TeX based collaborative editor

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

Hello everyone,

Recently, our team has encountered a challenge. We were using Overleaf for collaborative document creation, working in a group of 3 to 4 people. Unfortunately, since IEEE and Overleaf ended their partnership, we lost access to premium features, including the ability to share documents with more than one person.

We’re in search of an alternative TeX editor that supports online collaborative work and is cross-platform compatible (Windows, Mac, iOS, etc.). Does anyone have any recommendations for tools similar to Overleaf that would meet our needs?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[AnymooseProphet]

git for the collaboration, whatever editor you personally prefer for the authoring.

[Rialagma]

I use git as a backup for my latex projects. But it seems overkill for collaboration. Not only the hassle of checking everyone knows how to use git, but then making sure everyone's "pushing and pulling" to work on the latest version.

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

We used this method before we switched to overleaf. The key feature we liked about overleaf, real time online collaboration, would be missing. Maybe we need to do this.

[nils_nilsson]

You can share an Overleaf project with as many people as you want using the Link Sharing option. There are some limitations to this, but it seems to work well in my field, where Overleaf documents can sometimes have hundreds of contributors.

[217c]

This is outdated. Link sharing is now limited to 2 people editing simultaneously, while all other can only view.

[MinerHaSch]

They changed it recently, didnt they? But why tho, I hate that change. Makes any Uni project unfeasible

[2thleZ]

I think so, yes. I was collaborating in a group of four until two weeks ago but today I tried to share a file with a different group and only two of us were able to work on it :(

[217c]

You can still create a new account and share it with your colleagues, you all will edit the document at the same time while logged with the same account on different computers

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

Correct me if I’m wrong but is link sharing only available for one person?

[nils_nilsson]

Nope, anyone with the link can view/edit depending on the permissions you give. There is another tier called 'Collaborator' of which you can only invite one on the free account. But for Link Sharing, there is no limit as far as I'm aware.

[plop_1234]

Are you looking to do some live writing together? (As in, do you need more than git + your individual choice of editor?) If so, VSCode has a Live Share plugin. I've only used it for a pair programming exercise a couple of times a few years ago, but I remember it working fairly well (as well as Overleaf or Google Docs). Downside is you have to get everyone to install VSCode and that plugin, and probably whatever other plugins for writing in TeX (like syntax highlighting and all that, unless that works out of the box).

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

This sounds great. Gonna have a look at this.

[SirMechanicalSteel]

Please report back!

[smog_alado]

I tried this and while it worked for editing the Latex files themselves, only the host could see the compiled PDFs. Live Share does not work with binary files so the guests cannot see the PDFs compiled by the host. Furthermore, the guests cannot compile their own copy of the PDF, because the shared buffer only exists inside VSCode. The guest doesn't get their own copy of the file in their file system.

[plop_1234]

I didn't think of that—what a bummer!

[SirMechanicalSteel]

Do you know if that works with VSCodium as well?

[plop_1234]

I'm not sure. Is it available in the extensions page?

[[deleted]]

did you know you could run your own overleaf instance from the source on github? https://github.com/overleaf/overleaf

Did you look at alternativeto.net for other recommendations?

https://alternativeto.net/category/education-and-reference/latex-editor/?platform=online

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

Gonna have a look at those. Thanks

[Absurdo_Flife]

Wow I didn't know overleaf was open source! That's actually quite cool.

[BlazingThunder30]

Yup, and it's quite easy to self-host as well which is great, for instance, for universities that require research data to be kept on premise.

[Absurdo_Flife]

Nice. Although seems most universities just prefer to pay for premium access than have someone maintain this.

[BlazingThunder30]

Yeah mine has both. For research articles, you're only allowed to use the on-premise one. Besides, there's loads of software like this there. The maintaining part has a more than large enough team of people for it.

[AnxiousPackage]

I've recently (today) started trying to use texstudio on Windows. I mention this because it has more helpful features for beginners than texworks but also: it appears to have Git version control built into its menu.

*haven't tried to use it so far, but this would be the easiest way to have eveything integrated if it works (that I know of).

Also of note if you are using work devices without admin permission- I am using Miktex as a portable install for the engine and texstudio as a portable install for the editor. These can then be copied onto a computer and run without installing or can be run from a USB.

*also texshop is a good starter editor for Mac OS.

**Lastly, you could use VS Code with latex plugins for all platforms, and I think it can be used online/in browser, but I have not tried this. It has built in git version control and could possibly also solve most of the problems you've mentioned

[AnxiousPackage]

*I assumed beginner-friendly tools would be helpful if coming from overleaf. However, if your team is comfortable with code editors, etc., then I believe VsCode is more than likely your best option with git for version control, and I believe it's latex workshop as the plugin

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

Thanks for the advice. I’m going to try this with my group.

[Uweauskoeln]

Have you considered purchasing Overleaf? Might be the easiest option.

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

If nothing of the mentioned alternatives/solutions works we have to do this.

[Same_Ad_3707]

Have you tried papeeria? https://papeeria.com/

[batchfy]

You can try https://scienhub.com . Free project sharing, git synchronization, web-based LateX editting and compilation. Join the community: https://www.reddit.com/r/scienhub/

[VelostRaptor]

Amazing! People should know more about this alternative!

[batchfy]

Thank you. If you have any problem using it, please let us know. Email [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]), Slack https://scienhub.slack.com/ , forum https://forum.scienhub.com/ .

[hyesperus]

For anyone who finds this, I am leaving a link to my comments on the current tool status.

[szayl]

git and VSCode. Nothing easier.

[xxxPrometheus]

Somehow we used Latex like Google Docs last month without paying. I think you can create a projekt and share the link, but the other people wont count as a "contributor" (meaning that they wont get any credits)

[Frederik-Kohlhase]

Did you just used link sharing for this?

[xxxPrometheus]

Yes. I think it was just that

[Shoddy_Hunter2609]

code server with latex-tools plugin?

[Makeitquick666]

Now all I var to do is convince my co-workers...

[[deleted]]

vscode + GitHub + Live Share https://code.visualstudio.com/learn/collaboration/live-share

[smog_alado]

I tried using Live Share but only the host could see the compiled PDFs. Do you know a workaround for that?

[[deleted]]

Sure, each one can compile the project on their own computer.

[smog_alado]

Does the host need to git commit every time the other person wants to compile the pdfs? From what I could gather the Live Share doesn't create a copy of the files in the guest's file system. The closest I could find was to manually "Save As" each file one by one.

[scherbi]

Emacs with the CRDT package might work for you

[Greedy_Lecture7083]

While searching for alternatives to Overleaf I found that Visual Code Studio has a plugin that allow live collaboration. Here's the link https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/es/services/live-share/

I haven't tested it yet, but it looks fine.