Edit together in real time
Open the same note as a teammate and edit it together — every change syncs live, and there is no save button.
Edit the same note at once
Section titled “Edit the same note at once”Anyone with edit access can type in the note at the same time. Orbit merges changes character by character with a conflict-free data structure (CRDT), so two people editing the same paragraph never overwrite each other and never see a conflict dialog. Orbit’s collaboration server continuously persists the merged result to the note’s markdown file in OneDrive or SharePoint — see Where your notes live.
There is nothing to save. The note header confirms it: “Your content is automatically saved.”
See who is in the note
Section titled “See who is in the note”While others have the note open:
- Presence avatars stack in the note header — each person’s photo, or their initials on their assigned color. Up to five show, with a “+N” badge for more. Hover an avatar to see the name; your own avatar is marked “(You)”.
- Cursors and selections from each collaborator appear in the editor text, tinted with that person’s color.
- A connection dot shows the sync state: Synced, Connected, Connecting…, or Offline.
📷 Screenshot here: Note header during a two-person session — stacked presence avatars, the Synced status dot, and a collaborator’s colored cursor visible in the text.
Jump to a collaborator
Section titled “Jump to a collaborator”A marker rail (labeled Collaborator locations) sits along the edge of the editor. Each collaborator gets a colored marker positioned where they currently are in the note, labeled with their name.
- Find the collaborator’s named marker on the rail.
- Click it — the note scrolls to their location.
Ride out a connection drop
Section titled “Ride out a connection drop”Recently opened notes are cached in your browser, so a note paints instantly when you return to it. If your connection drops, the status indicator switches to Connection lost with a Retry button, and Orbit reconnects on its own. When the connection returns, the note re-syncs with the server and live editing resumes.
Do I ever need to press save? No. Changes sync continuously, and Orbit writes them to the underlying markdown file for you.
What happens if two people type in the same sentence? Both edits land. The CRDT merges them at the character level — nobody’s typing is lost and no conflict prompt appears.
Can I get back an earlier state of the note? Yes — every note keeps file versions in Microsoft 365. See Versions, export, and trash.
Up next: keep discussion attached to the text with Comment on notes and mention people.