How do you share a manuscript with editors?
- Industry standard: Word .docx with Track Changes enabled.
- Cloud share (Dropbox, Google Drive) for files over 25 MB.
- Email attachment for files under 25 MB.
- A "frozen" copy of the editor’s version is preserved on your side.
- Each editor pass gets dated handoff and return files.
You share a manuscript with editors as a Microsoft Word .docx with Track Changes enabled, sent via cloud share (Dropbox, Google Drive) for files over 25 MB or as an email attachment for files under 25 MB. Always preserve a "frozen" copy of the version you sent — you’ll need it to compare against the marked-up version when the editor returns the file.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Editorial handoff is where version confusion most often originates. Send the wrong file, lose the right one, forget which version had which changes — these are routine failures without a discipline. A consistent handoff process (.docx + Track Changes + frozen copy on your side) eliminates the failure mode entirely.
Chapter ii·What to include
- Microsoft Word (.docx) with Track Changes enabled.
- Cloud share (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) for large files.
- Email attachment for files under 25 MB.
- A "frozen" copy of the handoff file preserved on your side.
- A handoff email naming the version, date, and any context.
- A return protocol: editor sends marked-up file, you save with new dated filename.
Chapter iii·Example
A self-publishing author sends her 78,000-word manuscript to her copy editor: she saves "Stargazer-draft-3-2026-04-22-clean.docx" to a Dropbox folder, enables Track Changes, shares the folder link with the editor, and saves a frozen copy named "Stargazer-draft-3-handoff-to-copy-editor.docx" on her own drive. When the editor returns the file three weeks later, she saves it as "Stargazer-draft-3-edit-marks-2026-05-13.docx" — three files, three states, zero confusion.
WriteLoom holds editor handoff files alongside your master manuscript, so frozen copies stay where they belong.
See the Edit studio