Sharing a document
Open a document and click Share in the left toolbar. You can:
- Invite by email — they receive an email with a link to open the document, and sign in with that address to accept.
- Create a shareable link — anyone with the link (and a Folio account) can open it.
For either option, pick a role:
- Viewer — can read the document.
- Reviewer — can read and leave comments.
- Editor — can edit the text with you in real time (co-editing). Learn more →
Sharing is available on Fellow and Chair plans. Only you, the owner, need a paid plan — the people you invite can use Folio for free.
Managing who has access
The Share dialog lists everyone with access. You can switch someone between Viewer, Reviewer, and Editor, or remove their access entirely. Each person also shows when they last opened the document.
Finding documents shared with you
Anything shared with you appears under Shared with me on your dashboard, labeled with your role. Open it like any other document.
Commenting
Select text in the document to anchor a comment, then choose a type — comment, question, suggestion, or issue. You can reply to comments, and the owner can resolve them.
To @mention a collaborator, type @ in a comment and pick their name. They'll be notified in the app and by email.
Staying in sync
- Notifications — the bell in the top bar tells you when someone joins your document, comments, replies, or mentions you.
- Live presence — avatars show who else is viewing the document right now.
- Live updates — new comments appear for everyone without a refresh, and viewers see the document update as the owner saves.
You can turn collaboration emails on or off under Settings → Notifications.
Co-editing in real time
Share with the Editor role and you can write in the document at the same time, with live cursors and shared selections. It's in Beta and turns on automatically once a document has an Editor collaborator — see Real-time co-editing.
Chat
Every shared document has a built-in chat — the bubble in the bottom corner — so the people working on it can talk without leaving the page. History persists, and you're notified by the bell if someone messages while you're elsewhere.
- Attach a source — type
@in the chat to reference a source from your library. It shows as a card others can Preview or Add to library, even if they don't have it. - Scholar AI (Chair) — invite Folio's AI advisor into the chat to review the shared draft and sources. It points out what's strong, weak, or missing and asks sharpening questions — but it never writes the paper for you. There's an optional proactive mode, and you can turn it off per document from the chat's settings.