Document collaboration and co-authoring

With Microsoft 365 and OneDrive or SharePoint, multiple people can work together on aWord document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation. When everyone is working at the same time, that's called co-authoring.

What do I need to co-author a document?

Co-authoring is available for documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. 

To co-author with others, you need:

• A shared storage areaOneDrive, OneDrive for work or school, SharePoint and SharePoint Server are shared storage areas which enable co-authoring.
• Apps that support co-authoringWord and PowerPoint on all devices and versions more recent than Office 2010 which support co-authoring. The Excel mobile apps and the latest version of Excel for Microsoft 365 which also support co-authoring.
• A co-authoring friendly document Co-authoring is only supported on modern file formats including: .docx (Word), .pptx (PowerPoint), and .xlsx (Excel).
• Edit permissions for co-authors All co-authors must have permission to access and edit the documents.

Create or open documents for co-authoring

These topics will help you learn how to co-author Microsoft 365 documents:

• Collaborate on Word documents with real-time co-authoring
• Collaborate on Excel workbooks at the same time with co-authoring
• Work together on PowerPoint presentations
• Work together on Office documents
• Share your PowerPoint presentation with others
• Share and collaborate on files in Office for Android
• Use OneDrive on iOS

Share your documents to collaborate and co-author with others

A key to collaborating and co-authoring is sharing your documents. In SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 apps you can share files with others.

To find out more about sharing documents in OneDrive and SharePoint, look at these topics:

• Share SharePoint files or folders
• Share files and folders with Microsoft 365 Business
• Share a document

Can I co-author offline?

When you open a shared document in a desktop or mobile app, it doesn't matter if you're connected or not, you can keep working. If there are others editing the same document, they won't be able to see your changes while you're offline. When you go back online, you'll be notified of any changes that are available, and others will see that you have changes.

When you're working in Word, the paragraph you're working in is locked so that no one can overwrite what you're working on. When you go offline with Word, it's possible to work on the same paragraph as someone else in your group. When you save your changes, you'll get a pop-up message saying there's a conflict. You can then click through to where you'll be able to sort out the conflict.

If you're working on a file that's in a sync folder (such as OneDrive or OneDrive for work or school), it syncs when you come back online, regardless of whether the app (Word, PowerPoint) is running. When you reconnect, your file automatically syncs. If there are conflicts, you'll get an alert. For more information, see Sync files with OneDrive in Windows.

Who can co-author documents

By default, in SharePoint the groups and permissions assigned to a library where you store or create a document are inherited by all documents in the library. For example, on a team site where everyone has read/write permissions, anyone can co-author. While a SharePoint document library with read-only permissions only allows people to view documents, though no one but the author can make changes unless explicitly invited.

SharePoint permissions are inherited, but you can set different ones for specific people. If a SharePoint library shares for view only, you can give edit permission to some users. However, if the library is set for edit permissions for everyone, you can't restrict a few to just viewing. You can override inherited permissions with a higher permission, not a lower permission. For more information on permissions, see Understanding permission levels in SharePoint.

Files stored in OneDrive need to be explicitly shared. By default, they can only be edited and viewed by the owner of the library. You can select who can edit individual files by sharing to people or groups with edit permissions. For more on sharing, see Share SharePoint files or folders.

Can I co-author my files with a storage provider other than SharePoint or OneDrive?

Yes, Microsoft has worked with dozens of partners worldwide (including Box, Citrix ShareFile, Dropbox, and Egnyte) so you can co-author with Microsoft 365 for the web. Check your storage provider to see if co-authoring with Microsoft 365 for the web is supported.

• You can co-author Office files from Dropbox on Office web, desktop, and mobile clients. For more information, see the Dropbox help article, Edit shared Microsoft Office documents in Dropbox.
• You can co-author Office files from Box on Office web and desktop clients. For more information, see the Box help article, Guide to enabling coauthoring in Box for Microsoft Office.
• You can co-author Office files from Egnyte on Office web, desktop, and mobile clients. For more information, see the Egnyte help article, Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft Office Desktop.
• Microsoft does not support co-authoring documents stored on Google Drive.

Troubleshoot co-authoring in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365

If co-authoring isn't working correctly, there are several things that can cause problems. To help troubleshoot your co-authoring sessions and setup, see Troubleshoot co-authoring in Office.

How can I tell if my collaborator has updated the documents we're collaborating on?

If you've shared your documents using OneDrive you might receive an email message letting you know that the document has been updated.

Other topics of interest

If you haven't used Word for the web, you can test drive it from Microsoft365.com. Sign in and select the app launcher to choose from the full list of apps.

For SharePoint administrators:

• Overview of co-authoring in SharePoint Server
• Disable co-authoring in SharePoint Server
• Configure the maximum number of co-authoring authors in SharePoint Server