Modern document workflows require more than just viewing files—they demand seamless collaboration. With WebViewer, developers can add real-time commenting, user mentions, role-based permissions, and annotation support across PDFs, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, images, videos, and more.
How Real-Time Collaboration Works
WebViewer provides APIs to export and import annotations as XFDF, making it easy to build collaborative experiences. While Apryse doesn’t provide a collaboration server, you can implement your own workflow using a backend, database, and real-time communication layer.
1. Capture Annotation Changes
Listen for annotation events in WebViewer and sync changes to your server:
- Add annotations
- Modify annotations
- Delete annotations
Each change can be exported as XFDF and stored alongside a unique document ID.
2. Store Annotations on the Server
Your backend should:
- Authenticate users
- Save annotation XFDF data
- Associate annotations with users and documents
- Broadcast updates to connected users
Any database or ORM can be used, including SQLite, Firebase, or Prisma.
3. Enable Real-Time Updates
For a true collaborative experience, use WebSockets to notify users when annotations change.
The typical flow:
- Users subscribe to a document-specific channel.
- Annotation changes are sent to the server.
- The server broadcasts updates to all connected users.
- Clients import the updated XFDF into WebViewer instantly.
4. Load Existing Annotations
When a document opens, fetch all stored annotations for that document and import them into the viewer. This ensures every user sees the latest collaborative state.