Beta Readers

Send each reader a copy with their name on it, see how far iCloud readers have read, and gather everything they say in one place.

Send marked copies

  1. Choose Project ▸ Beta Readers… (on iPad and iPhone, the ⋯ or + menu ▸ Readers ▸ Beta Readers…), or Beta readers… at the top of Revise ▸ Comments.
  2. Choose New Round…. Add each reader's name and choose PDF, EPUB or Word for them.
  3. Change the line printed on each copy if you like, and choose the date you'd like notes by.
  4. Choose Make Copies, then Save Copies… and pick where the folder goes. Send each file yourself.

Every copy is made from one checkpoint named after the round. Each page's foot (Word: the header; EPUB: the end of each chapter and the book's rights line) reads, for example, “Reading copy for Anna Ng · Please don't share · Notes by 15 Nov 2026”.

A file can't expire or be recalled once it's sent. The name and date are what keep a copy honest, and Five Rooms keeps each copy's fingerprint, so a copy found somewhere it shouldn't be can be traced.

Comments that come back

Word copies can come back with comments and tracked changes: choose Project ▸ Import Reviewer Comments (Word)… (on iPad and iPhone, Readers ▸) and they appear in your margin (see Comments from Word).

Web links

A round of web links gives each reader a link of their own: they read a copy on the web, in any browser, with no account, and write notes on passages. This device must be signed in under Settings ▸ Web (see Five Rooms on the Web).

To make a round, choose New Web Round… under Web links:

  1. Name the round, and choose the checkpoint its readers see: a new one made now, or one you already have.
  2. Say what each copy should say under the reader's name, and when you'd like notes by. To have the links stop working after a date, turn on Links stop working after a date.
  3. Add your readers, then choose Make Links.

Copy or share each reader's own link from the sheet. If the project isn't on the web yet, making the links puts it there. You can also make rounds in the web app (Revise ▸ Readers); either way they're listed here.

The copy is sealed with a key that's only in the link, so the web never sees your text or your readers' notes. Anyone who has a link can read that copy, so send each reader theirs alone.

Beta Readers lists each round under Web links: whether each link has been opened, how many notes its reader has left, and how far they've read if they share it. Copy Link copies a reader's link to send again.

To take a link back, choose Withdraw Link… from the menu beside the reader. The link stops working at once and its copy is deleted from the web. Their notes are fetched first, and stay in your margin.

Their notes arrive in your margin, on the passage each reader marked, when you open the project. Choose Check for Notes to fetch them now.

Reading progress

Readers who read in Five Rooms through Share for Review are asked whether to share how far they've read. If they allow it, Beta Readers shows a bar for each of them and the section they've reached. Nothing else about their reading is sent. They can turn Share Reading Progress off at any time, and what you had is forgotten.

Feedback digest

Choose Make Digest beside a round, a round of web links or a shared review. Five Rooms gathers every reader comment on that checkpoint into a note in your Inbox: who commented and how much, how far each reader got, who hasn't said anything yet, and where comments fall. Paragraphs that two or more readers commented on are also marked in the margin, with what each reader said. Making the digest again adds a fresh note but never repeats a margin comment.