When it comes to complex creative workflows, the proofing process can be one of the most time-consuming and disruptive parts of project delivery.
Teams typically deal with scattered comments, slow feedback, unclear requests, and delayed approvals. This isn’t just frustrating; the lack of efficiency inevitably costs time and resources.
To deliver stronger creative work in less time, teams need the right tools to review and approve faster. This calls for a smoother collaboration process.
And the best way to get that is with online proofing software.
What is Online Proofing Software?
Online proofing software gives teams a place where content can be reviewed, marked up, and approved. And it’s all in a collaborative, centralized, and consolidated space. It helps streamline workflows, ensures feedback is precise and clear, and removes the friction that decision-makers face when sharing comments or approval decisions.
Proofing tools are used across industries, companies, and functions. Creative teams, marketers, agencies, designers, and many more benefit from online proofing. A big part of this is due to the huge benefit of the support for a range of formats all in one place, including PDFs, images, 3D files, videos, audio, web pages, and more.
Online proofing tools are intentionally designed to gather and consolidate feedback. Feedback left directly on a file and can be assigned as tasks. Any necessary discussions take place in a thread, so the conversation is contextualized. And approval decisions are also made in the same place, so everyone knows what needs to be done and what’s ready to ship.
Proofing software that works for teams dealing with complex workflows includes version control features to avoid version confusion as projects progress. Activity tracking and other important workflow features also help to add transparency and accountability to the creative workflow.
Why Online Proofing Matters for Any Team
Dealing with complex projects that involve a mix of video, documents, images, and more becomes a breeze when everything is being reviewed and approved in one centralized space.
Everyone involved in a project benefits in two major ways – faster feedback and faster approvals. Here’s how:
Better and Faster Feedback
Online proofing software streamlines the often slow and frustrating process of gathering and acting on feedback in multiple ways.
Centralized Communication
Teams don’t have to scramble to keep up with feedback and versions scattered across different platforms or hundreds of emails. It’s all in one place. Comments are also made in context, meaning teams don’t have to spend time reconciling conflicting feedback.
Precision
Making mark ups with media-specific and synchronized tools means everyone can leave notes with a lot less ambiguity. Whether to the frame, pixel, or letter, precision markups enable more feedback accuracy.
Simplified Creative Workflow
The process of leaving feedback is straightforward for stakeholders. Intuitive controls make it easy to add feedback while integrated task management means that anyone can tell, at a glance, what needs to be done and by whom.
Fewer Revisions
Consolidated and contextual annotations reduce the likelihood of misinterpretation, so teams don’t find themselves having to decipher feedback and redoing work unnecessarily.
Simplified Sharing
File sharing is secure and efficient, reducing time lost to logistical issues. No downloads, installs, or updates required. No more “I can’t open that file”.
Great Stakeholder Experience
Approvers or reviewers can easily access files that need to be reviewed and/or approved in an intuitive space that reflects well on your brand and team, with barely a learning curve.
Faster Approvals
Whether sign-offs are needed from managers, legal, or clients, online proofing expedites the approval-gathering process.
Approval Automations
Integrated workflow automations let creative assets move through approval stages as different stakeholders make their decisions. The ability to set approval deadlines and automatic notifications prevents unnecessary delays. Much less time is spent manually following up with approvers.
Greater Oversight
Features to compare versions side-by-side means reviewers can quickly identify what’s been changed, making for easier and speedier approvals. This also allows for easy review of amends and an audit trail of the creative process.
Approval Clarity
Easy approval decision tools keeps teams aligned and eliminate any uncertainty about what’s been approved or rejected (or needs to be revised).
Greater Accountability
Activity logs let you track who reviewed and/or approved what and when – and download those logs for an archive of project activity.
Proofing Software Supports How YOU Work
ReviewStudio streamlines the online proofing process for teams of all sizes. With a purpose-built proofing platform, it’s much easier to scale and deliver complex asset projects faster.
From the ability to create different workflows to role-based permissions, it provides the features you need to manage growing teams, high-volume projects, and multiple stakeholders. It’s built to flex with your proofing needs and to simplify things, even when there’s a lot to juggle.
Some of the features that help teams get faster feedback and approvals:
- Media-specific proofing tools for marking up all file formats
- Threaded conversations to centralize project discussions
- Version control so everyone always sees the most recent version
- Easy access to past versions with options to compare side-by-side
- Approval options to approve or reject files
- Simplified guest access
- Tools that are easy to grasp with a short learning curve for all reviewers
ReviewStudio works for everyone from individual freelancers or enterprise teams. As your creative workflows become more complex, your online proofing system grows with it.
Upgrade Your Workflow with Online Proofing Tools
Online proofing can make a significant difference to your bottom line, impacting productivity, collaboration and creative output.
The right online proofing software can turn one of the most challenging parts of the workflow into the smoothest. It saves time, money, and resources, while delivering a great experience for all stakeholders.
With faster feedback, clearer communication, and fewer revisions, your team can deliver better results faster.
