Tracking Changes – WorkFlowy and Google Docs Play Nicely

Last year I wrote a post on a really smart (but rather convoluted) way of “tracking changes” in WorkFlowy, à la Microsoft Word (that is, for those who use WorkFlowy for collaborative purposes). It worked rather well for me at the time – but I’ve since moved onto a solution that requires zero hacks and doesn’t conflict with what your teammates are likely already doing.

The scenario

Last year I revised and edited an entire book (written by another WorkFlowy user in WorkFlowy) in WorkFlowy. Now I’ve been revising the same user’s blog posts written up entirely in WorkFlowy… in Google Docs – without skipping a beat. WorkFlowy is still powerfully WorkFlowy. And Google Docs gives me a fuss-free way to track changes on its powerful and ubiquitous (omnipresent) platform.

The writer

1. It’s business as usual in WorkFlowy: Use WorkFlowy for your ideation, brainstorming, shuffling and writing up of whatever knowledge work you’re engaged in. Once your creativity is spent…
2. Copy your work over to a Google Doc, grab a share link and pop it into WorkFlowy:

Above, you’ll see that I revised a post on IKEA. There’s an outline with the “original” post (before copying over to Google Docs) and a “revision” outline with the Google Doc link at the top. Slot the Google Doc link in your outline wherever it makes the most sense.

The editor

1. Follow the Google Doc link in your collaborative outline and turn on the “Suggesting” tool:

2. Edit your heart out (and add comments) in Google Docs…

3. Go to: Tools > Review suggested Edits > Preview “Accept all”

4. Copy your edited draft into WorkFlowy (or not):

Collaborating in WorkFlowy

Collaboration in WorkFlowy can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Here’s a full-on post I wrote thereon – the dynamics of which serve myself and many others incredibly well.

Here’s a (slightly) bigger picture of where the above post revision fits in. You can organize things to your heart’s content and even get a Kanban workflow going (Active, Done…):

… and thus the (smart) idea of leveraging WorkFlowy for as much of your writing, organizing and collaborating as possible – even if “tracking changes” is done in a next-door-neighbor app.