TextFlow for Google Apps offers users of Google Apps for Domains™ a powerful alternative to Microsoft Office™ track changes, document comparison and review functions

– Nordic River, announces the launch of TextFlow on the Google Apps Marketplace™. TextFlow for Google Apps integrates with Google Docs™ and enables the contributions made by each writer to be clearly visualized, evaluated and decided upon – ultimately providing users full control in Google Docs.

Offering a simple and dynamic way to gather and review text input from colleagues, partners and clients, TextFlow enables users to make better decisions by visualizing all their options and making it easy to choose the best contributions. A document’s full revision history becomes available with TextFlow’s easy-to-follow “bubbles,” which highlight input that each person has suggested for an original document. This offers users immediate visibility into what changes have been made by whom, and when those changes were made. From there, users can choose to either accept or reject each revision, or move them to the side as post-it notes. The end result is a more cohesive final document.

“With TextFlow, Nordic River adds a unique tool to the rapidly growing number of innovative solutions available in the Google Apps Marketplace,” adds Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead for Google Enterprise. “Through the Google Apps Marketplace, solutions such as TextFlow are helping us to build a rich ecosystem of integrated apps that work seamlessly with each other. TextFlow is a great example of how users who require professional document review can leverage the benefits of cloud computing and meet more of their business needs. We are happy to offer TextFlow to the millions of Google Apps™ users who have embraced the cloud.”

“We’re convinced that the collaboration landscape just became a lot more interesting - not to mention much more competitive - with the addition of TextFlow for Google Apps,” says Tomer Shalit, CEO, Nordic River. “Without question, professional document review and comparison is no longer the sole domain of Microsoft and Workshare. With TextFlow we bring professional change control to the cloud.”

After installing TextFlow, Google Apps for Domains users can immediately start using TextFlow by launching it from the universal navigation menu, needing only to select a document to review to get started. TextFlow is available by subscription for $99.00 with a 14-day free trial. Academic pricing is $49, but free for undergraduates. For more information on TextFlow for Google Apps, please visit the TextFlow Google Apps Marketplace listing or www.nordicriver.com.

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Today we are announcing the TextFlow Desktop, running on Windows and Mac. The new release of TextFlow handles nearly all Word and Open Office document formatting, including images and tables.

As the market war over collaboration heats up, TextFlow Desktop joins in to empower Word users. By freeing the user to focus on changes to the text while storing layout, images and tables, it gives the power to make and visualize changes in content without losing format work.

You can download and start using TextFlow immediately. There is a 14 day free trial.

Link to press release.

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Posted by Johan

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Today we announce two  new releases for TextFlow, both featuring our entirely new user interface. The first is the TextFlow API that will let developers integrate TextFlow into their own web-based applications. The second is the launch of CompareMyDocs.com, our no-fuss way to get started using TextFlow.

The new TextFlow user interface

Many developers have been asking us how they can integrate TextFlow into their own solutions. In order to give as many users as possible the ability to use TextFlow, we have decided to open up the product to third-party software developers. If you are a web application developer you can now integrate TextFlow as your visual version management tool. To find out more, just visit our website and sign up for a developer account.

Our new CompareMyDocs.com service is now the easiest way ever to start using TextFlow. To try it out just visit www.comparemydocs.com!  You won’t need to create an account or sign up in any way, just upload your Word documents and start working - no restrictions.

www.comparemydocs.com

CompareMyDocs.com is also presented as a documented code example to developers who sign up for the TextFlow API.

We have temporarily closed the existing desktop version of TextFlow to new users while we work on upgrading it to the new user interface. Existing dekstop users can continue to use TextFlow and are still able to invite new users. When the updated desktop version is ready we will roll out to the existing userbase first before opening up to new sign-ups.

Posted by Mark

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Today we are pleased to announce the first post-summer release of TextFlow. There are three points I want to mention with this new release.

