'Suggesting' mode in Google Docs allows you to edit the text of a document, but only as a suggestion. Google Docs makes managing collaboration a little bit easier than Word Online. Once you close the document and re-enter, you will not see any of the editing activity that took place before you closed it. This only works while you have the document open. That will show who is making which changes to a document. If you're collaborating on a document in real-time, and the changes become overwhelming, turn on 'Show Edit Activity' under the 'Review' tab in Word Online. Suggesting changes to a document in a comment rather than changing the text directly, allows your collaborators to discuss the changes before accepting them. New comments can be added under the 'Review' tab in Word Online. This allows you to turn on 'Track Changes.' When you open that document in Word Online, you won't see the tracked changes, but you will see them when you open it in Word on your desktop.Īnother option for managing collaboration in Word Online is the use of comments.

If you are using Word Online for collaboration, you should start be creating the document in Microsoft Word on your desktop, not online in Office 365.

What happens if someone messes up a deletes something important? Can I revert to an earlier version? Google Docs and Microsoft Word Online are both great tools for collaborating on a document, but it can be unnerving to have multiple people editing a document, sometimes simultaneously.

Default word open in edit mode