Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for ordering editing operations in collaborative editing of shared content items. The content management system can receive an edit operation from a first client for a content item that is shared for collaborative editing between the first client and a second client. In response to receiving the operation, the system can send an update to the first client including a previous operation received from the second client prior to receiving the operation from the first client, wherein the update can instruct the first client to perform a transform operation to transform a parameter of the operation according to an effect of the previous operation received from the second client. The system can then receive a result of the transform operation from the first client and update the shared content item based on the previous operation and the result of the transform operation.