Your Office 365 account allows you to create and edit your documents you have uploaded into your OneDrive for Business library directly from within your web browser. You can share these documents with other people to allow them to make edits and work simultaneously on the same document (live editing). Sharing files to allow for collaboration Login to your MMU Office 365 account and select the OneDrive tile. Select the file or folder you would like to share, by ticking the selection button next to the item. Click on the share button Alternatively, if you are using the OneDrive for Business sync client, right click on the file or folder you would like to share in your OneDrive folder, and select OneDrive for Business Share A window will display in your web browser showing you the sharing options available.
In the top box, begin typing in the name of the person (MMU staff or student) you would like to share the file or folder with, the results will display as you type. Click on the name once displayed to add to the sharing list you can add as many people as you like. Once happy with the sharing audience, you can choose their permissions; select can edit to allow editing of the document. You can choose can view which only permits for viewing the file and no editing. You can type a personal message to be included with an email sent to all invitees. If you do not want to send an email, untick send an email invitation. Here you can also decide if the file or folder requires sign in. Untick this box if you would like the invitees to be able to share the document with other people. Click on Share to send the invite to the invitees. If you have chosen to send an email with the invitation, the recipient will receive a link to open the file or folder.
Using the share button when editing documents Whilst editing on a document online you can invite people to start editing the document with you. At the top of the page, click on the Share button Add people to the list you would like to edit the document and click Share Your document is now available to the invitees and they will receive an email if sent. Collaborating on documents at the same time (live editing) The recipient of the file will either need to click the link you have sent to them or visit their Shared with me folder on their Office 365 account. External users will need to use the link provided in the email.
Once they open the file (online preview) they can select either Edit in Word (if they have this installed) or Edit in Word Online they will be presented with the document and they can start editing. Editing using the online version of Microsoft Word is the quickest way to collaborate on documents. Any document changes are updated instantly as people type. This means that multiple people can work on a document at the same time. If you have the document open, and another person opens it to start editing you will be notified who has joined the document. You can also see who is also editing by looking at the top of the document. There is a drop-down list of people, clicking this will show you who is currently working on the document. People that are editing the document will have a coloured icon by their name in the list When people are editing, the document will show a coloured flag by their text as they type. The flag represents the person in the editing list and their location within the document. Therefore, it is easy to see where someone is currently typing. Alternatively, you can edit the file using Microsoft Office if you have this installed on your device. To edit this way, click on Edit in Word (or click Open in Word if you are already editing online). You may receive a notice asking whether you would like to run the external application, click on launch/accept. Your file will now open up using the Office application installed on your device. As you save the file, it will automatically update.
Please be aware if you are working on live documents that are being edited by multiple people it takes time to update and is not as instant as using Word Online. However if you press the save button in the document, it refreshes any changes that have been made by yourself and other editors. New content from others are highlighted in green. Pressing the save button refreshes any changes to the document. You may find if others are editing and your document is not up to date, you ll be notified that updates are available. Simply saving the document refreshes the changes. You can also collaborate on other types of files, such as an Excel workbook or a PowerPoint presentation, following the same process detailed above. NB: If a number of people are simultaneously working on a file in Excel Online and one of them opens that file in the Excel desktop application, no more edits will be possible in the online version until the desktop copy has been closed.