Top 12 online proofing tools for faster feedback

TL;DR

This article highlights the top online proofing tools that help teams centralize feedback, streamline reviews, and speed up approvals on creative content like videos, documents, and images. It explains how these tools make giving and managing feedback easier by eliminating messy email chains and having every file version and comment in one place.

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Tired of chasing feedback through endless email chains and confusing spreadsheets? Getting feedback on your creative work shouldn’t take up all your time and energy. With an online proofing tool, you can get feedback in minutes, not days.

Online proofing software helps your team share files, collect clear feedback, and get approvals faster. It allows you to take control of your review process, so you can spend less time managing feedback and more time creating amazing work.

Let’s take a closer look at our top 12 online proofing tools that can help you speed up your workflow.

1. Filestage – best online proofing software for brands and agencies

Filestage is an online proofing software that helps you share, discuss, and approve all your files, all in one place. It offers agencies and marketing teams a better way to manage projects, add contextual comments directly on files, compare versions side-by-side, and follow structured review workflows, reducing lengthy email chains and revision cycles.

Advanced security features, AI-assisted reviews, and robust markup tools make it ideal if your team creates high volumes of content or has a complex creative review process.

Here’s how it works:

1. Upload your files and add a due date
2. Invite your reviewers or send them a link (they don’t need an account)
3. Let reviewers add their feedback and discuss ideas in the comments
4. Turn the comments into a to-do list so you can tick off edits for the next version
5. Upload the new version to Filestage

“Filestage has reduced our team’s daily email inbox by roughly 25-30% [so now] we can focus on other important tasks for the day.”

Rain Balares, INCA Lead

Filestage integrates with tools like Slack, Asana, and Microsoft Teams. It also offers plugins for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, effectively putting video proofing software inside your favorite video editing tools.

And if you prefer to create your own integrations, you can connect Filestage using Zapier, Make, and other integration platforms.

2. ProofHub

ProofHub is an online proofing software that makes it easy for managers of creative teams to streamline their team’s review and approval process by giving them a central place to share files, review them, add annotations, and approve work when it’s done. 

It integrates with third-party apps like Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Box to give creative teams a central place to access and store files.

3. GoVisually

GoVisually is an online proofing tool designed to streamline the creative review process for freelance designers and marketing teams. It offers real-time collaboration features so team members can work on creative projects simultaneously – live updates make sure stakeholders never miss a beat.

With GoVisually, you can use an “AI-powered compliance” guardian to do real-time content checks and keep a full audit trail with its version history feature.

4. Adobe Workfront

Workfront is an enterprise project management tool designed to help large, multidisciplinary teams collaborate. It can take several weeks to set up, but it allows marketing teams to build strategies and launch campaigns at scale. Workfront integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud to connect proofing with project management.

5. Lytho

Lytho is an online proofing software that helps creative teams to build stronger collaborations with clients and stakeholders. The teams can do that by building creative workflows to efficiently manage all important aspects of the project, from stakeholder reviews to resource management.

6. ConceptShare

ConceptShare is an online proofing tool that’s aimed at creative and marketing teams. Its goal is to empower these teams to deliver content faster and at lower costs. However, keep in mind that some more advanced features can be pretty difficult to learn.

7. SyncSketch

SyncSketch offers its users a real-time collaborative media review in the cloud. While this project management tool provides a fun way to collect feedback, it doesn’t offer task management, which can slow down marketing and creative teams.

It’s designed for boutique creative agencies and professionals in visual effects, animation, and gaming to supercharge their remote workflow. 

8. Kollaborate

Kollaborate is a cloud workflow platform for video professionals from Digital Rebellion. It integrates with their other apps, but to get the full benefits of this online proofing software, users run the risk of getting pulled into an ecosystem that could be counterproductive.

This project management platform is designed strictly for video editing and reviewing, allowing for instant real-time feedback from colleagues and clients until the project is approved.

9. Cospective

Cospective is an online proofing software that offers two distinct tools to assist marketing and creative teams with the review of their video content. 

