Collaborative commenting in a drawing tool

A computer-implemented method of managing comments in a drawing document, the method comprising:

• receiving a shape on a drawing canvas of a drawing application and creating an electronic drawing that includes the shape;
• receiving a first comment, associated with the shape, the first comment received via an interface associated with the drawing canvas of a drawing application;
• in response to receiving the first comment, displaying a first notification feature including a first comment notification icon alongside the shape, wherein the first notification feature is depicted at a location of the shape on the drawing canvas of a drawing application, the first comment notification icon indicating the existence of a comment associated with the shape;
• receiving a second comment, the second comment associated with the drawing canvas of a drawing application, the second comment received via the interface associated with the drawing canvas of a drawing application;
• in response to receiving the second comment, displaying a second notification feature including a second comment notification icon operable to indicate the existence of a comment associated with the drawing canvas of a drawing application;
• in response to receiving a selection of the first comment notification icon from the drawing canvas of a drawing application, displaying a first commenting dialog at the first notification feature, the first commenting dialog comprising the first comment including names of commenting users;
• in response to receiving a selection of the second comment notification icon from the drawing canvas of a drawing application, displaying a second commenting dialog at the second notification feature, the second commenting dialog comprising the second comment including names of commenting users;
• displaying a viewer version of the electronic drawing that includes the shape while simultaneously displaying the first and second comment in the viewer version of the electronic drawing;
• in response to selection of the first or second comment notification icon in the viewer version of the electronic drawing, receiving within the viewer version of the electronic drawing an entry of a new comment associated with the displayed shape, and associating the new comment with the first comment notification icon or the second comment notification icon, wherein the viewer application prevents edits to the content of the electronic drawing;
• and
• displaying on the drawing canvas of a drawing application, the shape and the first and second notification icons and, in response to receiving a selection of either of the first or second displayed notification icons, displaying the respective first or second commenting dialogs with the first and second comments, respectively, along with the respective new comment.

A system for facilitating collaboration in a drawing tool, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory including computer-readable instructions which when executed by the processor are operable to:
• receive a change associated with a shape on a drawing canvas of a drawing application of the drawing tool, wherein the shape is an element of an electronic drawing;
• display in the drawing application a notification feature associated with the shape, wherein the notification feature is depicted at a location of the shape on the drawing canvas of the drawing application, the notification feature including a coauthor notification icon, wherein the coauthor notification icon is operable to provide a notification indicating recent changes to the shape;
• in response to receiving a selection of the coauthor notification icon, display a coauthoring dialog user interface to display changes that recently occurred
• display a comment notification icon included in the notification feature, the comment notification icon providing a notification indicating the existence of a comment associated with the shape, wherein the comment associated with the shape comprises a first comment entered via a selectable comment notification icon in a viewer version of the electronic drawing that prevents edits to the content of the electronic drawing;
• and
• in response to receiving a selection of the comment notification icon, display relative to the drawing canvas of the drawing application a commenting dialog comprising the first comment, the first comment including a name of a commenting user.