Win at remote working with 365 – Co-Authoring

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Win at remote working with 365 – Co-Authoring

Problem: Working together on the same files and documents can be cumbersome

Solution: Live Co-Authoring in Microsoft 365

As we have covered in the previous blogs in the series, Microsoft Teams is the go-to application for high levels of productivity across the globe. Teams’ interconnectivity and easy to use platform is unparalleled in functionality and practicality.

Again, as we discovered previously, Teams is bursting at the seams with features designed to boost productivity levels either from in-office or when working remotely. Teams is unique in the fact it mirrors its functionality in any location, allowing you to make a smooth transition with very few changes to the way you work.

One of the best features is ‘Co-Authoring’.

Co-Authoring

Co-Authoring is the feature that allows multiple people access and edit a document (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) at the same time – thus allowing for great collaboration – especially in times when teams are working remotely from each other.

Before Co-Authoring was available, businesses had many copies of a single document because many people were editing their own version. In the end, this would all need to be consolidated into a single copy, wasting time and resources.

Another problem was that if you were working remotely you would be making alterations alone – this has a serious effect on productivity, in turn affecting the quality of the finished product.

This revolutionary feature allows you and a colleague to edit a document together in real-time, whilst having a conversation, simultaneously! Collaboration promotes productivity.

Let us take a look at how to use Co-Authoring in Microsoft Teams.

How to Co-Author

This list of instructions is based around co-authoring with Word, but the same rules apply for Excel and PowerPoint.

Open a document of your choice in Word. (In the past if you needed help with the document you would have had to email it to the desired recipient to edit, and they would send it back. This was all very unnecessarily time consuming and complicated, especially if there were multiple people who needed to make edits.)

You then need to put the document into the Cloud to allow everyone to work on the same document simultaneously. At the moment the document is described as a ‘local copy’ as it’s on your own desktop. To do this go to the top right of your screen and click ‘Share’.

Once having clicked Share an option appears in the centre of your screen to upload to OneDrive. (It should be noted that this is much better if it is uploaded to a Sharepoint site – and for that you probably need to get Sharepoint set up first, in a structured and secure way – which is something we can definitely help you with)

On selecting OneDrive it will upload the document for you. Now it is in OneDrive you can share the document with others.

In this section, there are many controls you can apply (from a password) to enter the document. You can decide who is allowed to see and edit the document.

You have now got to the stage where it is possible to co-author on the said document you have made available to your colleague.

You are both open on the document simultaneously.

You can also see what part of the document they are on by the name above their cursor.

If you use the tools and strategies we have discussed across this blog series effectively you can have a prosperous relationship with your IT software and hardware.

If you want to help to ensure you and your staff are fully equipped with the correct IT look no further.

 

We’re Synium IT

We want to be part of your team! With our experience in IT management, you can be safe in the knowledge that we will handle your IT support professionally and, above all, proactively. We look for problems before they arise and therefore prevent issues occurring for your system. Synium IT provides exceptional IT support services for organisations throughout the West Midlands. We offer no-contract tie-in and great value support services for our clients.

Contact us today on 0121 663 0203 to find out more about how we can help.

If you are not already using Microsoft 365 you may want to read our article on how to migrate – it really is a fabulous set of tools for businesses today.

Simon Tonks
simon@synium.co.uk

Owner and MD of Synium who loves his job, his life and the wondrous outdoors - especially when on a golf course, or a bike of any kind (but preferably on a mountain bike going downhill fast).Please get in touch if there is anything IT related I can help you with (or if you want to talk golf or bikes :-)