feature to print a summary - including the notes, a desktop uploader, custom branding for freelancers who care about their image and a customizeable interface.

There are free trials, otherwise it’s $24 - $99 p/month.

ProofHQ
proofhq.com

Like ConceptShare and Backboard, ProofHQ has the ability to annotate a variety of document types - PDFs, PSDs, JPGs, Word, Powerpoint - and webpages. It also includes email integration, version control and the ability to create workspaces. And like ConceptShare you can customize the look and feel to give it some branding.

Free trials are available, otherwise it’s $29 - $99 p/month

Proof-It-Online
proofitonline.com

Proof-It-Online has some good features - annotate not just static files but video, flash and animation. But it’s way more expensive that the previous three options ($39 p/month up to a whopping $750 p/month) and looking a lot older and less up to date.

Cozimo
cozimo.com

Cozimo is another solid looking solution with the ability to do not just the static docs but like ConceptShare to add notes to video as well. Also features SSL Security, custom branding on all but the cheapest plan, unlimited folders and a healthy dose of storage (provided you pay - otherwise it’s 10mb not really enough to do more than documents).

Priced from $29 p/month to $149 p/month with a free trial option

Review Basics
reviewbasics.com

Review Basics processes all the usual suspects - documents, powerpoint, images - and does video as well. Notably however you can’t provide feedback on PSD files - though I suppose you can just make a JPG out of them pretty easily.

Currently the system seems to be in pretty early stage because it’s completely free with a paid plan coming later. I couldn’t find many other limitation details, so you’d have to try signing up to find out about number of projects etc.

Free (for now)

Fine Tuna
finetuna.com

Fine Tuna is a MUCH simpler product than those listed above and is only for adding notes to a single image. You then send it off to an email address and can go back and forth.

There’s a firefox extension and it’s quite a usable product from my brief play with it, but obviously it’s like a matchbox car compared to a real car when stacked up against the products above. You can’t do webpages, documents, videos, animations, there’s no security etc.

Free (forever!)

Fleck
fleck.com

Fleck is similar to Fine Tuna in that it’s not really in the same category as the top apps. Unlike Fine Tuna, Fleck is for webpages. You grab a web page and add notes, then share. You can create accounts, though it appears to be totally free.

Free

VyooPoint (coming soon)
vyoopoint.com

Vyoopoint is actually not available yet, but looks like it’s going to be promising. It includes the ability to annotate Flash files, integration with Basecamp and a few other interesting features. You can sign up to be notified on launch.

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