Freedom to choose your collaboration: Fast vs Strict co-editing modes in ONLYOFFICE

In ONLYOFFICE editors, you have the freedom to choose how you want to collaborate on docs — quickly and openly using Fast co-editing mode or more privately, locking the paragraphs you are editing, with Strict mode.

In this post, we’ll explain how these modes work and how to understand which one suits you more.

Fast mode means that you see all the changes in real-time as your co-author is typing. This mode is enabled by default.

Perks of Fast mode:
 

• Looks impressive.
• Good for brainstorming.
• Convenient for making and approving final changes for the document, when you need to do this real quick.

It’s important to know:
 

• The Fast mode may not be good for real-time work on multi-page docs because changes on page 1 may affect page 100.
• There’re nuances when you hit ctrl+z in Fast mode: the undo action will be performed for the latest change that you made. NOT the latest change that was made to the doc in general. The redo option is not available as it may cause conflicts.

Strict mode is more private. You lock the document abstract you are working on, and no one can see what you are typing until you hit save.

Also, you can see what parts of the document your co-authors are editing and what objects are locked by them, but you can not see what they are doing exactly until saving is performed.

Perks:
 

• You can work together with teammates in one doc at the same time but stay concentrated on your part.
• Convenient when you need to co-edit multi-page docs. Even if you are working on the 1st page while your colleague is changing the last one, you won’t interfere with each other.

There are two ways:
 

• Go to the Collaboration tab and choose the co-editing mode – Fast or Strict.
• You can also do that in Advanced settings in the File tab.

If you have Strict mode on while your teammate has Fast, they won’t see your changes and you won’t see theirs.

If you are in the Fast mode, while your co-author works in the Strict one, you do your work but you will be able to see their changes only after they save the doc.

Also, if autosaving is enabled for your document editor, it will be performed every ten minutes. After it, the changes will become visible. You turn the autosaving on and off in the Advanced settings located in the File tab.

Watch our explanation of co-editing modes on YouTube:

Collaboration features overview. Watch video

Learn more about reviewing docs in ONLYOFFICE. Watch video

How to create fillable forms. Watch video

How to compare documents in ONLYOFFICE. Watch video