WorkPack.

Client & context

The client needed an online PDF editor for teams. We worked alongside another development team on the client's side, which shaped how we split the work and integrated our part.

The challenge

PDF collaboration usually means emailing files back and forth and losing track of which version has whose comments. The client wanted one shared copy in the browser: upload a file, share it, and let everyone view and annotate it without installing anything. Annotations had to scale cleanly when zooming and stay in sync for every user with access.

What we built

• Upload and view - files are uploaded to the system and rendered in the browser.
• Sharing - a document can be shared with team members, each with access to the same copy.
• Annotation toolbar - text comments plus graphic elements: scalable lines, circles and rectangles.
• Server-side saving - every change is stored on the server and visible to everyone with access to the file.

Process & timeline

Because two teams were building one product, we agreed the interfaces between our part and theirs early and kept a shared backlog.

Results

The client got a working multi-user PDF editor: one shared document, annotated in the browser, with no files emailed around.

Document review moved from emailed attachments to one shared copy in the browser, with every comment visible to the whole team.

At our current rates, a build of this scope would cost about £20–35k — an estimate from the feature list, not the original invoice.

If we built it today

Today we would add real-time co-editing (several people annotating the same page at once), version history, and single sign-on for teams, on top of the in-browser PDF rendering. A first release of a product like this typically takes 6–8 weeks; our rates start from £49/hour per developer, and £65–£70/hour for a full team with QA and product ownership. Discovery starts from £3,000.

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