Google documents adds Comment-only access and colaboration

September 12, 2011 Google Apps

What if you want somebody’s thoughts on a cloud document, but don’t want to let them have full editing access? As of today, Google Docs is rolling out the ability to let you add collaborators with comment-only access, meaning they can leave their thoughts without changing the document.

When you add a collaborator to a document using the “Share” button, the same as always, there’s an option in a drop-down menu for “Can Comment”, as opposed to “Can Edit” and “Can View”, as seen in the picture to the right.

So to give comment-only access to your document, click on the Share button. From there, add in the contact you’d like to share your document with, and select Can comment.

You can also choose to give comment-only access to anyone with the link or anyone on the web by changing the sharing settings within the document. To do this, click Change in the sharing settings window and change visibility options to Public on the web or Anyone with the link, then change the access options to Can comment.

Similarly, if you’re using a Google Apps account, click Change in the sharing settings and select either “People at who have the link can access” or “People at can find and access”, Then change access option to Can comment.

Users that have comment-only access can view your document and add comments throughout — without being able to change the content of the document directly.

It sounds like a handy addition to Google Docs – if you’re among the first batch of users to get the new feature, let me know what you think in the comments.

Google Docs,