Coauthoring Office Documents Using Web Edit

Beginning with v17.x, FileCloud supports coauthoring of Office document files from within a browser session. 

Introduction

Coauthoring occurs when two users are editing the same document and can view each other's changes as they make them. 

Only .docx, .xslx, and .pptx documents can be coauthored. 

To open an Office file in web edit, hover over the file and click the Web Edit icon. Since you are editing an Office document, the tooltip displays Open in Office Online rather than Web edit.


Coauthoring Flow

The following steps demonstrate the flow of coauthoring.

  1. User A wants to coauthor a document with user B. 
  2. User A shares the folder containing the document to user B. The share should have view, download and upload permissions to user B.
  3. User A opens the file in web edit.
  4. User B opens the same file that was received via sharing in web edit.
  5. Now both users can edit the document and they can see each other editing the file.
  6. The web edit service will handle the coordination and will ensure saving both user changes.