Etherpad

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Open-source web-based collaborative real-time editor

title: "Etherpad" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["collaborative-real-time-editors", "google-acquisitions", "java-platform", "free-software-programmed-in-javascript", "software-using-the-apache-license"] description: "Open-source web-based collaborative real-time editor" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etherpad" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Open-source web-based collaborative real-time editor ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

FieldValue
logoEtherpad logo.svg
screenshotEtherpad-1.8.4.png
captionEtherpad 1.8.4 with two plugins enabled
developerEtherpad Foundation
released
latest release version
latest release date
programming languageJavaScript (Node.js)
operating_systemCross-platform
languageEnglish
genreCollaborative real-time editor
licenseApache License 2.0
website
::

| logo = Etherpad logo.svg | screenshot = Etherpad-1.8.4.png | caption = Etherpad 1.8.4 with two plugins enabled | developer = Etherpad Foundation | released = | latest release version = | latest release date = | programming language = JavaScript (Node.js) | operating_system = Cross-platform | language = English | genre = Collaborative real-time editor | license = Apache License 2.0 | website =

Etherpad (previously known as EtherPad) is an open-source, web-based collaborative real-time editor, allowing authors to simultaneously edit a text document, and see all of the participants' edits in real-time, with the ability to display each author's text in their own color. There is also a chat box in the sidebar to allow meta communication.

First launched in November 2008, the software was acquired by Google in December 2009, and released as open source later that month. Further development is coordinated by the Etherpad Foundation.

Features and implementation

Anyone can create a new collaborative document, known as a "pad". Each pad has its own URL, and anyone who knows this URL can edit the pad and participate in the associated chats. Password-protected pads are also possible. Each participant is identified by a color and a name.

The software auto-saves the document at regular, short intervals, but participants can permanently save specific versions (checkpoints) at any time. Merging of changes is handled by operational transform. A "time slider" feature allows anyone to explore the history of the pad. The document can be downloaded in plain text, HTML, Open Document, Microsoft Word, or PDF format.

Automated markup of JavaScript code was made available shortly after the launch.

Etherpad itself is implemented in JavaScript, on top of the AppJet platform, with the real-time functionality achieved through Comet streaming.{{cite web | url = https://techcrunch.com/2008/11/19/etherpad-shows-google-docs-how-its-done/ | title = Etherpad Shows Google Docs How It's Done | author = Michael Arrington | publisher = TechCrunch | date = November 19, 2008 | url = http://ejohn.org/blog/etherpad-real-time-editing-with-javascript/ | title = EtherPad: Real-time Editing with JavaScript | author = John Resig | date = November 19, 2008

The client-side text editor in Etherpad and its Etherpad Lite fork is implemented using Appjet's in-browser text editor, written in JavaScript.

Launch

Etherpad was launched on November 19, 2008, by David Greenspan, Aaron Iba, and J.D. Zamfirescu (the latter two being former Google employees).{{cite web | url = http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-11-20-n42.html | title = EtherPad | author = Philip Lenssen | publisher = Google Blogoscoped | date = November 20, 2008

Etherpad was covered by Slashdot on November 21, 2008,{{cite web | url = http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/1626208 | title = A Web App For Real-Time Collaborative Writing | date = November 21, 2008 | publisher = Slashdot | url = http://etherpad.com/ep/blog/posts/etherpad-temporarily-reverts-to-closed-beta | title = EtherPad Temporarily Reverts to Closed Beta | publisher = The Etherpad Blog | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100102004457/http://etherpad.com/ep/blog/posts/etherpad-temporarily-reverts-to-closed-beta | archive-date = January 2, 2010 | date = November 21, 2008 After the rewrite of the software was completed, the new version went live on 29 January 2009,{{cite web | url = http://etherpad.com/ep/blog/posts/beta-update-now-running-new-etherpad-software | title = Beta Update: Now running new EtherPad software | date = January 29, 2009 | author = Aaron Iba | publisher = EtherPad Blog | url = http://etherpad.com/ep/blog/posts/etherpad-now-open-to-all | title = EtherPad Now Open to All! | date = February 3, 2009 | author = Aaron Iba | publisher = EtherPad Blog

