Hightail’s newest feature, Spaces, offers lots of online proofing and collaboration tools (see previous post for review of using Spaces video proofing). In addition, Spaces is able to upload and review a variety of different file formats.
Video files (.mp4, .wmv, .mov, etc.):
Allows you to view the video directly in the Spaces browser window (not necessary to download), comments can be placed on specific frames throughout the video as well.
PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx):
Allows you to view previews of the slides but the preview is a static rendering of each slide – no animation/transitions/videos (like a PDF proof).
Photoshop (.psd), Illustrator (.ai), Image (.png, .jpg, etc.), and PDF:
All show a preview image of the file, which is fantastic to preview the editable files, but only on the viewable layers when the files were saved.
Word (.doc, .docx):
Only shows a preview of the file – again like a static PDF proof; however, you can use the comment feature to highlight changes needed.
Overall, the features offered by Spaces are very useful to anyone reviewing and collaborating on a project of any kind. The only real drawback is the limitation with previewing PowerPoint files directly in the browser (which is a big deal to us!). Other than that, proofing is very simple and worthwhile to ensure a smooth collaboration process.
-Troy @ TLC