How Writing Teams and Co-Authors Use Lex Sharing and Inline Comments to Collaborate on AI-Assisted Drafts

Writing teams and co-authors collaborate on AI-assisted drafts in Lex by pairing permission-controlled sharing links with an inline review loop designed specifically for generative text. While conventional word processors treat AI as a disconnected sidebar plugin, Lex embeds generative intelligence directly into the collaborative editing canvas. To collaborate effectively without overwriting work or introducing AI hallucinations, co-authors must configure sharing permissions correctly, leverage inline comments and draft-mode feedback, use AI Rewrite directly in the document margins, and lock in version snapshots before merging changes.

Here is how modern writing teams, editorial departments, and co-authors set up and execute a streamlined collaborative workflow in Lex.

1. Configure Sharing Permissions: Edit Links vs. View Links

Every collaborative review starts with Lex's sharing model, accessible via the Share button in the top-right corner of the editor. Understanding the distinction between permission types is critical to avoiding workflow deadlocks:

• Edit Link (Collaborative Access): This link grants co-authors full read-write access to the document. Collaborators can edit text in real time, leave inline comments, trigger AI rewrites, and chat with Ask Lex. Crucially, collaborators do not need to install local software; Lex runs entirely in modern desktop and mobile web browsers. Even colleagues without a prior Lex account can join the document to review and annotate.
• View Link (Read-Only Access): This link publishes a clean, read-only version of the draft for external readers, executives, or clients. Important caveat: Viewers holding a View link cannot leave inline comments or suggest edits. If your goal is editorial peer review or co-author markup, you must share the Edit link.
• Lex Teams & Shared Folders: For ongoing publications and content teams, distributing standalone links per article becomes messy. With a team workspace, writers organize drafts into shared folders. Every member of the workspace automatically receives organized access to active drafts and shared prompt libraries.

2. Inline Comments and Keyboard-First Review Workflows

AI-generated drafts often produce plausible-sounding prose that misses brand nuances or contains logical gaps. Addressing these issues requires targeted, inline discussions rather than vague overall feedback.

Adding and Navigating Comments

1. Highlight the Target Passage: Select a specific sentence, phrase, or paragraph generated by the author or the AI.
2. Open the Comment Box: Click the Add Comment button appearing in the right margin on desktop (or the top toolbar on mobile web). Alternatively, use the standard keyboard shortcut:
   • macOS: Cmd + Option + M
   • Windows / Linux: Ctrl + Option + M
3. Navigate Without the Mouse: Co-authors can step sequentially through all comments in a long draft using the keyboard arrow keys, drastically speeding up editorial reviews.

Using Draft Comments for Thoughtful Feedback

A common pitfall when reviewing AI-assisted drafts is leaving a reactive comment on section 2, only to discover in section 4 that the AI addressed the topic later.

Lex solves this with Draft Comments. When you type a comment, you can leave it as an uncommitted draft while you continue reading the rest of the piece. Once you have complete context across the entire draft, you can refine your notes and publish them. This prevents cluttered comment threads and conflicting instructions among co-authors.

3. Reviewing AI Outputs with "AI Rewrite" in Comment Margins

When collaborating on AI drafts, co-authors frequently encounter awkward phrasing, passive voice, or generic AI cadence. In traditional tools, an editor must either rewrite the passage manually or paste it into a separate chat window. Lex integrates this iteration directly into the commenting interface:

• Triggering AI Rewrite: Highlight any problematic sentence or paragraph and click AI Rewrite.
• Suggested Rewrites as Inline Threads: Instead of silently replacing the author's prose, Lex posts the AI's alternative suggestions directly into an inline comment thread.
• Team Evaluation: Co-authors and editors can inspect the original and the AI proposal side by side, debate tone in the thread, or accept the rewrite with a single click.
• Synonym Discovery: Highlighting a single word and selecting AI Rewrite generates contextual synonyms in the margin, helping co-authors quickly replace overused AI adjectives.
• Ask Lex Queries: Reviewers can also use Ask Lex to run sanity checks on specific sections—such as asking the AI to verify whether an argument follows logically or whether technical jargon is explained clearly for beginners.

4. Version Control: Protecting Drafts with Snapshots

Fast-paced collaborative writing with AI tools carries a risk: rapid prompt generations and bulk rewrites can unintentionally delete valuable human context or overwrite a co-author's contribution.

Lex addresses this with its Versions snapshot feature, accessible from the top-left dropdown menu:

1. Before Review Handoff: The lead author should save a named version snapshot immediately after completing the initial AI draft.
2. Before Resolving Comments: Before an author accepts multiple AI rewrites or resolves comment threads, they should save another snapshot.
3. Full State Retention: A Lex version snapshot preserves both the text body and all associated comments at that moment in time, allowing co-authors to restore an earlier draft if an AI iteration derails the narrative.

5. End-to-End Collaboration Blueprint for Co-Authors

To establish an orderly production process, teams can follow this six-step blueprint:

6. Commercial and Practical Considerations

• Collaboration Is Free: Lex allows document sharing, real-time co-authoring, and commenting on both free and paid tiers. Collaborators do not need an active paid plan just to review an Edit link.
• Lex Pro Advantages: Upgrading to Lex Pro ($24.99/month or $179.88/year) unlocks frontier LLMs (such as Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4/GPT-5 classes), custom Knowledge Bases, and reusable Style Guides. For editorial teams, Style Guides ensure that inline AI suggestions conform to organizational voice rules.
• Enterprise Privacy: Lex accesses AI models via enterprise APIs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and TogetherAI. Customer drafts and comments are hosted securely and are not used to train public foundation models.

By combining granular edit permissions, draft-first commenting, margin-level AI rewrites, and disciplined version snapshots, co-authors can harness the velocity of generative AI without sacrificing editorial rigor or mutual trust.

References

• Lex
• Lex Pricing
• New in Lex: Comments + AI Rewrite!
• New in Lex: AI first draft + version history!