ONLYOFFICE Guidebook Pt.2: Collaboration

Hello everyone!

Today we are continuing a series of articles about working with documents, guiding you through collaboration features located around the interface of online editors. Read more to see if there’s something you didn’t know.

In ONLYOFFICE, we are always trying to make your work easier, faster and richer. However, you still might have missed several features potentially helpful in your daily routine.

Following our previous article on Medium about some tricks of ONLYOFFICE editors, now we will cast a light on the collaborative abilities of ONLYOFFICE. Let’s start!

Co-authoring in ONLYOFFICE is processed in real time. You can see what others type immediately as they add new elements to the text, altogether with their names.

Unless they switch to the Strict co-editing mode: it lets editing the selected part of the document privately until one proceeds to another part of the text to avoid distractions. The casual Fast mode is set by default, and you can switch to private editing any time in the Advanced Settings menu or in the Collaboration tab.

 

For easier collaboration we created Comments and Chat tools in our editors.
Comments are an easy way to make suggestions and ask questions. When the issue is solved, the comment can be hidden by marking it as completed (you can still view all comments in the Comments section on the left sidebar).

Built-in chat, which is also located on the left, is a perfect instrument for discussing editing online with users that have access to the document.

Track Changes mode allows marking your inputs in the text, so others can review, and then accept or reject them. This tool is vital when, for example, you are editing an agreement or a group paper, so others can see what have been modified and by whom.

The mode features are located in the Collaboration tab:

• Track Changes button for switching the mode on and off.
• Display Mode options to see the document with pending changes (Markup), all changes accepted (Final), or all changes rejected (Original).
• Previous and Next buttons to navigate between user changes.
• Accept and Reject buttons to perform the corresponding commands.

If you accepted or rejected some changes by accident, you can restore the content in Version History. It gives an overview of each user’s changes in documents organized in document versions.

Either from a folder in the Documents module, or right from the editor, you can summon the Share window to manage access rights for the document. Here, you can set access individually for each person/group or in bulk (selecting the type of access rights first), and share the document with or without notification. The types of access rights available in ONLYOFFICE are viewing, reviewing and editing.

Documents can also be shared via external link or embedded anywhere, using the features of the Share window.

 

Another way to share document directly to the resource is using a WordPress plugin released in version 9.6 (works only with resources built on WordPress).

The document can also be blocked from further editing by other users using the Block / Check out action in the action menu. This prevents any changes in the document by others, no matter what type of the access rights they had. Blocking can be reverted by clicking Unblock / Check in command.

To date, both Android and iOS Documents apps support collaborative editing in real time. In the future we will introduce comments and co-editing modes too, to make mobile work more complete.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to use the comments section below. For technical support, visit our developers forum.

Like collaborative features of ONLYOFFICE? Drop us a review on Capterra or G2 Crowd. We can’t wait for your feedback!