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Is it possible to have a shared / collaborative Word doc with Restricted Editing?

Anonymous
2020-02-12T13:06:03+00:00

Hello!

I thought I'd reach out as I am at a loss as to why my Word doc is not working as anticipated. 

I have a large (200+ page) doc which I want multiple authors and contributors to add to in real-time. 

The doc has 10 chapters. Each chapter has 1-4 authors and up to 10 additional contributors. Some areas of the document interlink with each other and require the ability to copy and paste from other sections without making changes. 

I have set up a Word doc on SharePoint (with access granted to both the folder and the document itself (the latter done using the "Share" function)).

I have then - to prevent accidental changes or deletions occurring - restricted editing using the Dev ribbon in Word.

It is saved as a .docx and protection is set as: 

  1. Formatting restrictions (unchecked - limit formatting to a selection of styles)
  2. Editing Restrictions (checked - allow only this type of editing in the document) - No Changes (Read Only)
    • Exceptions (optional) - Groups and Individuals who have been added to "Permission" - Change have been granted access to input to Rich Text Content Control fields.

I had envisaged that the document would allow multiple users to edit and update the document simultaneously as is the case with other shared documents. However where there is already one person accessing the document the warning notification

"File in Use - This file is locked for editing by another user. Notify when Available" comes up.

Is there any way of making this truly collaborative whilst restricting access?

Thanks in advance!! Lucie

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-02-12T19:36:10+00:00

    Hi Lucie,

    Sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused.

    Currently, there’s no options for users to set restricted editing while co-authoring. To co-author a document, all co-authors must have full permission to access and edit the documents.

    As a workaround, you can divide a Word document into several separate documents, and share only the documents that need to be edited with co-authors.

    Besides, you can submit feedback to UserVoice, which is the official suggestion box for Word. Other users will also be able to vote on the same post so that it will increase the awareness coming from the related team. More votes will make the team more aware that this is a highly requested feature.

    Appreciate your understanding.

    Best regards,

    Madoc

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-02-13T16:22:31+00:00

    Hi Madoc

    Thank you for replying so swiftly to my query. 

    I will indeed submit feedback to UserVoice and hope other users think that the development would be of benefit. In the realms of academia where numerous authors are contributing to the same journal or research paper in relation to their own field of expertise I can see it being highly sought after. 

    Best wishes, Lucie

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