React to the exact spot of a document, with your clients
Annotations
The client’s remarks, placed on the house plan
Your client drops a point or draws an area on the plan or the specification, and you reply at that spot. When a remark calls for a change, one click turns it into a post or a request.
- A point or an area, on any page of the plan
- Replies in place, marked “resolved” once settled
- A post or a request in one click
Replaces: Screenshots sent one by one · “Page 2, third paragraph…” by email
Included in Premium: your clients annotate too, even from their phone
A remark on a document, placed at the spot it is about
A quote, a plan, a proposal of several pages: to react, your client takes screenshots, sends them one by one, or writes "page 2, third paragraph" in an email. The remark arrives far from the spot it is about, and the discussion gets scattered.
With Kolinea's annotations, everyone reacts directly on the document, in the folder. You drop a point or draw a zone on the page, write your remark, and the replies stay at that spot.
How it works
- You open a PDF or a photo of the folder, from the thread, the documents or the answer to a request.
- You choose "Point" and touch the page, or "Zone" and draw a rectangle. On a PDF, any page can be annotated.
- You write your remark. An @mention alerts the person who should answer.
- The others reply on the spot, in the same annotation.
- Once the point is settled, "Mark as resolved" puts it away; "Reopen" brings it back if the question comes up again.
Each annotation carries a number on the page. The list beside the document shows the page's open annotations, or all of them, with their author and their replies.
When a point gets complicated
A remark sometimes calls for more than a reply: a new version, a document to provide, a decision. In one click, the annotation becomes:
- a publication: the composer opens with the annotation's text and the people of the discussion already mentioned; once published, it shows the excerpt of the document;
- a request: you choose who it is addressed to and, if needed, a due date; it arrives in the thread with the excerpt.
The annotation then moves to the "In the thread" state and the discussion continues in the folder's thread. Its past replies stay readable on the document. If the publication is deleted, the annotation opens to replies again.
In the thread, under each annotated document
Under the card of an annotated document, one line sums up its annotations: "3 open points · 2 dealt with", the latest word and its author. One click opens the document on its annotations. Nobody has to dig through the file to know whether questions remain.
Who annotates, and who reads
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Anyone who reads the document and can comment on its publication
Drops an annotation and replies to it, your clients included, from their folder link.
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An annotation never goes further than its document.
If the publication is internal or confidential, so are its annotations.
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"Team only"
Keeps an annotation within the team, like an internal comment. Once converted, it gives an internal publication or request.
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The author and the team
Mark an annotation as resolved, reopen it or delete it. Deleted, it takes its replies with it.
Mentioned people are alerted as for a comment. Your clients find new annotations in the email that gathers the folder's activity.
On a phone
The document opens full screen. In Point mode, you touch the page; in Zone mode, you slide one finger, and two fingers move and enlarge the page. The remark is written in a panel that rises from the bottom of the screen.
Premium to annotate, Free to read back
Dropping an annotation, replying to it or turning it into a publication or a request needs the Premium plan. Every new workspace gets 2 months of Premium free, with no credit card.
On the Free plan, nothing is deleted: the annotations already dropped stay readable, can be marked as resolved, reopened and deleted. The team sees the tools marked with the plan; your clients do not see them.
Annotations are also a folder option: you switch it off for the whole workspace, in its settings, or for a single folder, in its "Edit" sheet. Switched off, existing annotations stay readable.
Through the API and your assistant
Kolinea's API lists, reads, creates and settles a document's annotations, and a webhook tells your tool when an annotation is created or resolved. Your AI assistant reads them, like the rest of the folder.
What it does not do
- No freehand drawing, arrow or highlighting: a point or a rectangular zone.
- No file versions: an annotation stays on its file. A new version is a new file.
- No export of a PDF with the annotations drawn on it.
- Audio, video and voice messages cannot be annotated.
Frequently asked questions
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Does my client need to install anything?
No. They annotate in their browser, from their folder link, on a phone as on a computer.
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Does my client see the team's remarks?
They see the annotations of the documents they read, except those marked "Team only".
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What happens to annotations if I go back to the Free plan?
They stay readable. They can still be marked as resolved, reopened or deleted, but no new ones can be dropped and nobody can reply.
Related reading
- The folder thread, where an annotation becomes a publication
- Writing a request, for the request an annotation can become
- Participants and team, for what each person sees of the folder
More features for your line of work
Your next folder, with nothing lost along the way
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