Learn how to work with colleagues in real-time on your Microsoft Word documents. This guide covers sharing, co-authoring, and managing changes seamlessly for effective teamwork.
To enable collaboration, your document must be saved to OneDrive or SharePoint. Go to File > Save As and select a cloud location. This is essential for real-time co-authoring.
With your document saved in the cloud, click the blue Share button located in the top-right corner of the Word window.
In the 'Share' panel that appears, enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite. Alternatively, you can click Copy link to create a shareable URL.
Click the permissions dropdown (it usually defaults to 'Can edit') to control access. Choose Can edit for full collaboration or Can view for read-only access.
Once shared, you and your collaborators can open the document and edit it simultaneously. You will see colored flags indicating where others are typing and their changes will appear instantly.
Tips for Effective Collaboration in Word
Instead of directly changing text, you can leave feedback. Highlight text, go to the Review tab, and click New Comment.
For a more structured review process, navigate to the Review tab and turn on Track Changes. This will mark all edits, which can then be accepted or rejected.
In a comment, type @ followed by a collaborator's name to send them an email notification with a link to your comment, ensuring they see your feedback.
If you need to revert to an earlier state, go to File > Info > Version History to view and restore previous versions of your document.
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