Group projects

Every group project starts the same way. Someone makes a shared Google Drive folder. Someone else starts a group chat. Files get passed around as attachments. Notes live on individual laptops. Within a week, half the group's work exists in places the other half can't find, and nobody is sure who has the latest version of anything. The project isn't hard because the work is hard. It's hard because the group has no shared surface where everything lives.

This page is for student teams who need one place to keep their collective research, notes, sources, and deliverables, searchable by everyone, without the overhead of managing folders and file versions.

The problem

Everyone works in their own silo. Each group member takes notes in their own app, saves sources to their own downloads, and writes in their own documents. The group's knowledge is fragmented across as many systems as there are people, and pulling it together for a deadline means chasing files through chat messages.

Nobody can find what someone else saved. A teammate found a great source last week, but it's on their laptop and you can't remember whether they mentioned it in the chat or the email thread. Shared folders help in theory, but in practice nobody files things consistently and nobody searches someone else's folder structure.

Coordination eats the time you need for actual work. Figuring out who's doing what, where the latest draft is, and what feedback has already been given takes more effort than it should. The project management overhead scales with the group size, and the tools meant to help (group chats, shared drives, separate task apps) just add more places to check.

What Fabric changes

The group works from one shared space. Everyone's research, notes, sources, and drafts live in the same Fabric space. There's one place to look, and everything in it is searchable by every member of the group.

Anyone can find anything, regardless of who saved it. Search works across the whole shared space by meaning, so you can find a source a teammate added without knowing what they named it or where they put it. The group's collective research is as findable as your own.

Tasks and feedback live with the work. Instead of tracking responsibilities in a separate chat or spreadsheet, tasks and annotations attach directly to the material. Feedback is pinned to the exact spot on a document, and outstanding work is visible alongside the content it relates to.

How it works

A shared space for the project. Create a Fabric space and invite the group. Everything anyone adds is visible and searchable by the whole team, so the shared surface exists from day one.

Search across the group's material. Fabric's AI search reads inside every file, note, and source in the shared space. Ask "what do we have on supply chain sustainability" and get results from across the whole group's contributions, not just your own.

An AI assistant for the group. The AI assistant can summarise what the group has collected on a topic, help draft from the shared research, or answer questions about the project's material. It works from what the team has actually gathered, not generic internet results.

Notes and docs for collaborative writing. Use notes and docs to draft together, with the group's sources and research searchable right alongside the writing.

Annotate and give feedback on files. Annotate directly on documents, PDFs, and images in the shared space. Feedback is pinned to the exact location on the file, so comments don't get lost in a chat thread.

Track who's doing what. Assign tasks and reminders within the shared space so responsibilities are visible to the whole group and attached to the relevant material.

A group project workflow in Fabric

Set up the shared space early. Create the space and invite everyone before the research starts. Agree that everything goes into Fabric rather than individual drives or chat attachments.

Capture collectively. Each member saves their sources, notes, and readings directly into the shared space as they work. No filing required. The material is findable by search.

Check in by searching, not asking. Instead of messaging the group "did anyone find anything on X," search the shared space. If a teammate found it, it's already there.

Give feedback on the work, not about the work. Annotate directly on drafts and sources rather than writing separate feedback messages. The comments live where they're needed.

Before the deadline, pull it together. Ask the assistant to summarise what the group has collected, identify gaps, or help draft the final deliverable from the shared material.

What compounds over time

A shared Fabric space that starts as a group project can outlast the assignment. For teams that work together across a semester or a degree, the shared research base grows with every project. Sources from an earlier assignment are still searchable when a later one touches the same topic. Groups that stay in the same space across multiple collaborations stop repeating the gathering work and start each new project with a foundation already in place.

For guidance on working with others in Fabric, see the guides to setting up a collaborative workspace and onboarding collaborators.

Related use cases

For the individual side of student work, see studying and exam prep, dissertation and thesis, and literature review. If you're looking at team collaboration beyond student projects, team wiki and project documentation cover professional shared workspaces. Fabric is built for students at every stage.

Get started

Give your group one shared space where everything is searchable and nothing gets lost. Try Fabric free.

Comparing tools? See why students choose Fabric as the best AI note-taking app for students and the best AI workspace.

FAQs

How do I invite my group to a shared space?

Create a space in Fabric and invite members by email. Everyone gets access to the same material, and anything added to the space is visible and searchable by the whole group.

Can everyone in the group search across all the shared material?

Yes. Search works across the entire shared space by meaning, so any group member can find sources, notes, and files that any other member added, without knowing filenames or folder locations.

Can we use the AI assistant on our shared research?

Yes. The assistant works from the material in the shared space, so it can summarise what the group has collected, identify what's missing, or help draft from the team's sources.

Can we annotate and give feedback directly on files?

Yes. Annotations are pinned to the exact spot on a document, PDF, or image. Feedback lives on the file itself rather than in a separate chat or email thread.

Can we assign tasks within the shared space?

Yes. Tasks and reminders can be created within the shared space so responsibilities are visible to everyone and attached to the relevant content.

Does everyone need a Fabric account?

Yes. Each group member needs their own Fabric account to access a shared space and contribute to it.

Can I keep my personal notes separate from the group space?

Yes. Your personal spaces and notes are separate from any shared space. You choose what goes into the group project and what stays private.

What file types can we share in the group space?

PDFs, documents, images, slides, audio, web clippings, bookmarks, and Fabric notes all work in shared spaces and are searchable the same way.

Can we share our final deliverable with our lecturer or tutor?

Yes. You can publish a document or collection from the shared space with a link, optionally with password protection and analytics so you know when it's been viewed.

Is there a limit on group size?

Fabric supports team collaboration without a hard cap on members. A typical student group of three to six people works well, and larger project teams are supported too.

How is this different from a shared Google Drive folder?

A shared folder stores files by name and location. Fabric makes everything in the shared space searchable by meaning, so you find material by what it's about rather than where someone put it. The AI assistant, annotations on files, and integrated tasks mean the collaboration tools live with the content rather than in separate apps.

Can we bring in sources from Google Drive or Notion?

Yes. Fabric connects to Google Drive, Notion, Dropbox, and other tools, so you can pull in existing material without starting from scratch.