Real-time editing in Drupal

Drupal is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP. CKEditor 5 WYSIWYG rich text editor is the default editor module for Drupal. The CKEditor 5 Premium Features module provides instant integration of the real-time collaboration features with the editing platform.

Currently, the module includes a full set of collaboration tools, namely Comments, Track changes, and Revision history. It also provides the Productivity Pack – a set of essential formatting and navigation features   as well as document import and export plugins.

# Real-time collaboration in Drupal with CKEditor 5

With Real-time Collaboration features, multiple users can work together to write, review, and discuss their content right within Drupal. No need to use different apps for drafting and commenting – you can do it all in one place.

# Adding comments

The Comments feature allows users to discuss the content. It lets you add comments to any part of your content, including text, and block elements such as embedded media or images. This is a great way of communication for many authors working on the same document.

# Tracking content changes

The Track changes feature shows change suggestions added by editors. These can be later on accepted and added to the content or dismissed.

Revision History is a versioning tool that allows the making of snapshots that can be named and easily browsed to see what changes were made and compare and restore previous versions of the content.

# Notifications

There is also a dedicated, configurable notifications system developed especially for the CKEditor 5 Premium module for Drupal. It helps the users stay up-to-date whenever someone mentions you in a document, comments, or replies to you, accepts or rejects suggestions, and so on. Integrate it with your own plugin to get notifications via email, Slack, or other services.

# Asynchronous collaboration

All the collaboration features can also be used for asynchronous editing. It is a collaboration mode when a single actor can work on the document at once, using the revision history, track changes, and comments features to interact with previous and following editors, as the work is done sequentially.

# Productivity-improving features

Apart from the real-time collaboration tools, the module provides various other plugins. The Format painter feature lets users easily style the edited text, while the Mentions feature allows you to tag other users in comments. Meanwhile, Slash commands let you create, insert, and format rich content on the go by typing a / sign and choosing from many predefined actions, such as text formatting, and inserting headings, tables, or lists.

# Full Screen Mode

The Full Screen Mode is a free-to-use plugin that maximizes the editing area. It is especially useful when using features like Document outline or Comments that take up extra space around the editor.

# Converters

The module includes the Paste from Office enhanced feature which makes pasting rich-text, advanced content easy and reliable. Users can also use the Import from Word feature to import whole documents into the editor. Once the work is done or needs to be sent to another editor, handy one-click Export to PDF and Export to Word features offer portability and cross-platform interoperability.

# Templates

Easily defined document and content templates make content creation faster and easier thanks to sets of predefined templates. These may define whole documents, like CVs, reports, or formal letters conforming to the company’s style guide as well as content blocks, such as pre-formatted tables, lists, and other block elements.

# Supported Drupal versions

• Drupal 9 (requires enabling CKEditor 5)
• Drupal 10

# Requirements

• PHP 8.0+
• Drupal 9.4 with CKEditor 5 enabled
• Drupal 10

# Installation and configuration

Please refer to the Adding CKEditor 5 Premium features module to Drupal 10 guide in Drupal Documentation for details on how to install and set up the module.