Collaborate in Real Time with Microsoft Office Documents

One of the features in Microsoft 365 that I use regularly is Co-Authoring for real time collaboration. It enables you and your team to work on documents together, even though you may be working in different locations.

You can collaborate using either the web app or the desktop, but I find using the web app to be a much better and smoother experience. Edits made by each person are shown pretty much instantaneously, whereas in the desktop they can be a bit delayed, making the experience a little clunky.

Files that can be co-authored include Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and more. All changes are tracked, and you can use Version History to return to older versions of a document if you decide you don’t want the changes.

I should point out that using co-authoring is basically the polar opposite of checking out documents. The purpose of checking out documents is to ensure that nobody else can edit the document whilst you have it checked out. Most of our clients don’t use this feature much, since they find that people tend to check out documents but forgetting to check them back in (and then going on leave)! It creates a bit of a headache for site owners and system administrators. Having said that, your environment may be suited to the use or checking out documents, so don’t dismiss it out of hand.

To co-author a document:

1. Open a document in a SharePoint document library, or in your OneDrive.
2. Ensure that the document opens in the browser.
3. Let your team know you would like to edit the file together.
4. Edit as normal.

As your team members join the fun, you’ll see each person represented with a colour coded flag. The flag displays their location in the document, and you will see their edits as they make them.

I find it helpful to try not changing the same paragraph at the same time as another person, since it can be a bit messy and confusing.

If it’s your document, you can even begin editing, then let your team join in, then you can close the document while they continue editing. When you open the document later, you’ll see a catch up button at the top right of the screen. Clicking this will show you the edits that your team made in your absence.

Happy co-authoring.