# How do teams collaborate?

Anyone with permission joins the same Project at once. Edit measures together. No Session to start or Finish. Share View or Edit; Follow stays on the sheet.

You do not email the PDF so someone else can see the takeoff.

The efficiency people actually name in software-choice threads is **web-based shared takeoff viewing**: one [Project](/guides/projects), two people, no `v4_ADAM.pdf`. Open the Project. They’re in. Anyone with permission can be there **at the same time**. Anyone with **Edit** can measure **at the same time**. You still measure. Doing the takeoff is still how you learn the set. The other person sees the lengths. They don’t skip the read.

This page is the simultaneous-edit walk: Share, presence, Follow, comments, guest vs org, and the Session contrast table. The cluster map and benefits start on [Working together](/guides/working-together-collaboration). No install to open the desk: [Browser desk](/guides/browser-desk-app). Devices and offline are [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync).

The old live-markup model was a **Session**: host creates a room, hands out an ID, attendees join, only the creator owns a markup until the host reassigns it, then somebody **Finishes** so the work writes into a PDF and the room goes away. The filing cabinet was a different product: checkout, one writer, not live. Bluebeam said a project is the office and a session is a meeting. That’s two products on a Windows install, added after the file. Closing the laptop here does not throw the work away. There is nothing to Finish.

## Where this lives

Open a [Document](/guides/project-documents) in the Project. That’s the live desk.

Avatars to the left of **Share** are who else is here. Click one to **Follow** their view. **Comments** sit on the sheet (online). **Share** in the header is the same people list as Project → **Members**: named emails, [Teams](/guides/organization-teams), Request access. Not anyone-with-the-link.

You stay solo until you invite someone, **or** until [Organization Project access](/guides/organizations) already puts org members on the Project (shop default: All members can edit). Restricted orgs Share on purpose. That control is the point. Live work should not surprise a one-person desk.

## Who you invite

Everyone signs in as themselves. You do not create their login.

| Who they are | How you add them | What they get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Second estimator in the LLC | Organization → **Members**, invite as **member** | Shop default: they inherit Edit on Projects |
| Repeating crew (Estimating, Shop) | A [Team](/guides/organization-teams), then grant it on the Project | Same role on every bid you grant that Team |
| Outside estimator or a GC’s PM | Project **Share**, invite by email | **Guest**: that Project only. Not the company directory. Not a Team. |
| Reviewer who should not measure | Same Share list, [View](/guides/project-access) or Comment | They read the sheet. They don’t write Lengths |

Give the least role that fits. Pending invites last seven days. **Revoke** before they accept. Details: [Project collaborators](/guides/project-collaborators).

## Two setups with a client or an outside shop

Pick who **holds** the Project. Then Share that Project. Do not mix the company directories.

**They come onto your Project.** You keep Mercy Hospital in your Organization. **Share** the Project by email: **View** or **Comment** if the GC’s PM only reads the qty, **Edit** if an outside estimator will measure. They are a [guest](/guides/project-collaborators). They see this bid, not your other work.

Do not invite them to the Organization just to show them one set. Under All members can edit, org membership is Edit on every Project. That is how a client sees a bid that is not theirs.

**You join their Project.** The GC (or the other shop) holds the takeoff. They Share you as a guest. Ask for **Edit** if you need to measure. **View** is enough to read the sheet. You do not join their company directory. Access is the whole Project, not one PDF. If a sheet is missing, you are not Shared on the right Project.

Keep your own Organization for bids you own. If most of your week is on other people’s Projects, you still want that home cabinet.

**When the bid is over.** Revoke the grant, or ask them to. They lose the live Project. If they still need quantities, hand them the CSV before you revoke. We do not move a Project into another Organization. Export is interchange, not a ritual that makes the PDF “exist.”

