How to Chat as You Edit Documents in Microsoft Office
When it comes to productivity and collaboration, Microsoft Office is leading the game. Not only does it have the most advanced programs and features; it also keeps updating them to suit the needs of today’s users. One of its biggest selling points today is its collaborative feature. This allows Office users to work on the same documents or projects together and be in sync, whether they’re in the same room or in different parts of the globe. Thanks to cloud computing, this is easy and possible. Here is a tip on how to chat as you edit your documents in Microsoft Office.
Collaborate with Office’s In-App Chat Feature
Aside from Office’s co-authoring feature, which allows users to share the load of working on a document, presentation, spreadsheet or any other Office file, it’s also easy to communicate. As users can edit documents simultaneously, they can also communicate together in the process. This is through the real-time presence feature, which helps users keep track of changes that are currently worked on by a specific user. Then, with Office’s chat feature, users can talk to each other as these changes are happening, thereby closing the communications gap.
With Office’s chat feature within its programs, users can easily collaborate on a document in real-time, providing input and answering questions as they happen, so work gets done faster. Having this chat feature provides many benefits too, which we can further break down as follows.
Less Conflict and More Collaboration
Today, many productivity apps and programs have collaboration features that capitalize on cloud technology so that users can work together on a single project or document. The same goes for Office, although it’s taken a bit further with its chat feature.
Collaboration is easy as users can view the changes that has been done on a document, and they can keep track on who’s doing what. However, this is usually when problems may also arise. Having too many people working on a singular thing can spell trouble–that is, if there’s not enough communication. Delays in the responses, as well as the waiting time it takes to get the messages read and the replies sent, can take the project back and cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
With Office’s chat feature, all users can talk in real-time, as changes occur. This makes it easy for people who are working remotely to work like they’re just in the same room. Conversations are documented and users can go back to the beginning of the thread for reference as well.
Work Better and Smarter with Office 365 Chat
What makes this feature great for all of Office’s programs is that whatever you are doing, you can better work with other people who don’t necessarily have a presence in your office or even in your country. Working remotely has never been easier and less of a hassle.
With the Office in-app chat feature, you can chat with anyone working on the document in real-time and get answers quickly. You can also get things done faster. Just simply click on the “Chat” button at the top of the window, above the Ribbon to activate the chat feature.
The chat box will appear beneath the profile picture of your co-author in the document. However, this chat icon will not show when nobody else is working on the document.
Once the chat box is open, however, you can simply type your messages as you would in a regular chat box. Once you close the document however, the chat history is not preserved so the conversation will be gone when you open it again.
This in-app chat feature is available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Office 365 for Windows and iOS. For you to be able to chat with your co-author, they must also be using Office 365.