Versionary

Versionary: A smarter way to review designs—compare versions, leave pinpointed feedback, and track what’s fixed: no more file chaos, just clear, fast, and collaborative design reviews.

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Versionary – Smart Visual Review for Adobe Express

Inspiration

As designers and marketers, we often find ourselves drowning in file versions—v1, v2_final, v3_revised_final_FINAL—while feedback lives in Slack threads or buried in emails. When working in tools like Adobe Express, we noticed a major gap: you could view version history and leave comments, but these two features didn’t work together.

That disconnect inspired us to build Versionary—a lightweight, visual review tool that ties design versions and feedback into a single, seamless experience.

What We Built

Versionary is an Adobe Express add-on that enables:

  • Side-by-side version comparisons of design snapshots
  • Pixel-specific comments, with tooltips on hover
  • Resolved comment tracking, so reviewers know what’s been fixed
  • Version saves that capture both the layout and active comment pins

This helps teams collaborate better—no more guessing what changed, where to look, or if your feedback was addressed.

What We Learned

  • How to build on Adobe Express using the Add-on SDK
  • How to work with the Document API to extract layers, positions, and comment metadata
  • How to use the Communication API to securely pass messages between the UI and sandbox
  • How to design intuitive review experiences by mimicking workflows from more advanced tools like Figma, but keeping things lightweight

How We Built It

Technologies & Tools

  • Languages: JavaScript, JSON
  • Frameworks: Adobe Express Add-on SDK (express-document-sdk, add-on-sdk-document-sandbox)
  • Platform: Adobe Express (Web)
  • Cloud Services: AWS (planned) – S3, Lambda, API Gateway
  • Database: Amazon DynamoDB (planned for version and comment storage)
  • Storage (MVP): Client-side clientStorage

Key APIs

  • saveVersion() – captures document layout and comments as a structured snapshot
  • getCommentsAtPoint(x, y) – returns feedback based on hover coordinates

Challenges We Faced

  • No direct connection between comments and versions in Adobe Express—this had to be manually architected.
  • Storing and retrieving structured snapshots efficiently with version metadata.
  • Designing hover-based interactions that feel intuitive and performant in the browser.
  • Ensuring pixel-perfect comment mapping, even as designs evolve.

What’s Next

  • Migrate to a full backend on AWS for persistent, multi-user storage
  • Add comment threads and notifications
  • Explore AI-based diff detection for visual changes between versions
  • Optimize UI for large teams with bulk feedback and audit trails

Final Thoughts

Versionary isn’t trying to be Figma. It’s trying to give the rest of us—freelancers, social media teams, marketers—a smart, visual review layer right inside Adobe Express.

It’s simple, it’s useful, and it makes design collaboration just make sense.

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