## How to work together

1. **Open the Project.** No New Session. No 9-digit ID. The desk **is** the room.
2. **Share when you’re ready.** View reads the sheet. Comment adds comments. Edit measures and can invite others. Full control archives and assigns Full. Longer list: [who can open a Project](/guides/project-access).
3. **See who’s here.** Avatars. Same page, live. You are not asking “can you see my screen?”
4. **Follow** if you want to ride their camera. Stop following when you’re done. Presence and Follow need a connection.
5. **Pin a comment** on the thing you’re arguing about. The landing rail, not an email with a screenshot. Comments are online. Resolve them so the thread has a close.
6. **Measure at the same time** if you both have Edit. Lengths you draw show up on their sheet. If you both grab the same markup, last accepted write wins. Hover preview stays on your machine until you commit.
7. **Leave.** The takeoff is already saved. The other person keeps working. You are not Finishing a meeting so the PDF exists.
8. **Revoke.** Take the grant off, or pull them off the Team. They lose the Project, including the copy that was sitting in Recents. [Cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync) is how that copy on their laptop behaves; [Project collaborators](/guides/project-collaborators) is the invite.

## Live Project vs a Session

Modern tools that actually get used together learned one lesson: **the file is the collaboration.** Permission is the gate. You hop in and out. You do not export a copy so someone else can see it. Feedback lives on the object. A second person does not wait for checkout.

Construction takeoff spent a decade doing the opposite, because the measure tools lived in a local Windows app:

| Session / checkout era | Live Project |
| --- | --- |
| Start a room. Expire it. Finish it. | Open the Project. That’s it. |
| 9-digit ID as a secret. Attendee matrix. | Named people and Teams. [Share](/guides/project-collaborators). |
| Host owns every markup until Deny + Reassign. | **Edit** measures unlocked markups. Author is history, not a lock. |
| Checkout: one writer. Everyone else waits. | Two Edit seats at 4pm. No waiting on a lock. |
| Finish writes chosen markups into a PDF and deletes the room. | Edits persist as you go. Export is interchange, not a ritual. |
| Studio Projects vs Sessions vs Cloud. Pick a product. | One app. [Browser desk](/guides/browser-desk-app) or [Mac / Windows](/download). |
| Screen-share the desk because the other person isn’t in the file. | Avatars. **Follow.** They’re already on the sheet. |
| Email the PDF, then argue which `v4` is latest. | One Project. [Cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync) across devices. |
| Kick someone = hope they deleted the folder. | Revoke the grant. Access is the [Project](/guides/project-access). |

Keep Revu for punch if that’s the desk. The Session model made live work a meeting, so the cabinet and the meeting never stayed the same object. Markup names on our desk stay Revu (Length is still Length). Who can open what, and whether two people can measure at once, is this page. A cheap desktop measure tool that doesn’t share is a different job. [Pick the category first](/resources/choose-takeoff-software).

## Permission is the other half

Live work without a gate is a leaked bid. A gate without live work is a shared drive.

- **[Organization](/guides/organizations):** company account. Shop default: the crew already inherits Edit. GC: Restricted, then grant the Project.
- **[Organization members](/guides/organization-members):** company directory. Admin or member. Not who can open this bid.
- **[Project collaborators](/guides/project-collaborators):** who can open this bid. Guests without payroll.
- **[Teams](/guides/organization-teams):** Estimating, Shop, that GC’s PMs. Grant the list, don’t type forty emails.
- **[Roles](/guides/project-access):** View / Comment / Edit / Full control. Inherit never Full. Extra grants only go up. No lock on one PDF.
- **[Cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync):** same Project on the shop PC and the laptop. Offline after you open the sheet. Presence and comments wait for a line.

A commercial precon team uses Restricted + Teams + guests so the wrong crew never opened the takeoff, and so offboarding is a grant, not a folder hunt. A one-person desk can ignore Share until the second hire. The model is sitting there.

