# Instant sync and real-time collaboration

Nutrient Instant is our prebuilt solution for synchronizing annotations across multiple concurrent users, devices, or sessions. It offers developers a self-hosted solution that handles document viewing on any platform, data management, conflict resolution, version tracking, diffing, and merging. It’s a licensable component that’s included as part of [Document Engine](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine.md), which can be used together with Web SDK.

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[Free Trial](https://www.nutrient.io/try/)




## Key capabilities

- **Real time** — Sync edits and annotations to a server or across devices

- **Self-hosted** — Maintain complete control over your data

- **Device agnostic** — Consistent UX across web, mobile, and desktop clients

- **Conflict resolution** — Handle simultaneous concurrent edits

- **Secure authentication** — Easy integration with existing systems

- **Data management** — Separate layer for annotation and form data

- **User permissions** — Fine-grained control over what users can see or edit

## Guides for Instant synchronization

**[Get started with Instant](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/get-started.md)**\
How to get started with Instant on web and mobile platforms

**[Authentication](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/authentication.md)**\
Learn how authentication works

**[Instant layers](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/instant-layers.md)**\
Learn about Instant layers and how they can be used

**[Permissions overview](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/overview.md)**\
Learn about permissions and how they’re configured with JWTs

**[Content ownership](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/content-ownership.md)**\
Learn how content ownership changes during the document lifecycle

**[Set permissions](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/set-permissions.md)**\
How to set document permissions using JWTs

**[Edit permissions](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/edit-permissions.md)**\
How to edit permissions of annotations, form fields, and comments

**[Example of a permissions implementation](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/example.md)**\
See an example implementation for a tenant and landlord application

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## Related pages

- [Authenticate clients with JWT in Document Engine](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/authentication.md)
- [Adding comments to PDFs on web and mobile](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/comments.md)
- [Integrate real-time collaboration with instant sync](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/get-started.md)
- [Document layers for all workflows](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/instant-layers.md)

## Pages in this section

- [Master collaboration permissions in Document Engine](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/content-ownership.md)
- [Understanding collaboration permissions for documents](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/example.md)
- [Manage user permissions for instant synchronization](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/edit-permissions.md)
- [Manage document collaboration permissions securely](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/overview.md)
- [Setting user collaboration permissions effectively](/guides/document-engine/instant-synchronization/permissions/set-permissions.md)