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RTC: [Interface] Show local user's avatar by cursor during collaborative sessions #75838
Description
What problem does this address?
During collaborative editing sessions, the local user should see their own avatar displayed by their cursor, matching the behavior of other collaboration tools like Figma. Currently, only remote collaborators' avatars are shown at their cursor positions.
What is your proposed solution?
- When a second user joins a collaborative editing session, both users should see avatar indicators by their cursors — not just the remote user's avatar
- When editing alone (single-user session), no avatar should appear by the local user's cursor to avoid visual clutter
- Both user avatars should also appear in the editor toolbar at the top of the editor
Activity
[-][Interface] Show local user's avatar by cursor during collaborative sessions[/-][+]RTC: [Interface] Show local user's avatar by cursor during collaborative sessions[/+]chriszarate commentedon Feb 24, 2026
Closed by #75595
smithjw1 commentedon Feb 24, 2026
This was in an early version that was tested by WordPress VIP users. It was off by default. We have since removed it, and no customers have asked for it back.
I offer this to say that we have yet to see customer demand for this feature in beta testing.
maxschmeling commentedon Feb 25, 2026
We had it in the early versions because it made testing easier. We didn't want to always have to add collaborators to the session to see the cursor being drawn.
We've based the default "off" and now removal of the feature on the fact that we don't see it as providing much value, and Google Docs does not do it which is the baseline we have used as one of the most prevalent collaborative environments that people are used to using.
The reason I say that I think it doesn't provide much value - and in fact is a negative - is that you already know where your cursor is as you're moving it and drawing extra stuff on top of the content does little more than distract and hide valuable information with non-valuable information.
The main value I do see from it is if someone is screen sharing a collaborative session it makes it easier for someone observing to understand who the host is and where they are in the content. So it's not that there is zero value, but I don't believe the value is for the person editing and is not a very common scenario.
pbearne commentedon Feb 25, 2026
I feel that having my cursor with an icon helps to remind me that this is a shared session
I agree that you should know that the cursor without an icon is yours, and it may have been that we were screen sharing that made it an issue, as viewers are not as aware as the editor as to which cursor is my own :-)
Based on the comments, we can close this issue
dabowman commentedon Feb 26, 2026
A couple things I would add:
We should probably align the outline styles used by presence and the style used to show when a user selects a block. They're slightly different at the moment. I think updating the main one to match is actually a nice a11y improvement and it also re-enforces the pattern we're using to show when a block is selected.
Here's what it currently looks like:
Here's what a collaborator looks like:
and here's how we could align them:
The main change is just adding the white stroke to either side and using the theme color to indicate the users own presence.
We should also include the users own avatar in the dropdown list. Here's what that would look like using the label prop to indicate that this is the user themselves.