## Shop vs two desks vs a GC

| When | What collaboration actually looks like |
| --- | --- |
| One person | You never look at avatars. Recents, measure, CSV. |
| Second estimator | Both **Edit**. Same Project. No Session. |
| Reviewer / PM | **View** or **Comment**. Follow the estimator. Don’t give them Edit. |
| Outside estimator | **Guest**, Edit on this bid only. Not the Organization. |
| You measure on their Project | They Share you as a guest, Edit. Your own bids stay in your Organization. |
| Bid is over | Revoke. CSV if they still need quantities. |
| Departments | Restricted + [Teams](/guides/organization-teams). Revoke without chasing files. |

## What still needs a connection

Job-trailer links fail. Not every button works with no connection.

| Online | After a visit, offline is fine |
| --- | --- |
| First open of a new PDF | Recents and sheets you already opened |
| Presence, Follow, comments | Measuring those sheets |
| CSV / shop export at click | |
| Extract / AI | |

That’s the same contract as [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync). Collaboration does not replace it.

## Evaluating this

If the bake-off question is “can two offices take off the same commercial set without emailing a PDF, a Session ID, or a Finish button,” this is the answer. If the question is “can a sub look without joining the company directory, and can we revoke them when the bid is over,” that is the two setups above. No install to start: [Browser desk](/guides/browser-desk-app). [Mac](/download), offline, and which file is latest is [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync). If the question is “does every Revu tool exist yet,” that’s still Job A: calibrate → measure → CSV. [How it works](/how-it-works). Measuring the set, with stairs as the worked package: [quantities](/resources/measuring-a-commercial-set). A measure desk, not another estimating platform: [takeoff without a platform](/resources/takeoff-without-a-platform). That’s takeoff, not a priced bid: [takeoff vs estimating](/resources/takeoff-vs-estimating).

Shared viewing without emailing a file is the collab people actually name in software-choice threads: [choose takeoff software](/resources/choose-takeoff-software). Windows `.exe` falling apart: [leaving PlanSwift](/resources/leaving-planswift). Still in Revu and retyping: [Bluebeam into Excel](/resources/bluebeam-to-excel).

The Project: [what a Project is](/guides/projects). Cluster map: [Working together](/guides/working-together-collaboration). [Browser desk](/guides/browser-desk-app). Devices: [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync). People: [organization members](/guides/organization-members) · [Project collaborators](/guides/project-collaborators) · [Teams](/guides/organization-teams) · [who can open a Project](/guides/project-access).


## FAQ

### Do I start a Session to work with someone?

No. There is no Session product, no 9-digit room, and no Finish so the PDF ‘exists.’ Open the Project. That’s joining. Edits save as you go.

### Can two estimators measure at the same time?

Yes, if both have Edit. Anyone with permission can be on the Project at the same time. Anyone with Edit can change unlocked markups at the same time. Last accepted write on the same markup wins. You still measure. Doing the takeoff is still how you learn the set. You are not co-typing inside one text box.

### How is this different from Bluebeam Studio?

Studio split collaboration into two products: a filing cabinet you check out, and a temporary markup meeting you Finish. Here the Project is the cabinet and the live desk. No checkout to measure. No Finish ritual. Keep Revu for punch if that’s the desk. Markup names on the sheet stay Revu; the meeting model does not.

### Do I have to email the PDF?

No. That’s the efficiency people actually name: web-based shared takeoff viewing. Grant View or Edit. They open the Project. You are not arguing which v4 is latest.

### What do presence, Follow, and comments need?

A connection. Avatars, Follow, and comments are online. The takeoff you already opened still works offline. That’s cloud sync. Come back online to see who’s on the sheet and to pin a comment.

### Should I invite a GC or a client into my Organization?

Usually no. Share the Project as a guest instead. Organization members inherit Edit when Project access is All members, the shop default. That would list other bids. Restricted plus a guest keeps Mercy Hospital off the rest of the shop.

### I take off on a GC’s Project. Where do my own bids live?

On your Organization. You join their Project as a guest. You do not join their company directory. Keep My Organization (or your shop name) for work you own.

### What happens when the bid is over?

Revoke the grant. They lose the live Project, including the copy that was sitting in Recents. Hand them the CSV if they still need quantities. We do not transfer a Project into another Organization, and we do not email the marked-up PDF as the share path.