My Office 2016 (2016)
18. Collaborating with Others
In this chapter, you learn how to collaborate with other people, particularly on Word and Excel files. Topics include the following:
Inserting and working with comments in Word
Tracking changes to Word documents
Inserting and working with comments in Excel
Tracking changes to Excel workbooks
Sharing an Excel workbook
Sharing Office documents using your OneDrive
Whether you’re a company employee, a consultant, or a freelancer, you almost certainly work with other people in one capacity or another. Most of the time, our work with others is informal and consists of ideas exchanged during meetings, phone calls, or email messages. However, we’re often called upon to work with others more closely by collaborating with them on a document. This could involve commenting on another person’s work, editing someone else’s document, or dividing a project among multiple authors. For all these situations, Office 2016 offers a number of powerful collaborative tools. This chapter shows you how to use and get the most out of these tools.
Collaborating in Word with Comments and Changes
Microsoft Word is the collaboration champion in the Office suite because, more than any other Office program, Word boasts an impressive collection of tools that enable you to work with other people on a document. In the next few sections, you learn about the simplest and most common collaboration tools: comments and tracking changes.
Insert Comments in a Word Document
If someone asks for your feedback on a document, you could write that feedback in a separate document or in an email message. However, feedback is most useful when it appears in the proper context. That is, if you have a suggestion or critique of a particular word, sentence, or paragraph, the reader will understand that feedback more readily if it appears near the text in question. To do that in Word, you insert a comment, a separate section of text associated with some part of the original document.
1. Select the text you want to comment on. If you want to comment on a particular word, you can position the cursor within or immediately to the left or right of the word.
2. Select the Review tab.
3. Select New Comment. Word highlights the selected text to indicate it has an associated comment.
4. Type the comment.
5. Click outside the comment box to save it.
Edit a Comment
You can edit a comment either by adding to or changing the existing comment text, or by responding to a comment made by another person.
1. Click the text of the comment you want to edit. The Comments box appears.
2. Edit the comment text as needed.
3. If you want to respond to the comment, select this icon.
4. Type your response.
5. Click outside the comment box to save it.
Delete a Comment
When you no longer need a comment, you can delete it to reduce clutter in the Word document.
1. Select the comment you want to delete.
2. Select the Review tab.
3. Select the top half of the Delete button. Word deletes the comment.
Deleting All Comments
If you want a fresh start with a Word document, you can delete all the comments. To do this quickly, select the Review tab, select the bottom half of the Delete button in the Comments group, and then select Delete All Comments in Document.
Track Changes in a Word Document
A higher level of collaboration occurs when you ask another person to make changes to a document. That is, rather than suggesting changes by using comments, the other person performs the actual changes herself with Word keeping track of all the changes made to the document. This means that any time you or another person makes changes to the original text—including adding, editing, deleting, and formatting the text—Word keeps track of the changes and shows not only what changes were made, but who made them and when.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Select the top half of the Track Changes button. Word enables Track Changes and indicates this by leaving the Track Changes button highlighted.
Keyboard Shortcut
You can toggle Track Changes on and off quickly by pressing Ctrl+Shift+E.
Control the Display of Comments and Changes
Depending on the document and the number of reviewers, comments and changes can make a document look messy. Fortunately, Word allows you to filter out particular types of changes and even changes made by particular reviewers.
These filters are part of Word’s Show Markup list, which contains the following six commands that toggle the respective markup on and off:
Defining Markup
Markup refers to the icons, font changes, and balloons that indicate the comments and changes reviewers have made to a document.
• Comments—Toggles comments on and off.
• Ink—Toggles on and off any annotations made by a digital pen or stylus.
• Insertions and Deletions—Toggles the display of text that has been added to or removed from the document.
• Formatting—Toggles the display of changes made to formatting such as fonts and paragraphs.
• Balloons—This command displays a list that enables you to select which revisions appear in balloons when the reviewing pane is activated. By default, Word only shows comments and formatting changes in balloons, but you can also choose to show all revisions in balloons or all revisions inline (that is, within the text itself).
• Specific People—This command displays a list of reviewers so you can toggle the display of changes made by a particular reviewer.
