Crocodoc

Crocodoc is an online annotation tool.

It is a web-based interface that allows any individual to upload a file (pdf, word, jpeg, and even web pages snapshots...) annotate it and share it.
It does not require a login if the intent is to do a one-shot modification or just to share a file.
If you want to use it on a more regular basis, you can create an account, for free, and start upload some files, organise them in folders, and share them.

Functionalities :

- Drawing
- Highlighting
- Cross-striking
- Circling
- Drawing points
- Writing on top of any document
- Saving modified documents (marked-up documents) online, dispatching them to google documents or downloading them.
- Keeping track of a collaborative process of annotation
- Protecting documents by preventing others in the sharing process to disseminate them (which I guess is intended at keeping copyright lovers happy)
- etc.


Some problems and their solutions :

The web application seems to find it difficult to upload some pdf documents (it must depend on the level of protection) or sometimes it does it very slowly (it must also be a question of size).

Example: I uploaded an article taken from a scholarly journal on Jstor and then I uploaded it, after a long time it indicated that the upload process had failed. But later it appeared to have been uploaded, I opened it (it took 30 seconds at least), and I could work on it.

The interface can be separated in two or three sections. These sections are from left to right: document, annotations in a margin, log of the collaborative process. Therefore when the annotating process is on, the document can become too small to actually work on it. To avoid that flaw, fields can be closed.

The quality of the highlighting process depends heavily on the quality of the character recognition.

There are only four colours available for drawing, highlighting, etc.

It is based on flash technology, therefore no chance of using it on the Ipad, which has a paying tool with similar (and I guess more advanced) functions.

Conclusion: this tool is useful, though slow at times. It is definitely worth it for a student.