How to configure SharePoint server 2019 to co-author excel workbook

Question

I am new to SharePoint. I just installed SharePoint server 2019. I would like to make it able to co-author excel document, word document and powerpoint. Thank so much.

Answer 1

Hi @clhy ,

Co-authoring in SharePoint Server requires no extra server setup and is the default state for documents stored in SharePoint Server. You manage co-authoring by using the same tools and technologies that are already used to manage SharePoint.

There are several things to consider when you set up and manage co-authoring:

• Permissions - Each user who wants to edit a document needs edit permissions for the document library where that document is stored. The simplest way to guarantee that is to give all users access to the SharePoint site where documents are stored. In cases where only a subset of users should have permission to co-author documents in a particular library, SharePoint permissions can be used to manage access. For more information, see Overview of site permissions in SharePoint Server.
• Versioning - SharePoint Server versioning keeps track of changes to documents while they're being edited, and even stores earlier versions for reference. By default, this feature is turned off in SharePoint Server. SharePoint Server supports two kinds of versioning, major and minor. Minor versioning should remain off for document libraries that are used for co-authoring in OneNote, because it may interfere with OneNote's synchronization and versioning. This limitation only applies to minor versioning. Major versioning may be used with OneNote. For more information, see How does versioning work in a list or library?.
• Number of versions - The number of document versions kept affects storage requirements on the server. Tune this number in the document library settings to limit the number of versions. Frequently updated OneNote notebooks can result in many versions being stored on the server. To avoid using unnecessary disk space, set the maximum number of versions to a reasonable number on document libraries used to store OneNote notebooks. For more information, see Enable and configure versioning for a list or library.
• Versioning period - The versioning period determines how often SharePoint Server creates a version of a Word or PowerPoint document that is being co-authored. Setting this period to a low value captures versions more often, for more detailed version tracking, but may require more server storage. The versioning period doesn't affect OneNote notebooks. Adjust this value with the coAuthoringVersionPeriod property on the server. For more information about adjusting this setting, see Configure the co-authoring versioning period in SharePoint Server.
• Check out - When a user checks out a document for editing, the document is locked for editing by that user. This feature prevents co-authoring. Don't enable the Require Check Out feature in document libraries in which co-authoring will be used. By default, Require Check Out isn't enabled in SharePoint Server. Users shouldn't check out documents manually when co-authoring is being used. For more information, see Set up a library to require check-out of files.

Please also take a reference to the following articles:
Overview of co-authoring in SharePoint Server
Configure versioning for co-authoring
Configure the co-authoring versioning period
Configure the maximum number of co-authoring authors

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