The remote review tool is tremendously accurate and provides users with high-resolution videos that have high frame rates. The tool is priced for professional use and may be more than what most marketing and creative teams need.

10. PageProof

PageProof is an online proofing platform designed for creatives and marketing teams looking to automate workflows and speed up approvals.

It supports all file types and offers advanced proofing features, making it ideal for design teams that create creative assets in various formats. You can integrate PageProof with your existing tools, including project management software, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Microsoft Teams.

Check out this page for a detailed comparison of Filestage vs PageProof.

11. Ashore

Ashore offers online proofing for creatives. This tool has automation tools that let teams set up and save flexible workflows for every kind of proof. Users just need to add their approval stages, select approvers, and append their white-labeled email templates.

12. CrossCap

CrossCap is a piece of marketing management software that adapts to the business needs of each specific customer. The tool isn’t specifically dedicated to proofing, which can make it cumbersome and ambiguous to teams that are specifically looking for this functionality.

5 core features to look for in an online proofing tool

When choosing an online proofing tool, here are some core features to consider:

• Markup and annotation tools: The ability to add comments, draw, highlight, and strike out text directly on a file is essential. Visual markup tools like arrows, shapes, and color-coding make feedback clear and actionable.
• Version comparison: Look for tools that let you compare versions side-by-side. This makes it easy to check that all requested changes have been made correctly. Some tools offer overlay and pixel comparison modes to spot subtle differences.
• Workflow automation: You should be able to create automated review workflows that route files to the right stakeholders in the right order. This saves time and makes sure no one is missed.
• Integrations: Make sure the tool integrates with the software you already use, like project management tools (Asana, Trello), creative software (Adobe Creative Cloud), and communication apps (Slack).
• File format support: The best online proofing tools support a wide range of file formats, including documents, images, videos, audio files, and even interactive web content.

Four ways online proofing tools make feedback easier

Getting feedback on your content can be a headache. But online proofing makes life easier for everyone involved – from content creators to C-level stakeholders.

Here are four ways proofing software makes feedback easier:

1. See what’s happening across all your projects
2. Get crystal clear feedback with full context
3. Make sure everyone’s on the same page
4. Manage versions and review rounds with ease

1. See what’s happening across all your projects

Imagine if you could answer any question about the status of your content within 10 seconds. Maybe even five. With Filestage, you can.

The problem

Checking the status of your content takes some serious detective work. And not the fun kind. The very, very boring kind where you have to pour through email chains, chat threads, in-app comments, and spreadsheets just to work out if a piece of work is approved or not.

In fact, you would probably struggle to answer any of these questions quickly:

• Is this version approved and ready to be published?
• Who still needs to give feedback?
• Which images has the client approved?
• When can we expect feedback from the product team?
• Has the latest version been shared with Jane in Legal?

How proofing tools help

With free online proofing software like Filestage, you can see the status of all your content from your project dashboard. This gives you a bunch of important information at a glance, including:

• Approval status – see which stakeholder groups have approved your content (e.g. Creative) and which ones still need to give feedback (e.g. Product)
• Review decisions – see whether each reviewer has given their approval, requested changes, or still needs to take a look
• File status – see which files are in review, approved, or ready to be worked on
• Due dates – see when feedback is due and find out who is holding up the review process
• Version management – see which version is the latest and check who approved previous versions

And because Filestage supports all the most popular file formats, it’s like a video proofing tool and document review system all rolled into one.

The cherry on top

With Filestage, you can tap “F” to search every project, file, reviewer, version, and comment. So if you remember an important piece of feedback but can’t remember where you saw it, you can track it down in no time.

2. Get crystal clear feedback with full context

Rumor has it that if you add up all the hours people in your company waste capturing screenshots, copying out timecodes, writing out long descriptions that make no sense to anyone but themselves, and attending meetings to explain what they meant… Well, safe to say you’d have a very big number!