Word also offers several options for controlling the entire markup in a document. The Display for Review list contains the following four commands:
• Simple Markup—This view shows the final version of the document (the version of the document if you accept all the current changes) with the markup only indicated with comment icons in the right margin and revision marks in the left margin.
• All Markup—This view shows the final version of the document (the version of the document if you accept all the current changes) with deletions marked as strikethrough, and comments, additions, and formatting changes shown in balloons.
• No Markup—This view shows the final version of the document with none of the markup showing (that is, how the document would look if all the changes had been accepted).
• Original—This is the original version of the document, before any changes were made (or, more precisely, either before Track Changes was turned on or since the last time all the changes were accepted).
Control the Markup Display
By default, Word shows all revisions from all reviewers using the Simple Markup display, but you can change these defaults to ones that you prefer.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Select Show Markup.
3. Select which types of markup you want to view.
4. Pull down the Display for Review list.
5. Select how you want Word to display the document’s markup.
Navigate Comments and Changes
To make sure that you review every comment or change in a document, or to accept or reject comments and changes individually (see the next section), you need to use Word’s reviewing navigation tools.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. In the Comments group, select Next to view the next comment in the document.
3. Select Previous to view the previous comment in the document.
4. In the Changes group, select Next to view the next revision in the document.
5. Select Previous to view the previous revision in the document.
Accept or Reject Comments and Changes
The point of marking up a document is to later review the changes and then either incorporate some or all of them into the final version or remove those that are not useful or suitable. Word gives you several tools to either accept markup (this action applies to changes only) or reject markup (this action applies to both comments and changes).
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Navigate to the comment or change you want to work with.
3. If you want to accept the change, select the top half of the Accept button.
4. If you want to reject the comment or change instead, select the Reject button.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until you’ve gone through all the changes you want to review.
>>>Go Further: Accepting Shown Changes
In many situations, you want to accept all changes of a certain type (such as formatting or insertions and deletions) and review the rest. To accept all changes of a certain type, first use the Show Markup list to turn off the display of all revisions except the type you want to accept (see “Control the Markup Display,” earlier in this chapter). Then, in the Review tab, select the bottom half of the Accept button and select Accept All Changes Shown.
You can also accept only the changes made by a particular reviewer. To display the markup for a single reviewer, pull down the Show Markup list, select Specific People, and then select All Reviewers to turn off all markup. Select Show Markup, Specific People again, and this time select the reviewer whose markup you want to accept. Then, in the Review tab, select the bottom half of the Accept button and select Accept All Changes Shown.
Collaborating in Excel with Comments and Changes
As with Word, Excel enables you to collaborate with other people by adding comments and tracking changes. Although these features are implemented slightly differently in Excel, the underlying concepts are basically the same, as you see in the next few sections. Later you see that Excel also enables you to collaborate by sharing a workbook among multiple users.
Insert Comments in Cells
The simplest level of collaboration with an Excel workbook is the comment that does not change any worksheet data but offers notes, suggestions, and critiques of the worksheet content. In Excel, you associate comments with individual cells, not with ranges.
1. Select the cell in which you want to insert the comment.
2. Select the Review tab.
3. Select New Comment. Excel displays an empty comment balloon.
Turning Off the Comment Indicators
If you don’t want to see the comment indicators, you can turn them off by choosing File, Options, and then clicking the Advanced tab. In the Display section, select the No Comments or Indicators option and then click OK.
4. Type the comment text.
5. When you are done, click outside the comment balloon.
Editing a Comment
If you need to make changes to a comment, select the cell, select the Review tab, and then select Edit Comment. Excel opens the comment for editing. Make your changes and then click outside the comment box. If you need to delete a comment, click the cell, click Review, and then click Delete.
View Workbook Comments
By default, Excel indicates commented cells by placing a small, red triangle in the upper-right corner of the cell, but it doesn’t display the comment itself. So to read a cell’s comment, you must display it by hand.
1. Select the cell that contains the comment you want to view.
2. Select the Review tab.
3. Select Show/Hide Comment. Excel displays the comment.
Viewing with a Mouse
You can also view the comment by hovering the mouse pointer over the cell.
