Cloud documents are cloud-native files that can be opened and edited in compatible apps. Heavyweight desktop Adobe apps used in publishing, including Photoshop and Illustrator, now offer the ability to use cloud documents.
Also there might be a security concerns and licensing implications of moving content and sharing images and fonts.
But how far can we go with our larger book production files? Shunting an InDesign files that can be over a hundred MB along with several GB of linked graphics files around may always be too much to ask. Messages, shared notes, spreadsheets and text documents are all light in terms of file size and are ideal for instant updating and sharing. People nowadays are more comfortable with sharing live documents that are always available, always up-to-date in the cloud and able to be modified by multiple users at the same time. Simple emailing and file sharing has been superseded by messaging platforms and cloud computing. In the world of work, things have evolved beyond how we first used the internet. Imagine how different things would have been ten years ago. At least it waited until a lot of us have decent broadband, and that Netflix and FaceTime were properly established.
One of the few positive things about the current global pandemic is that it has forced more reluctant companies to try remote working. Many publishers rely on the services of external freelancers and suppliers for design, typesetting and editorial tasks and with an official government requirement that “everyone who can work from home must do so” most publishers have switched their ‘internal’ staff to working remotely too. A look at new and upcoming methods for online copy editing, commenting and reviewing, and considering whether we should be changing our publishing workflows.