The problem

Separating files and feedback is a recipe for disaster. Here are three reasons why:

1. It wastes time for stakeholders – there’s no simple way for your reviewers to give feedback, so they have to explain which parts of your content they’re talking about
2. It creates a huge margin for error – it’s easy to misinterpret the feedback and make the wrong edits, leading to more work later in the process
3. It leads to conflicts and confusion – feedback is rarely consolidated between stakeholders, so meetings need to be called to resolve things 

How online proofing tools help

Review software for videos and other file formats makes it easy to give and receive feedback with pinpoint accuracy – down to the frame, letter, or pixel.

Here are five Filestage features that help make comments clear:

1. Markers – tap anywhere on your content to create a marker, even if it’s a video
2. Annotations – draw on top of your content to perfectly illustrate your point
3. Highlights – select a word or sentence you want to comment on
4. Strikeouts – select a word or sentence you want to delete
5. Attachments – add a reference or asset to your comment

The cherry on top

In Filestage, you can get clearer feedback on all your content. That includes documents, PDFs, videos, images, live websites, interactive HTML, and audio. So you can also save your team time bouncing between tools!

3. Make sure everyone’s on the same page

I used to wonder why stakeholders shared feedback with so many conflicts. But then I realized something. You may not like it, but I promise it’s true. It isn’t your stakeholders’ job to consolidate their feedback.

I repeat: it isn’t your stakeholders’ job to consolidate their feedback.

The problem

Your stakeholders don’t have time to read and understand everyone else’s feedback. They barely have time to give feedback themselves. And even if they want to see what other people have said, they’re sure to have trouble finding it.

Here’s why:

• You don’t have a standardized process for collecting feedback
• Stakeholders share feedback in the way that best suits them 
• Comments end up scattered across lots of tools and email chains

How online proofing tools help

Online proofing puts transparency and collaboration at the heart of your feedback process.

In Filestage, all your stakeholders give feedback in the same place. So as they’re watching your latest edit or reading your brochure, they’ll see exactly which points other people have commented on.

So if they agree with something, all they have to do is give a thumbs up And if they don’t, they can add a comment and @ the other person to kick off a discussion in real time.

The cherry on top

Filestage also includes team-only comments. This lets you post a comment or reply that only your teammates can see, helping to keep discussions in context. So if a client posts an outlandish suggestion in the comments, you can tag a teammate to check you’re not the only one who thinks it’s crazy.

4. Manage versions and review rounds with ease

Versions are like relationships. When it’s clear things aren’t working, you need to draw a line in the sand and reflect on what went wrong. Only then are you truly ready to move on.

The problem

Version control is, well, out of control. And modern collaboration tools are only making things worse. Documents and designs are in a constant state of flux, changing every time a new comment appears. Then, once the edits are done, the comments are ticked off or resolved. Almost as if nothing happened.

Here’s why that’s a problem:

• There’s no record of where your content began and how it developed
• There’s no history of who said what and how it impacted your work
• Your versions all blend into one endless feedback loop

Even without these tools, you’ve still probably faced your fair share of version woes. Like getting feedback on an old version, or having your client edit your copy directly.

How. Dare. They.

How online proofing tools help

Software proofing tools automatically manage your versions so everyone knows which one is the latest.

Here are three ways Filestage helps with version management:

1. Version history – use the drop-down menu on your dashboard to revisit previous versions and check the content or comments
2. New version available – if anyone opens an old version of a file, a message appears to make it clear that there’s a newer version
3. Auto-versioning – if you upload multiple new versions at once, they’re automatically matched with files of the same name

The cherry on top

With Filestage, you can compare two versions of your content side by side. So if you need to check the new version against what you and your teammates said last time, your feedback is only a click away.

Get creative work approved faster with Filestage

Everyone faces challenges in the feedback process, but few choose to do anything about it.

I hope I’ve helped to shine a light on these problems and identify some solutions that work for you, your team, and your stakeholders. If you’d like to take a closer look at Filestage’s online proofing solution, start a free trial.

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