Etherpad

Real-time collaborative document editing — lightweight, fast, and built for teams.

Overview

Etherpad is a no-friction collaborative text editor. Open a pad, share the link, and multiple people can type in the same document simultaneously — changes appear instantly for everyone. It’s the fastest way to co-write anything when you don’t need the full complexity of a document workspace.

Key Features

• Real-time Sync — Every keystroke appears instantly for all collaborators
• Author Colors — Each user’s contributions are color-coded for visibility
• Revision History — Scroll through every change ever made with the timeslider
• Rich Text — Bold, italic, underline, lists, and heading formatting
• Import & Export — Import from .txt, .html, .etherpad; export to .txt, .html, .pdf, .doc
• Multiple Pads — Create unlimited separate documents in your workspace

Getting Started

1. From the Hub, click Etherpad to launch
2. Etherpad opens to your pad list
3. Click Create new pad or open an existing one
4. Share the pad URL with teammates
5. Start typing — everyone’s edits appear in real time

Using Pads

Each pad has a unique URL. Anyone with the URL can view and edit the pad — no account required for collaborators (access is controlled by your Calliope organization’s settings).

Keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl/Cmd+B — Bold
• Ctrl/Cmd+I — Italic
• Ctrl/Cmd+U — Underline
• Ctrl/Cmd+5 — Strikethrough
• Ctrl/Cmd+Z / Ctrl/Cmd+Y — Undo / Redo

Revision History

Click Timeslider to replay the full edit history of any pad:

• Scrub through every revision
• See who made which changes by author color
• Restore the document to any past state

Import & Export

Import an existing document into a pad from the Import/Export panel (top right):

• Plain text (.txt)
• HTML (.html)

Export a pad in multiple formats:

• Plain text, HTML, PDF, Word (.doc)
• Etherpad format (.etherpad) for full history export

When to Use Etherpad