Chapter 11 Document Collaboration in Microsoft Word

Document Collaboration

If you use Microsoft Word in a business environment then something called Document Collaboration can come in handy. This is where more than one user makes changes to a document. All the changes can then be reviewed and compared to the original before a final approved copy goes out. In this section, you'll see how it all works.

So open up the file called CutCopyPaste. Hopefully you haven't saved your changes over the top of it. If you have, you can download it here by right-clicking below. From the menu that appears, select either Save Target as, or Save Link As.
Save this document with the name LetterChanges.docx. Your letter should look like this when you open it up in Word:
A letter that needs amending
To make changes that others can see, click on the Review tab in the Word ribbon. Locate the Tracking panel, and the Track Changes item:
The Tracking panel in Word 2007 and Word 2010
Click on Track Changes to see the following menu:
The Track Changes menu
Click the Track Changes item from the menu. Nothing will happen until you make your first change.
Delete one of the "Dear's" from the first line of the letter. You'll then see a new panel appear on the right. You'll also have an underline stretching right across the first line of the letter:
The change displayed in the Markup Area
In the new panel on the right (called the Markup Area), you can see that a red rounded rectangle is surrounding the words "Deleted: Dear". This is telling what change you made.
If you can't see a Markup Area then click on Show Markup from the Tracking panel. From the Show Markup menu, select Balloons then Show Revisions in Balloons:
The menu to enable "Show Revisions in Balloons"
Move the words "Ambulancewoman Henderson" down to the line after "Yours truly". Then move "Constable Tucker" up to replace "Ambulancewoman Henderson". You should see more comments and underlines appear:
Two changes in the Markup Area
Now study the document and makes changes where you feel they are needed. You should then end up with a document like this one:
All the changes have been made

Adding Comments to a Document

You can add comments to the document, as well. We'll add a comment that we have inserted the word "not" into the text.
So highlight the word "not" after "I repeat" (or insert the word, if you haven't already). Now locate the Comments panel, and the New Comment item:
The Comments panel in Word 2007 and Word 2010
Click on New Comment. You'll see a new panel appear in the margins. Type something for your comment, something like "Inserted the word 'not'":
A comment displayed in the Markup Area
If you need to, add more comments. You can add as many as you like.
To delete a comment, click inside the comment in the Markup Area on the right. From the Comments panel, click the Delete option. You can also jump from comment to comment by clicking the Previous and Next items.

Document Collaboration - Accepting and Rejecting Changes

In the previous section, you made trackable changes to a Word document. You could now send the document on to somebody else so that they can make changes, too. But what if you want this to be the final revision? You don't want to send somebody this version, if they are not supposed to see the changes.

If you look on the Tracking panel you will see an item called Final showing markup. Click this item to see the following menu:
The Markup menu
Click on Final to hide all the changes and comments.
However, this doesn't do what you think it does - it's not the final document that you should send to somebody else. Simply because they could select Final showing markup from the menu. This would then reveal all your changes!
To get a final version without the changes and comments, you need to Accept and Reject changes. So click back on Final Showing Markup from the menu above. This will display all your changes again.
The first thing to do is check to see if all of your markups are showing. To check, click on Show Markup in the Tracking panel:
The Show Markup menu
Make sure every menu item has a check mark next to it.
Next, locate the Changes panel:
The Changes panel in Word 2007 and Word 2010
Click the Next button. You may then get a dialogue box like this, in Word 2007:
A dialogue box asking if you want to continue
Click OK, and your first change will be highlighted.
Click the Accept button, and then Accept and Move to Next from the menu:
The Accept changes menu
When you click on Accept and Move to Next the underlines and rounded rectangles in the Markup Area will disappear. Keep click the "Accept and Move to Next" menu item to get rid of all of your tracking markup.
However, any comments you added will still be there. To get rid of a comment, you need to click on Delete from the Comments panel.
When you're finished, you should have a document that has no more changes or comments showing. Save your work. Now try clicking on the Final Showing Markupmenu again. None of your changes will appear this time. You can send it off as a final document.
Just to double check, click the round Office button in the top left of Word (2007 users only). From the menu that appears, select the Prepare item. You should then some more options appear:
Inspect Document
In Word 2010, click on the File tab, then the Info item from the menu on the left. You should see this appear:
Inspect Document in Word 2010
Click Check for Issues to see the above menu. Then select Inspect Document.
In both versions, when you click Inspect Document you'll see the Document Inspector appear.
The Word Document Inspector
In the image above, we have some document properties being revealed. Click theRemove All button to get rid of any personal information in your own documents. The document can now be safely sent to those who shouldn't see all of your markup.

And that's just about it for this Word 2007 and Word 2010 course. There is one final section you may be interested in, however, and that's tweaking the various Word Options. For example, if you want to know how to add or remove items from the Quick Access toolbar at the top of Word then you'll learn how to do it in the section below.


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