Sections in SharePoint online document

Question

Is it possible for a sharepoint doc to have inside some sections dedicated to specific users so each user can edit online only its own section? can we limit the nr of chars of a section

How you can create such a template doc?

Answer 1

Dear VARVARA Catalin (DIGIT-EXT),

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your SharePoint Online document management needs.

I understand that you are looking to set up a SharePoint document with sections that are editable by specific users, and you would like to limit the number of characters within each section.

Unfortunately, SharePoint permission management is currently only available at the file level, meaning that you cannot have more granular control over specific sections within a document. Additionally, Word Online, which is used for editing documents in SharePoint, only provides basic typing functionality and does not support the level of section-level permission control you are looking for.

Similarly, there is no built-in function to limit the number of characters in a specific section of a document.

However, I can suggest a workaround that might meet your requirements:

Create Individual Documents for Each User:

• Instead of having a single document with multiple sections, you can create separate Word files for each user. This will allow you to manage permissions at the file level, granting each user access to their own file and restricting access to others.

Implementing the Workaround:

• **Step 1:**Create a master document template with the required sections. Save this as a separate document that will serve as a guide.
• **Step 2:**Duplicate the master template for each user who needs access, renaming each file accordingly (e.g., “Project Plan - User1.docx”, “Project Plan - User2.docx”, etc.).
• **Step 3:**Store each user’s document in a shared SharePoint Online library.
• **Step 4:**Use SharePoint’s permission settings to ensure that each user can only access and edit their respective document. To do this:
  • Navigate to the document library.
  • Click on the document the user needs access to, then click on the ‘Share’ button.
  • Enter the user’s email address and set their permission to ‘Edit’.
  • Repeat this process for each user and their corresponding document.

Monitoring Character Limits:

• Although we cannot enforce character limits within a section, you can communicate the desired word count to each user and ask them to self-regulate.
• Alternatively, you can set up a review process where a designated person checks each document to ensure compliance with the character limit before the document is considered final.

While this method requires manual setup and oversight, it allows you to approximate the functionality you are looking for within the constraints of SharePoint Online and Word Online.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,