Firstly, this new release is our first step towards significant speed improvements when working with large documents. We anticipate further new releases in the coming weeks that will improve working with large documents even more, but already now you should notice that you can work with much larger documents than has been possible up to now. Changes in both the client and the server (WeaveSync) components have been made to speed up both editing and comparing large documents.

The second change is a simplification to the document version list in TextFlow. The previous version was confusing for some users and we feel that the new version list is more intuitive.

Finally we have been working on improving compatibility with Microsoft Word documents. We have been able to make a number of improvements here and we hope that any documents you might have been having problems with before will work now.  If you are still experiencing problems with a particular document, please don’t forget that you can easily submit a bug report to us from within TextFlow.

As usual, TextFlow will automatically upgrade to the latest version next time you run it.

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Posted by Tim

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Today we respond to user feedback by announcing a minor new release of TextFlow.

The most important new feature is that TextFlow now preserves all formatting, style, background images, headers and footers when importing and then later exporting a Word document. The first Word document imported when starting on a new document defines a style “template” that is applied on subsequent exports back to Word. This means that you will no longer lose your custom Word styles, headers, letterheads, etc.   (Please note that embedded images and tables are still not supported in TextFlow.)

This release marks the first step in our vision to make moving between Word and TextFlow as smooth as possible, and testing of this feature has gone so well that we decided to make an interim release.

This collage shows the original Word document to the left, the document being edited in TextFlow in the middle, and finally the exported result to the right.

The second new feature is that it is now possible to rename a document. However, there is a minor restriction: you are not allowed to rename a document that has already been shared, as this may create confusing situations where different users have different names it.

Finally, we have increased the maximum allowed length of a password for TextFlow from 10 characters up to 25.

As always, existing users of TextFlow will automatically upgrade next time they launch TextFlow.

Posted by Mark

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Today we release a new version of TextFlow, that introduces an enhanced user interface for document sharing. Share documents just as you would by email with the standard “To:” “CC:” “BCC:” fields.

This change from the previous version is subtle, but profound. Why is mail still the most used collaboration tool? One reason is that it’s so easy with mail to decide exactly who sees what, when sharing a work process. Sometimes you choose to CC:. You might go first for feedback to one group of people (say your colleagues), then to another group (maybe your customer). Maybe you want a lawyer’s opinion, or an accountant’s, before making a suggestion that others would hold you to. Email is great for this, because it’s decentralised. It also can be confusing, for the same reason. The new sharing interface in TextFlow supports the de-centralized approach of email — anyone can invite and exclude anyone — yet gives an overview of the different versions and easy collation of them.

You now have a single unified view of your incoming and outgoing TextFlow e-versions. Here you can quickly select the drafts you are interested in, and compare them.

Sharing a draft within TextFlow is now just like sending e-mail, and it shows up as e-mail. Your colleagues don’t need to install or download any software to be able to help with the document. They just click in your e-mail and they are up and running with TextFlow, right in their browser.

This release takes us one step closer to our goal of decentralised collaboration, where every user is free to collaborate how they like, with whom they like and when they like, and without needing to study a manual on how to categorize their contacts.

Don’t forget, you can always click on the Help button within TextFlow for more information about the new features.

Posted by Mark

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Today we are releasing the next version of TextFlow. This version comes with some major new features.

TextFlow can now store all documents and versions in a “Document home” on the TextFlow server. The new version also allows you to invite co-writers directly to TextFlow. New writers receive a secure link in an e-mail whenever you want to share a version. The secure link starts TextFlow directly in the browser without the need for them to install TextFlow or even create a TextFlow account.

TextFlow Document Home

TextFlow Editor with Version panel

This new version of TextFlow takes us a big step towards our long term goal: Allowing users to have their entire document workflow process available in one platform - from creation, to collaboration, to publishing – but without being locked into that platform at any stage.

Use the help button in TextFlow for help in getting started and testing the new features.

Posted by Mark

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