4. To hide the comment, select Show/Hide Comment.
5. Select Next to view the next comment in the worksheet.
6. Select Previous to view the previous comment in the worksheet.
>>>Go Further: Displaying Comments Full-Time
If you find yourself constantly displaying comments in a workbook, you can configure Excel to always show them, which saves you from having to display the comments manually. Select File, Options to open the Excel Options dialog box and then select the Advanced tab. In the Display section, select the Comments and Indicators option, and then select OK.
Track Worksheet Changes
If you want other people to make changes to a workbook, keeping track of those changes is a good idea so you can either accept or reject them. Like Word, Excel has a Track Changes feature that enables you to do this. When you turn on Track Changes, Excel monitors the activity of each reviewer and stores the reviewer’s cell edits, row and column additions and deletions, range moves, worksheet insertions, and worksheet renames. You can also filter the changes by date, reviewer, or worksheet location.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Select Track Changes.
3. Select Highlight Changes. Excel displays the Highlight Changes dialog box.
4. Select the Track Changes While Editing check box. (The check box text mentions that “This also shares the workbook.” You find out more details on sharing an Excel workbook later in this chapter in the “Share an Excel Workbook with Other Users” section.)
5. To filter the displayed changes by time, select the When check box and then use the list to select a time frame.
Filtering Changes by Date
To show only the changes that have occurred since a specific date, drop down the When list, select the Since Date item, and then edit the date that Excel displays (the default is the current date).
6. To filter the displayed changes by reviewer, select the Who check box and then select a reviewer or group in the list. At first, this list contains Everyone and Everyone but Me. Later, when other users have made changes, the list includes the name of each reviewer.
7. To filter the displayed changes by range, select the Where check box and then select the range in which you want changes displayed.
8. Select OK. Excel displays a dialog box letting you know that it will save your workbook.
9. Select OK.
>>>Go Further: Changing How Long Excel Keeps Tracked Changes
By default, Excel keeps track of changes made for the past 30 days. To change the number of days of change history that Excel tracks, select the Review tab and then select Share Workbook to open the Share Workbook dialog box. Select the Advanced tab and then modify the value in the Keep Change History for X Days spin box. Select OK to put the new value into effect.
It’s Not All Good: Understanding Track Changes Limitations
When you activate Track Changes, Excel does not track formatting changes. Also, Excel does not allow a number of operations, including the insertion and deletion of ranges and the deletion of worksheets. You can find a complete list of disallowed operations later in this chapter.
Accept or Reject Workbook Changes
The idea behind tracking workbook changes is so that you can review the changes and then either incorporate some or all of them into the final version of the file or remove those that are not useful or suitable.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Select Track Changes.
3. Select Accept/Reject Changes. If your workbook has unsaved changes, Excel tells you it will save the workbook.
4. Select OK. Excel displays the Select Changes to Accept or Reject dialog box.
5. Use the When, Who, and Where controls to filter the changes, as needed (see the previous section for the details).
6. Select OK. Excel displays the Accept or Reject Changes dialog box and displays a change.
7. Click Accept or Reject. Excel moves to the next change. Repeat this step until you have reviewed all the changes.
Share an Excel Workbook with Other Users
Most Excel worksheet models are built to analyze data, but that analysis is only as good as the data is accurate. If you are building a model that brings in data from different departments or divisions, you can create a single workbook that you share with other users. This method enables those users to make changes to the workbook, and you can track those changes as described in the previous section. This is why Excel turns on workbook sharing automatically when you activate the Track Changes feature. Note, however, that the opposite is not the case. That is, you can share a workbook without also tracking changes.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Select Share Workbook. Excel displays the Share Workbook dialog box.
3. Select the Allow Changes by More Than One User at the Same Time check box.
4. Select OK. Excel tells you it will save the workbook.
5. Select OK. Excel shares the workbook and displays [Shared] in the title bar to remind you that the workbook is shared.
>>>Go Further: Updating a Shared Workbook on a Schedule
By default, Excel updates a shared workbook when you save the file. However, you can also configure the workbook to update its changes automatically after a specified number of minutes. Select the Review tab and then select Share Workbook to display the Share Workbook dialog box. Select the Advanced tab. In the Update changes group, select the Automatically Every X Minutes option to have Excel update the workbook using the interval you specify in the spin box (the minimum is 5 minutes; the maximum is 1,440 minutes). You can also elect to have Excel save your changes at the same time or just see the changes made by other users. Select OK to put the new settings into effect.
