Sharing

You can send someone a link to a section or to the whole book. They open it in a browser. They need no account and no copy of FoxQuill.

Making a link#

• A section: open its menu in the sidebar and choose Share.
• The whole book: press the share icon in the top bar.

Sharing is one of the tools behind Show more tools in Settings, so the share icon, the section menu’s Share, the Comments tab, and Settings > Sharing show once it is on, or once the book has a share link. See Every setting.

Then choose three things. First, what they can do.

The difference between the last two is who may propose words. A comment says “this bit is slow.” A suggested edit says “try it like this” and carries the new sentence with it. Neither one changes your book. A suggestion sits in the Comments tab until you press Use or Discard.

Next, when the link stops working: seven days, thirty days, or never.

Last, a password, if you want one. Send it in a separate message from the link.

Your name on the page#

Set Settings > Book > Author. Your name then appears under the title on every link you make, so a reader knows whose book they are reading. Leave it empty and the page shows the title alone.

Sending the link#

A link looks like this:

https://share.foxquill.studio/s/8kq3n2p9x4#Ayv-MnqQTG71YZewWpd0hRqq

The page carries a small “Shared from FoxQuill” link in its footer, so somebody who has never heard of FoxQuill can find out what made it.

Send the whole link, including everything after the #.

That part is the key. FoxQuill locks the text before it leaves your computer, and the key only travels inside the link. The service that stores your section holds something it cannot read. If you cut the link short, nobody can open it.

What your reader sees#

At the top of the page is a bar with the book’s title and your name. Below it the text opens on the first chapter that has words, and every section shows every word in it. Chapters are labeled like “Chapter One,” and a number beside a chapter in the list says how many comments are on it.

A whole-book link shows a chapter list down the left side. On a narrow window the list folds away, and a Chapters button in the bar opens it. Readers read one chapter at a time and move between them from that list, or from the arrows at the end of each chapter. The page remembers where they stopped.

The page has no FoxQuill banner. The only sign of FoxQuill on it is the “Shared from FoxQuill” link in the footer.

On a comment link, readers pick out the words they mean. They drag across a sentence, or a single word, and a small Comment on this button appears beside it. A panel opens on the right with those words quoted at the top. They write, and press Send. FoxQuill saves it and reads the list back, so the page says Saved. The author will see it. and the comment is still there after a refresh, in any browser opened with the same link.

Clicking a paragraph without picking anything still works, and means the comment is about all of it.

Words somebody has written on are highlighted, and the paragraph gets a small bar in its left margin. Clicking either one opens the conversation about it. Clicking the quote in a conversation goes back to the words.

The refresh icon at the top of the panel checks again, for a reader who does not want to wait for the page’s own check. The question mark icon beside it says how to leave a comment.

A suggest link adds a second button in the panel, Suggest an edit. It puts the paragraph’s own words in the box, ready to change. A suggestion always replaces a whole paragraph, so picking a few words out of one and then switching to a suggestion goes back to the paragraph. The reader edits them and presses Send. Their version goes to you. Your text on the page does not move.

Readers give their name once, in the panel, before they can write anything. Starting a comment asks for the name first, then opens the box straight after. They can change the name later.

What comes back#

FoxQuill checks for new comments when you open a book, and every fifteen minutes while it is open.

In the writing view, the words a reader wrote about are highlighted, and the paragraph gets the same small bar in its left margin that the reader saw. Click the bar and the side panel opens on that comment. A red bar means a suggested edit rather than a comment.

In the Comments tab of the side panel, each comment shows the words it was written on, quoted. Click the quote to jump to them in the text; the paragraph lights up for a moment. A section with new comments shows a small number in the sidebar. Refresh at the top of the panel checks straight away.

Comments from a whole-book link land on the section the reader was reading.

Press Mark done when you have dealt with a comment. Your reader sees the thread marked as answered, so they stop waiting. Reopen puts it back.

Press Reply under a comment to answer it. Your answer goes back to the same link, where your reader sees it marked as the author’s, and they can answer again. A thread is one level deep: a reply to a reply joins the same thread rather than starting a new one. Your replies are signed with your author name when you have set one, and the name is locked with the same key as the text.

A suggested edit shows what the paragraph says now and what the reader wants it to say. Use writes their version into the section. Discard files it away. If you have already rewritten that paragraph yourself, FoxQuill says so and changes nothing.

Old links send a rewrite of the whole section. It arrives as a new draft named Suggestions from <name> <date>. Open the draft menu above the section title to read it beside your own.

When the text has moved on#

A comment is written on some words of a paragraph, and FoxQuill remembers the paragraph’s words and its number. If you move the paragraph, the mark moves with it. If you write something in front of the words, the highlight follows them. If you edit the paragraph and the words the reader picked are still in it, the comment stays with it. If you delete or rewrite those words, or edit a paragraph whose comment was about all of it, the comment is still listed, with a line saying the words are gone.

Keeping a link fresh#

A link shows your text as it was when you made the link. If you keep writing, the reader still sees the old version.

Open Settings > Sharing, find the link, and press Update the shared copy. The same link then shows the new text, and the row says Updated just now. FoxQuill first fetches anything readers left on the old text, so nothing is matched against the wrong paragraph. Comments already made keep pointing at the words they were written about, on the reader’s page and in FoxQuill. A comment whose words you have since cut leaves the reader’s page; you still have it in the Comments tab. The same goes for edits a reader suggested.

A reader who still has the old page open can keep commenting on it. FoxQuill knows which version they were reading and puts the comment on the paragraph they meant. Other readers see it there after your next update.

A link that has run out says Expired and cannot be updated. Make a new one.

Taking a link back#

Settings > Sharing > Stop sharing, then confirm. The link stops working straight away and the stored copy is deleted. Anyone who opens it sees “This link is no longer available.”

A link you stopped sharing stays on the list, grayed out. Remove from this list takes it off. The comments and suggestions it brought in stay with their sections.

What the service stores#

The link, what it allows, when it ends, and your encrypted text. No email, no account, and no name it can read. The name a reader types for themselves, so you know who commented, is locked with the same key as the text. So is your author name, on the page and on your replies.

Readers send suggestions and you review them. Nobody edits live.