Office 365 is the subscription based platform for office products like Excel and Word. One of the features of the subscription based model is the integration with the cloud that makes sharing documents easier and better than ever. Documents can be edited simultaneously while seeing the edits of your co-workers in real time. You can also edit shared documents through the browser by signing into your organization account at https://www.office.com where the full sweet of office products are also available to you from your web browser.
Sharing a Document:
One of the core features of Office 365 is the ability to share a document or folder with one or multiple people. Below is a step-by-step guide for sharing your document with others.
- With your document open, click on 'File' in the upper left corner of an office program.
- On the left you will have a few options available to you but you will look for 'Share' and click there.
- A new window will pop up offering for you to send a link. Here you can can do a few things to customize how you want to share a document.
- The three dots
on the top right of the window allow you to Manage Access and will provide a list of links you have created for accessing the document. Additionally it will list Office 365 users and what level of access they have to a document.
- The next option allows you to customize who access to a link you have created. You should see a green icon with a globe in the center followed by 'Anyone with this link can edit' which clicking on will provide a number of options.
- Here you can customize exactly what level of access to offer when sending a link for a specific document.
- 'Anyone...' will allow anyone who who can click on the link to access and edit a document.
- 'People in Bennett...' will make sure that only users with an Office 365 can access the document provided in a sharing link.
- 'People with existing...' will make sure that only people who already have access to a link can click on it. This is used for people who have lost the link to access a document.
- 'Specific People' will allow you to specify Office 365 accounts you want to have access to a document or folder.
- Other Settings offers a couple of features to help customize your sharing. Clicking the check box for 'Allow Editing' will toggle making the document be view-only or editable. You can set a date for the link to no longer work. You can also set a password to protect the document from being viewed by others. You can also toggle the ability to block the download of the document which will turn off the ability to save copies or download the document.
- Below the above option you will find a search bar where you can simply type the name of the person you want to share with or the email address of a person. To the right of the search box you will find a small drop down menu with a 'pencil' icon. This will allow you to choose if the person has edit or view-only access to a document.
- Just below the search bar, you can type a short message for the person you are sharing with. You will also have a 'Copy link' icon that you can use to paste the link in a chatroom in Ringcentral or an email.
- Finally, there is a drop-down menu on the bottom left that is called 'Send a copy' which, when you click 'send' will attach a copy of the document as the standard file type (xlsx, doc, ppt, etc...) or as a pdf to the recipient.
- The three dots
- After hitting send, there will be an email sent to the user where they can open the document and edit in Office 365 in their browser or open it from the office program on their computer.
Opening a Shared Document:
Once you have been added to a document either to view or edit, there are two ways you may do this.
- From an Office Program
- From Excel, Word, or another Microsoft Product go to 'File' on the top left of the program and click it.
- On the following page choose 'Open'
- You will be taken to a new page where you will click 'Shared with Me'
- On the right you will see a list of all documents that have been shared with you by another user.
- There are two tabs on the top called 'Documents' and 'Folders' where the default view is documents. If you click folders, you will see any folders shared with you through One Drive.
- From an Email or Office.com
- Following the link provided in your email will take you to office.com where it will open a browser version of the program the document is opened in like Excel or Word. Make sure you are signed in by clicking on the circle with a person located at the top right. If you see your initials, you should be set.
- You can edit as you would any of the office programs on your computer, but if you would like to edit the file on those programs rather than in your browser you can click
which is located right below the search bar at the top of the page.
Sharing a Folder:
You can also share a folder provided it is saved to your One Drive. On windows and just above 'This PC' you will see a 'One Drive..." folder. Clicking here will likely show an empty folder, but anything saved here is like a normal share folder.
- Right-click on a folder or document in this folder and choose 'Share' where you will be offered a sharing window like the one offered in the Document section with the same options. Sharing a folder with someone will make it appear in their 'One Drive...' folder on their PC and can be accessed from the 'Folders' tab under 'Shared with Me' in any office program.
Closing:
If you have any issues with the above, please give us a call at Tech Support (7566) where we will be happy to assist you. We are available from 7;30 AM to 8:00 PM Monday through Friday.
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