If you’ve had to collaborate with a group of people on a document via email, you know how difficult and cumbersome this task can be. Edits tend to come in from a variety of people at once making the reconciliation process between different document versions complex and error prone. Writewith is a webapp that offers a central location for your working team to review the latest drafts, make real-time edits, see past revisions, and save a local copy in a variety of formats. The interface is simple, sign-up takes under a minute, and there is no cost to use Writewith.

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What you can use it for:

• Share your latest contract with legal, marketing, and sales at the same time
• Create a to-do list for your project team and ask each member to make real-time updates
• Solicit input on your resume from friends and family
• Save $100 on Microsoft Word by using an online word processor such as Writewith

Pro’s:

• Fast, lightweight application
• Includes spell check and auto-save
• Integrated chat log for posting messages to other people
• Provides alerts when other users are working on the same document
• Ability to assign tasks to other users
• Free service

Con’s:

• Compatible with Internet Explorer and Firefox only
• Text formatting options are somewhat limited
• Encountered some issues with sending registration invites to other users

Web Site: writewith.com

Alternatives:

• Buzzword
• Google Docs
• Zoho Writer
• ThinkFree

Company Info:

• Launched in: April, 2007
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
• Founders: Martin Goldman, Eric Eldon, Phillip Kast, Jessica Wolfe

Rating: 4 out of 5 (superb)