Adobe kicks off 2025 with a highly anticipated new Photoshop functionality. Adobe announced Tuesday that its new Photoshop beta feature will be Live Co-Editing, a tool that lets you and your team work together on a project simultaneously. Live co-editing will make it easier to collaborate with multiple people, organize comments, and implement changes without having to save and share the same file over and over again.
“We knew it would be a significant technical challenge and we wanted to make sure we did it the right way,” Stephen Nielson, senior director of product management for Photoshop, said in an exclusive email interview with CNET. “Many of our customers have told us they want co-authoring features so they can better collaborate with their teams, clients, students, teachers and more.”
Two or more designers can actively edit a project at the same time and see the changes made in real time. (Nielson said there is no “hard limit” to the number of editors that can work simultaneously.) This feature enhances Photoshop’s collaboration capabilities; other editing software like Cloth and Figma have had similar multi-user editing functionality for some time.
When you’re editing with multiple people, it’s similar to Google Docs, where each user has a different colored avatar that lets you know where other users are and what they’re editing. You can see a complete log of changes made by each user in the History panel. A small group of Photoshop users have already tested the feature, with Adobe reporting that they appreciated more seamless collaboration.
You can register Join the private beta now to test it and give your feedback before the future release.
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The tool is intended to help creators streamline their work, especially when multiple people are giving feedback and recommendations on a project. You can adjust file permissions to limit who can edit them – a useful caveat for creators who need to solicit feedback from large groups of people. For example, creators can share current projects with clients and allow them to view and leave comments (not edits) even if those clients don’t have a Photoshop subscription.
Last year, Adobe emphasized AI in its Creative Cloud programs, and Photoshop got a number of generative AI tools and updates. While AI won’t be driving every update this year (including live co-editing), AI will “absolutely” be a continuing trend, Nielson said. He also hinted that a particular AI-based tool, the Perfect Blend project demoed at last fall’s Adobe Max, is one of the AI innovations they’ll be working on This year.
“We have some really exciting plans for 2025, with incredible capabilities enabled by generative AI. We’re always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, which will determine what we release this year and in the years to come,” Nielson said.
“This year, we’re committed to continuing to make Photoshop the ultimate creative design application and making it more intuitive, accessible and powerful than ever.”