It’s Not All Good: Shared Workbook Restrictions
Note that Excel doesn’t allow the following operations while a workbook is shared:
• Inserting and deleting ranges (although you can insert and delete entire rows and columns)
• Inserting charts, symbols, pictures, diagrams, objects, and hyperlinks
• Creating or modifying tables or PivotTables
• Importing external data
• Deleting or moving worksheets
• Applying conditional formatting
• Working with scenarios
• Subtotaling, validating, grouping, and outlining data
• Merging cells
• Checking for formula errors
Display and Removing Reviewers
While your workbook is shared, you might also want to keep track of who is currently using it.
1. Select the Review tab.
2. Select Share Workbook. Excel displays the Share Workbook dialog box.
3. Select the Editing tab. The Who Has This Workbook Open Now list displays the current reviewers.
4. Select OK.
It’s Not All Good: Removing a User
Note that you can prevent a reviewer from using the workbook by clicking the user and then clicking Remove User. You should forcefully remove a user only as a last resort because doing so could easily cause the user to lose unsaved changes. Asking the person directly to save his or her changes and close the workbook is safer (and friendlier).
Handle Sharing Conflicts
If a downside exists to sharing a workbook with other users, it’s that occasionally two people make changes to the same cell. For example, it could happen that another user changes a cell, saves his or her changes, and then you change the same cell before updating. This situation creates a conflict in the workbook versions that must be resolved.
1. Select Save. Before saving, Excel updates the workbook with the changes made by other users. If it detects a conflict, it displays the
2. Select which change you want to accept. Excel displays the next conflict. Repeat this step until all the conflicts have been resolved.
3. If you accepted other users’ changes, select OK.
Sharing a Document Online
If you work with a document online via OneDrive, you can share that document with other people. Office 2016 gives you two ways to share a document:
• Using email—In this case you send an email invitation to one or more recipients, and that message contains a link to a OneDrive location of the document you’re sharing.
• Using a link—In this case you copy a OneDrive address (Office 2016 calls it a link) for the document you want to share. You can then distribute that address to the people you want to collaborate with (via email, text message, online post, or whatever).
In both cases, you can set up the shared document for viewing only, or to allow editing.
Save a Document to OneDrive
Before you can share a document online, you must save a copy of the document to your OneDrive.
1. Open the document you want to share.
2. Click File.
3. Click Save As.
4. Click OneDrive.
5. Click the folder you want to use.
6. Select a storage folder, if needed.
7. Edit the filename.
8. Click Save.
It’s Not All Good: Working with the OneDrive Version
It’s important to remember that after you run the Save As command, the Office 2016 application opens the OneDrive version of the document on your computer. This means that any changes you make to the document are reflected in the OneDrive version of the file, not the local version of the file.
Send an Invitation to Share a OneDrive Document
To allow other people to view, comment on, or even edit a document on your OneDrive, you can send an email invitation that contains a link to the document’s OneDrive location.
1. Open the OneDrive version of the document you want to share.
2. Click File.
3. Click Share.
4. Click Invite People.
5. Choose your recipients.
6. Select either Can Edit (to allow the invitees to edit the document) or Can View (to prevent editing).
7. Type a message to the invitees.
8. Activate this check box if you want the invitees to sign in to their Microsoft accounts before they can access the document.
9. Click Share.
Copy a Link to Share a OneDrive Document
If you want more flexibility when it comes to sharing a document, you can copy a link to a OneDrive address for that document, which you can then distribute to your collaborators.
1. Open the OneDrive version of the document you want to share.
2. Click File.
3. Click Share.
4. Click Get a Sharing Link.
5. If you want people to edit the document, click the Create Link button beside Edit Link. Otherwise, if you only want people to view the document, click the Create Link button beside View Link.
6. Right-click the created link and then click Copy.
7. Paste the copied link into an email message, text message, website, or whatever medium you want to use to share the link.