Using Cozimo in conjunction with a project management application is a straightforward process:

1. Create a Cozimo workgroup that includes the people who have access to the project.
2. When you have a set of files that you want reviewed, create a collaboration folder and upload the files (reorder them if desired).
3. Click on the “Collaborate” tab of the folder to access the first file and then click on “Link” to display the URL



4. Copy it and then paste it into the message, task or milestone of your project management application.

When the specified team members receive notification of the new message, they click on the Cozimo link and the Cozimo workspace will open in a new window. They can use the thumbnails to navigate through the files that have been uploaded and leave their comments and markups.

Reviews can also be conducted in real-time by clicking on “Start presentation”. Team members can return at any time to review all the annotations that have been made by themselves and others.

Today we introduced a number of improvements to our branding functionality for customers at our Plus level plans (and higher). With our previous version, you were able to replace the Cozimo logo in the upper left corner of the workspace with a custom logo for each workgroup. You had the option of putting your company logo there or a logo to represent the client or project itself. We have now introduced an option for you to upload a default logo that will always be displayed in the top left corner unless you specifically provide one for an individual workgroup to override it. For instructions on how to set up all the branding options that are now available visit our Help page here.

An important goal we established when we first started Cozimo was to foster creative collaboration through many different forums. In developing the Cozimo system, we specifically designed it in an a modular fashion so that we could readily deploy and offer our real-time Image Collaboration Environment (what we call “ICE”) not just through our own applications, but also through the many different products, websites and services that could benefit from it.  Last year we worked with CGarchitect to enhance their showcase galleries with collaborative capabilities. Later in the year we introduce our WordPress plugin for integrating a collaborative image or video as part of a blog. And most recently we introduced our “Collaborate Now” tool and Firefox extension that allows people to instantly capture any web page and collaborate on it.

Over the past few months we’ve completed some significant upgrades to our backend collaboration server as well as enhancing our API so that we now have even greater functionality and flexibility to support these type of collaborative projects.  In the coming months you’ll be hearing more about a number of partnerships we’ve recently undertaken as well as new product options that will make this API available to individual companies wishing to enhance their existing CMS or intra/extranet.   If you have a specific project that you would like to pursue (commercial, educational or cultural), please feel free to contact us to discuss it. This is the type of collaboration we enjoy most!

If you’re involved in web site design and development, our new Firefox extension gives you a fast and convenient way to upload and collaborate on any web page. The extension, based on the Screengrab! extension by Andy Mutton, can be used with our “Collaborate Now” tool when you want instant feedback on individual pages, or with your Cozimo account when you want a more structured workgroup environment and have multiple pages you want reviewed together. (To learn about how to use the extension with “Collaborate Now” you can review the tutorial here.)

To use the extension with your Cozimo account follow these steps:

1. Using a Firefox browser, install the Cozimo extension by clicking here.

2. By default, the extension is set to work with the “Collaborate Now” tool. To use it with your Cozimo account, right click in the web browser and select Collaborate Now > Preferences. This will open the Preferences menu:
Click on Cozimo as the Destination. If desired, you can also provide the specific Cozimo subdomain you want to upload the data to (If you login through cozimo.com then leave this blank).

3. Before using the extension with your Cozimo account you have to login to it (make sure you login through the same subdomain indicated in the Preference menu).

4. After logging in, browse to the page you want to upload. Once displayed, right click on anywhere on the page and select the Cozimo Upload menu item (or click on the Cozimo logo in the status bar).

There are four options for uploading the page:

Image Only – Uploads only the image you are currently clicking on (note that this option will only be visible if you are clicking on an image or web element with a background image).
Complete Page/Frame – Uploads the entire page or frame including portions that are not visible in the current window.
Visible Portion – Uploads only what is visible in the current window.
Selection – Lets you drag out a rectangle to select a specific portion of the page you wish to capture and upload.

5. After making your selection, you will be redirected to a Cozimo page that shows a complete listing of your current workgroups and folders. Click on the folder you wish to upload the screen capture to.

6. Repeat from step 4 for any additional pages you want to upload.

The Cozimo extension is open source, licensed under GPLv2, and the source code can be found here here.

