---
url: https://docs.revis.io/introduction/key-concepts.md
description: >-
  How organizations, projects, reviews, playlists, sections, items, versions,
  notes, and share links fit together in revis.io, and which on-screen names
  mean the same thing.
---

# Key concepts: projects, reviews, items and versions

revis.io keeps your team's media in projects. You gather items into reviews, and people leave notes on them: comments, drawings, and other kinds. A share link opens a review to guests outside the project. This page explains each idea and the different names you'll see for them on screen.

## Where your media lives

| Term | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Organization | Your team's account: its people, projects, and settings. |
| Project | A container for files, folders, and reviews, with its own members and access rules. **Files & Folders** holds the project's media. |
| Item | One piece of media, such as a video, image, audio file, PDF, 3D model, or whiteboard. |
| Version | One upload of an item, shown as **V1**, **V2**, and so on. Upload a new version when the work changes. |
| Version stack | All the versions of one item. Select the version badge (**V2**, for example) to see them. |

For example, Acme Studio is an organization. Launch Film is a project. One shot in it has three versions.

## Reviews, playlists, and sections

A **review** is what you share and discuss: a set of items for a group of people to look at, with its own status and one share link. Adding an item to a review doesn't move it out of its folder.

Each review holds one or more **playlists**. A playlist is an ordered list of the review's items, and every review starts with one. In the web player, the playlist menu at the top of the playlist switches between playlists. If you can edit the review, it also offers **New playlist…**, **Rename…**, and **Delete…**. The **Reviews** page shows a review's first playlist.

**Sections** are headings that group the items in a playlist. Each playlist has its own sections and its own grouping mode, and sections don't nest. See [Group and reorder items with sections](/reviews/group-items-into-sections).

A playlist slot shows one version of an item at a time. Switch the version and the slot follows.

## Statuses

An item's status, such as **Approved**, belongs to that version. Approving one version doesn't approve the next one, and the status shows in every review that holds that version. A review has a separate status for the review as a whole. See [Approve an item or set its status](/reviews/approve-an-item).

## Notes

A **note** is any feedback left on an item. Notes appear in the player's notes panel and on the **Notes** page. There are several kinds:

| Kind of note | What it is | How to add one |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Comment | Written feedback, usually at a frame or a frame range | The comment box, or press **C** |
| Drawing | Marks drawn on a frame | The drawing tools, or press **D** |
| Speed or skip note | A frame range that plays faster or slower, or is skipped, for everyone | **Retime Range** or **Skip Frame(s)** on the timeline |
| Color note | A frame range with a color correction | **Color Correct** on the timeline |

A comment can carry **attachments**: files, images, PDFs, a voice note, or a video recording. They're part of the comment, not a separate kind of note. See [Attach files, voice or video to a comment](/feedback/attach-files-voice-and-video).

Notes can have replies, reactions, @mentions, and #hashtags. Resolving a note marks it as dealt with. A comment can also become a **task** with an assignee and a due date; the **Tasks** page tracks it. See [Turn a comment into a task and track it](/notes-tasks/turn-a-comment-into-a-task).

Status changes aren't notes. The **Notes** page lists them under **Status changes**.

## Notes page and Activity

These pages are in the web app.

| Place | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Notes** page | Notes in the current project. **All notes** shows every note; **Mentions @me** shows notes that mention you; **Resolved** and **Status changes** narrow the list. |
| **Tasks** | Tasks made from notes: the ones assigned to you, or all of the project's. |
| **Activity** | Everything that happened across your organization: uploads, status changes, comments and reactions, new reviews, and new members. It's a record, with nothing to mark as read. People with only a project role don't have it. |

## Sharing and guests

People in a project open its reviews with their Revis account. Anyone else is a **guest**, and opens a review through its **share link**. In the **Share** dialog, **Access** is either **Project Users Only** (no link for guests) or **Guests** (the review gets a link).

**Guest Access** decides whether guests must confirm their email or sign in. With **Open access**, anyone with the link can open the review without signing in. **Permissions** decide what guests can do. See [Choose how guests sign in and what they can do](/sharing/choose-guest-access-and-permissions).

In the web app, to show a few items to people in your organization without making a review, select them and choose **Copy link** or **Open in player**. That quick link has no review behind it: it can't be shared with guests, and notes left there stay with the items.

A **live session** isn't something you start. When several people have the same review open, the ones who are synced follow the same playback. Guests can join through the share link.

## Same idea, different names

The screen doesn't always use the same word for the same thing. This table maps what you see to the ideas above.

| On screen | Where | Means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Playlist**, **Add to playlist** | Player, and the desktop app's tabs | A playlist inside the review, not the review itself. In the desktop app, each tab of a cloud review is one of its playlists. |
| **Comments** and **Notes** | Player: the panel's title and the button that opens it | The same notes panel |
| **Add a comment...** and **Add a note...** | The comment box in the web app and in the desktop app | The same box |
| **Annotate** | **Share** dialog | Guests can comment, reply, and draw |
| **Annotations**, **Previous annotation**, **Next annotation** | **Notes** page search and empty page; the player's transport bar | Notes |
| **Guests** | **Share** dialog | Both the **Access** choice and the list of the link's guests |
| **External Link Sharing** | Organization and project settings | Whether reviews can have guest links |
| **Home** | Heading of the **Activity** page | Activity |
| **Sync**, **Flow** | Project navigation; a review's **⋯** menu | Autodesk Flow Production Tracking. A Flow playlist comes into revis.io as a review, not as a playlist. |
| Workspace | SyncSketch and Flow screens | That service's own account, not your revis.io organization |

## Access and roles

Your role determines what you can do in a project. Owners and Admins manage the organization; Members contribute media; Reviewers comment and set statuses; Viewers watch and read feedback. A project role can replace your organization role for that project. Guests get only what the share link allows. See [what guests can do](/sharing/what-guests-can-do).