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TextFlow escapes AIR, comes to the browser

Collaborative document editing tool TextFlow has moved away from Adobe AIR and now works in your browser.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn

TextFlow, the Adobe AIR application that lets users collaboratively edit documents, is now available in the browser. Users can group together multiple versions of the same document and selectively pick which edits they want to keep--just like they would on the desktop version, but now without software.

Along with the move to the browser, the service now hosts your documents so you can access and begin editing them from any computer. The company has also lifted the file size limit, meaning you can finally upload and edit documents more than 10 pages in length--not being able to do so was a serious limitation in versions past.

Additionally, the service comes in two flavors, a free and premium version. Both let you work on any size document, and with up to seven collaborators' edits; however the free one puts a watermark on the finished product that says "not for commercial use." The paid version--which costs $99 per user, per year--adds live customer support and the option to watermark shared documents with your company's logo.

Still missing in this version is support for images, tables, and documents outside of Microsoft Word and RTF files. I was hoping to see at least the images and tables support added to the professional version--not having those could severely limit the customers this service appeals to if it doesn't work with the document style they're used to.