Acquisition

When Google Wave was announced, the Etherpad team wrote on their blog comparing the two platforms and stating that the minimalist and targeted Etherpad interface could be an advantage in some use cases. Still, on 4 December 2009, Etherpad announced on its blog that it had been acquired by Google for integration into Google Wave. Existing Etherpad users would receive invites for Google Wave. On 31 March 2010, Etherpad announced that creation of new pads would be allowed until April 14 (pad creation was still allowed as of April 18, though) and existing pads could still be accessed and used until May 14. Options for download/export were available. The Etherpad service terminated on May 14.{{cite web | url = http://etherpad.com/ | title = EtherPad Homepage | publisher = EtherPad

Open source

Google released the source code for Etherpad under the Apache License version 2.0 on December 17, 2009.{{cite web | url = http://etherpad.com/ep/blog/posts/etherpad-open-source-release | title = EtherPad Open Source Release | author = Aaron Iba | publisher = EtherPad Blog Subsequently, Google asked the Etherpad code maintainers to remove JSMin from its code tree due to a clause in its license stating, "The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil," which is not compatible with the open source licenses allowed on Google Code.{{cite web | url = http://wonko.com/post/etherpad-source-includes-jsmin | title = Etherpad source includes JSMin, which Google Code doesn't allow | author = Ryan Grove | publisher = Wonko.com

After the release of the software as open source, a number of people have set up Etherpad servers,{{cite web | url = http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/12/19/0059221 | title = Swedish Pirate Party hosts EtherPad. | author = Thomas Nybergh | date = December 19, 2009 | publisher = Slashdot

Etherpad Lite

Etherpad Lite is an almost complete rewrite of the original Etherpad software, based on different technical foundations and written by different authors. While the original Etherpad is written in Java and Scala and has quite demanding system requirements,{{cite web | title = Etherpad Vs Etherpad Lite — Which is right for you? | date = 2012-01-15 | url = https://blog.etherpad.org/2012/01/15/etherpad-vs-etherpad-lite-which-is-right-for-you/ | access-date = 2021-01-31

Etherpad Lite has some distinctive features which are not available in the original version:

  • An HTTP API which allows the user to interact with the pad contents, and with user and group management
  • A jQuery plugin exists which helps embedding the collaborative editor in other sites
  • Clients for PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Java, Objective-C and Perl, which interface with the API.
  • More than 50 plugins, among them email_notifications, invite_via_email, offline_edit, fileupload, tables or rtc for video calls based on WebRTC.

Etherpad Lite offers a number of export formats, including LaTeX, but , not Markdown. | title = Markdown support. ep_markdown is abandoned — Issue #3503 | date = 24 October 2018 | work = etherpad-lite | url = https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/issues/3503 | access-date = 2019-01-21 But there is an official addon to export in markdown. Etherpad Lite supports many natural languages. Localization is achieved collaboratively through translatewiki.net.

References

References

  1. "EtherPad Blog: EtherPad Temporarily Reverts to Closed Beta".
  2. "EtherPad Open Source Release, Google Code".
  3. James Somers. (2014-11-05). "How I reverse-engineered Google Docs to play back any document's keystrokes".
  4. Fleishman, Glenn. (2009-02-16). "EtherPad Brings Simultaneous Writing to the Web".
  5. (2015-02-18). "Online, Collaborative Editing with Etherpad".
  6. "AppJet Company Overview". EtherPad.
  7. Daniel Clemens. (June 3, 2009). "Google Wave Joins EtherPad in Real-time Collaboration". EtherPad Blog.
  8. "Google Acquires AppJet".
  9. "EtherPad: Ro.yeXzIY6BakG / Latest text of pad v0PmO3y02h".
  10. "etherpad.org". etherpad.org.
  11. "Etherpad on Github".
  12. "ether/etherpad-lite-jquery-plugin ¡ GitHub". Github.com.
  13. "TomNomNom/etherpad-lite-client · GitHub". Github.com.
  14. "devjones/PyEtherpadLite · GitHub". Github.com.
  15. "jhollinger/ruby-etherpad-lite · GitHub". Github.com.
  16. README.markdown. "tomassedovic/etherpad-lite-client-js · GitHub". Github.com.
  17. (January 20, 2013). "jhollinger/java-etherpad-lite · GitHub". Github.com.
  18. "alexzautke/etherpad-lite-objc · GitHub". Github.com.
  19. "Etherpad - interact with Etherpad API - metacpan.org". metacpan.org.
  20. "Etherpad Available-Plugins · GitHub". Github.com.
  21. "ep_markdown".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

collaborative-real-time-editorsgoogle-acquisitionsjava-platformfree-software-programmed-in-javascriptsoftware-using-the-apache-license