Online certificate collaboration means that instead of emailing documents back and forth to multiple parties you can now send a link and people tin can edit the document in a browser window – no software necessary! Still, while Word Online and Google Docs practise maintain versions, they do not testify tracked changes. Then, how do you accept advantage of online editing AND employ tracked changes to review and finalize the document? Read on!

Function 365 – The Ready-Up

When y'all are gear up to send a document to be reviewed and edited online, first open the document in Microsoft Discussion software on your laptop or desktop. Go to the Review tab in the Ribbon and click the "Runway Changes" button to turn on the feature.

To share the document online for editing click File – Share. A dialog box will announced. The default is "People Yous Specify Can View" but y'all will need to let access to editing so click the arrow next to the default to see more than options. The last option (default) is "People You lot Specify". Check the box to let editing and click employ. This option does require the recipient(s) to log in or create a gratuitous login to Office.com. Note that if the recipient has an Office 365 account at work but yous have sent the link to their personal email they will have to create a free Office.com account to access the document since the permissions to access the document are based on the associated email address. You lot can instead cull "Anyone With The Link" and while the recipient volition not need to take or create a Microsoft Office.com account the link can be shared more than broadly than you conceptualize.

Office 365 Sharing Options

Role 365 Sharing Options

If at any fourth dimension if you lot decide to remove access to the online certificate, open up the document in MS Word software and go to File – Share and click the ellipses (…) at the top correct of the dialog box. Click "Manage Admission" then on the next dialog box click the ellipses side by side to the link. You can either set an expiration appointment for the link or click the "X" to remove admission to the online certificate immediately. Note: if the person who had access to the document downloaded it there is no way to remove access to their local file copy.

MS 365 Revoke Document Access

MS 365 Revoke Document Access

Function 365 – Staying on Rails

Recipients you lot have called to share the certificate with for collaboration tin can brand changes to the document in their browser. However, these changes do Not show upward as tracked changes in Give-and-take Online. But, don't worry. When yous open the certificate in MS Word in the software on your desktop or laptop the edits will testify upwardly as tracked changes because you lot turned on Track Changes before you shared it. Additionally, yous will be able to see whatsoever comments made past the collaborators that were added to the online document.

Function 365 – What If…

If you forgot to turn on track changes before y'all sent the link to the document out for collaboration you tin can still take advantage of the runway changes features through document comparing. Open up the document in MS Discussion software and click File – Info – Version History. You will run into a history of all the changes you have made, as well as any collaborator's changes. The document you have opened is the near recent version then in the panel on the correct look downward to the oldest document by engagement and click "Open Version". The oldest (original) version will open and towards the top of the screen (between the Ribbon and the certificate) you lot will see options to "salvage this version as a dissever file", "Compare" or "Restore". If you choose "Compare" you will run across three panes. The largest pane is a re-create of the two versions of the certificate combined with tracked changes turned on. In the side panes to the right you will see the most recent version of the certificate at the superlative and the older version of the certificate ("backup version") at the bottom. You will also see a Revision console on the far left that lets you scroll through to spring to changes. Now you tin can go through and accept or turn down changes made to the certificate in the Track Changes group in the Ribbon as well every bit review (and remove) whatever comments.

MS Office 365 Version History

MS Role 365 Version History

Google Docs – The Set-Up

Google Docs and Chiliad Suite take powerful online collaboration tools and yous can leverage them with or without using Microsoft Word since Google has a browser-based word processor. If you typically utilise Microsoft Give-and-take to draft a document just don't accept Office 365 for online collaboration you tin can leverage Google's online tools.

Create a document in Microsoft Give-and-take and save it on to your local drive or shared drive. Since you will exist converting the certificate to a Google docs format do non carp to apply Styles, footnotes or any advanced formatting until you are ready to finalize the document in MS Word. Next, go to a spider web browser and log in to Google Drive. Choose "New" and "File Upload" then discover the Give-and-take document that you just created. (Notation: yous can skip this step if you already sync your local bulldoze with Google Drive). To let for the best multi-writer collaboration feel you volition demand to convert the Word document to a Google document. In Google Drive open the file you just uploaded. It will open in a viewer. At the acme of the viewer click "Open With" and choose Google Docs. So become to the File card and cull "Save As Google Docs". The file volition open equally a Google Doc. Adjacent, look to the far right of the screen and click on the blue "Share" button. Like Microsoft'south online collaboration, you have several options to choose from including "share with specified people" or "anyone with the link". In the Share popup box wait in the lower right corner and click "Avant-garde" to see all the options for customizing how and how widely your document is shared. Like Microsoft, the defaults are gear up up to share with a specified person or persons and they will need to log in with a Google business relationship associated with the electronic mail address they received the invitation from.

Google Drive Sharing Settings

Google Drive Sharing Settings

Google Docs – Getting (Back) on Track

In one case the document collaboration in Google Docs is finished go Google Drive and correct-click on the Google Doc file and rename the file something like "XYZ_collab".  Then right-click on the renamed file name and choose "Download". The file will convert to MS Word format and appear in your Download folder in Windows File Explorer.

Open the MS Discussion software on your desktop or laptop. Go to the Review tab and choose "Compare" and find the original file and the revised file ("XYZ_collab.docx"). The Compare tool will generate a rail changes version of the two documents and you tin can accept or reject the changes. And then you can finalize the document and format it.

MS Word Compare Documents

MS Word Compare Documents

Conclusion

Whether you use Office 365 or Google Drive you can leverage multi-author online existent-time collaboration tools and still use the familiar rails changes in MS Word to finalize the certificate. Want to learn more about using Track Changes? See "Interact Using Track Changes"