Today we’re launching a new service in our ongoing support of creative collaboration: an online app we’ve dubbed “Collaborate Now”. While our primary Cozimo application is designed specifically to support creative professionals with ongoing projects in private workgroups, the idea behind Collaborate Now is to make image collaboration as easy and convenient as possible. No account is required – just upload an image, share, and collaborate. As with our main application, you can give feedback either individually or work together in real-time. For example, if you use Skype (or another IM/VOIP application) you can upload the image you want to talk about to Collaborate Now, cut and paste the URL into the Skype Chat and immediately start to “whiteboard” on the image to help communicate your discussion points. In addition to images, our new Firefox extension also lets you screengrab and collaborate on any web page – great for web designers.

Our goal with Collaborate Now is to introduce people to the benefits of online collaboration on visual media and the simplicity of using Cozimo by providing a simple, practical (and free!) application. By allowing Collaborate Now to be embeddable, we’re also looking to use it as a way to explore and support new approaches to creative collaboration and education through integration with existing web services and social/professional networks. So check it out at http://collaboratenow.cozimo.com  and let us know what you think. We’re eager to hear your feedback on the functionality as well as the ways in which you use it. As we hear about new ideas we’ll share them here with the community.

On a Mac you can print the report to a PDF file if you’d like to save the report and archive an offline record of the feedback you’ve received. On a PC there are a number of free tools available (such as www.pdf995.com) to do the same.

To enhance Cozimo’s scope and effectiveness for reviewing documents we’ve added a number of new formats to the Cozimo lineup. Now you can upload MS Office files in their native Word (.doc), Excel (.xls) and Power Point (.ppt) formats for online review and collaboration.

To facilitate the annotation of MS Office documents (and PDF files as well) we’re also introducing a new tool for highlighting text. Simply select the Text Highlight icon from the tool palette and then click and drag your mouse over the text you want to highlight. You can then add a note or new text to indicate any specific changes or instructions you would like to make to the text you’ve highlighted.

The latest enhancements to Cozimo relate to tracking item activity. From the file tab you can can click on actions>view history for any file and be shown a complete history of actions taken on that item since it was uploaded. The history will show the date, time and name of the person who performed the action. In addition, staff members in the workgroup will be notified by email automatically whenever a collaborator undertakes any activity on an item.

When it was first introduced, the iPhone immediately intrigued us as a potential platform for collaborating on rich media. With its larger screen size, support for Safari (the “real web” as Apple puts it) and touch screen interface, it seemed like it would be the ideal convenience for creative people on the move. Now with faster Internet access of the new version, the device is even more compelling.

Unfortunately, our initial enthusiasm for the iPhone was somewhat dampened by the lack of Flash support which forms an important component of our collaborative interface (not quite the “real web”). Depending on who you listen to, this omission is simply a temporary limitation of the platform/software (the party line) or else it’s a strategic move on the part of Steve Jobs to thwart the wide adoption of the Flash format as mobile standard in favor of their own solutions.

In any event, we’ve always made the effort with Cozimo to be technology agnostic and so we continue undeterred with our efforts to develop a unique collaborative mobile solution. We only use Flash to collaborate and for multi-file upload so most of Cozimo worked out of the box. As a second step, it is now possible to review images together with their annotations and notes (which are displayed in a format better suited to the smaller screen size). This means that you can now review the feedback you receive while on the go and also respond using the built in messaging system. Moving forward we will next introduce functionality for uploading images from the iPhone (perfect for dealing with on-site problems) as well as provide basic annotation tools so you can collaborate in real-time with your team members.

Text Annotation

The new Text tool lets you add text directly to the image. This is useful for shorter comments that you want to draw attention to. You can still use the Note tool for longer comments or for providing the opportunity for response. To add text, select the “T” icon in the Tool palette (or use the T shortcut), click the mouse on the image where you want to begin your text and type your text. You can use the enter/return key to add multiple lines. The text takes the color, opacity and size parameters from the Tool palette. And, like in the note and chat messages, phrases that look like web addresses are automatically converted to web links.

Color Picker and Custom Color Selection

Now you can choose a specific color from the image you are reviewing to make your annotations. To select a color click on the eyedropper icon in the Tool palette and drag your mouse over the image. Once you find the desired color, click the mouse to add it to your palette. You can also set a specific color by expanding the color palette (click “color”) and typing a hexadecimal color number in the input field provided.