You can open or check out a file from a SharePoint library from within your Microsoft 365 app.
After you open a file from the library, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint also keep a link to that SharePoint location on the File tab under Recent Places.
Open an Office file
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In your app, select File > Open.
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On the left, under the Open heading, select the
A scrollable list of SharePoint document libraries that you're connected to appears.
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Select the document library that contains the file you want to open.
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Select the file you want to open.
You're ready to edit the file.
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(Optional) If the document library requires that the file be checked out in order to edit it, a yellow bar appears near the top of the window indicating that check-out is necessary. Just select Check Out to proceed:
Check out an open file for exclusive editing
By default, when you open a file from a SharePoint document library, it is a co-authoring situation. Other people may open the file at the same time as you to contribute to it. That is fine in many cases, but at times it may be best to check out the file so only you can edit it.
When you check out a file, you are the only person who can change it. This reduces the potential for confusion and conflicting edits.
After you make changes to a file, you must check in the file so that other people can see your changes when they open the file.
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With the file open in the app, select File > Info.
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Select Manage ... > Check Out.
If the Check Out option is grayed out, it means that someone else currently has the file open for editing. You can co-author with them, but you can't check out the file for exclusive editing while someone else has the file open.
