Requesting review from other people
Request review sends a draft to people who do not use MindMax. They get a link, open it in any browser and comment on the passages; their comments come back into your document's comments panel, where you can answer them or revise from them like your own.
Before you start
- A Markdown document you write in. PDFs, ebooks and Word files cannot be sent for review yet.
- A MindMax account. A free one is enough. If you are not signed in, the Request review window asks you to sign in first and then brings you back.
- Your reviewers need only a browser — on a computer or a phone. No account, no install.
Send a review link
- Open the document, then open the ⋯ menu in the comments panel (or the ⋯ menu at the top of the editor) and choose Request review….
- Fill in what you need:
- Ask reviewers to focus on — optional, one line. It is shown at the top of their page.
- Your name, as reviewers see it — leave it blank to stay anonymous.
- Open for — 7, 14 or 30 days. You can extend it later.
- Reviewers can see each other's comments — on by default. Off, each reviewer sees only their own.
- Show my own open comments to reviewers too — off by default. On, your unresolved comments appear on their page and they can reply to them.
- Email me when there are new comments — at most once a day.
- Open Preview to see exactly the page they will get.
- Press Send and copy link, and paste the link into the email or message you would have sent anyway.
What goes out is a read-only copy of the document as it is now, with its images. Links to your other notes keep their text but not their target, so nothing else in your folder is exposed. Anyone with the link can read it — see what is stored and for how long.
What your reviewers do
They select text and choose what kind of comment it is: Comment, Question, Suggest edit (with a Change to: box for the wording they would use), Check this or Needs source. On a phone they tap a sentence, then tap the next one to extend. The first time they post, they type a name — that is the name you see. They can edit or delete their own comments, in the same browser.
When comments come back
While MindMax is open, new comments arrive on their own. To check now, open Request review… again and press Fetch new comments.
Each one appears in the comments panel on the passage it is about, labelled with the reviewer's name and external reviewer. Use the External filter at the top of the panel to see only theirs.
From there:
| You want to | Do this | Their page shows |
|---|---|---|
| Make the change | Revise from the comment, alone or with others, and accept the edit | Changed as suggested |
| Answer a question | Reply in the thread | Author replied |
| Not make the change | Decline, with an optional reason | Author kept it as is, and your reason |
| Close it without a change | Mark it done | Resolved |
| Stop someone commenting | Block next to their name | Their comments are hidden from other reviewers |
Revising from external comments works exactly like revising from your own — see Reviewing and revising with AI. Each group of edits names the reviewer and the comment it answers.
Send a new round
After you have revised, open Request review… and press Send new round. The same link now opens the new version. Reviewers can switch to See changes to see what changed since the last round, with the earlier comments and what you did with each. Earlier rounds stay viewable, but new comments go on the latest one. A link can carry up to 20 rounds.
End or withdraw
- End review closes the page to new comments. The copy and the comments are deleted from our servers 30 days later.
- Withdraw link stops the link working immediately and deletes the online copy and its comments.
- In either case, comments that already reached your document stay there.
- If you delete a document that is still in review, MindMax asks whether to end the review.
A document with an open review shows In review on its tab.
Limits
- One open review per document.
- A free account can have one open review at a time; paid plans can have ten.
- A document with its images must be under 15 MB.
Troubleshooting
A reviewer's comments have not appeared. Make sure MindMax is open and you are signed in, then press Fetch new comments in the Request review window.
"You've reached the limit of active review links." End a review you no longer need, or upgrade your plan. Several reviewers can share one link.
A comment is not on the passage it was about. If you rewrote that passage heavily after sending, the comment cannot always find it again. It still appears in the panel with the text the reviewer quoted, so you can deal with it.
The reviewer says the link does not work. The review has ended, expired or been withdrawn. Send a new review link.