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Microsoft offers a wealth of collaboration tools to share files and information with coworkers and clients. There are so many tools, in fact, that it can hard to choose which ones to use. To help users know which app to use at which time, we've rounded up Microsoft's most popular remote collaboration tools and provided a guide to getting your work done. How to use Microsoft 365's remote collaboration toolsOneDrive is Microsoft's cloud storage system, and all Microsoft 365 accounts come with a generous amount of storage (a full 1TB per user). This makes creating and storing all your files in OneDrive a no-brainer. Not only do you not need to worry about filling your computer's hard drive (or the data getting corrupted), but keeping your data in OneDrive's cloud makes it easy to share with others. To share a file with one or more other people, do this: 1. While working on a file from within an Office application like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, click "Share" in the upper right of the window — it should be in line with the tab menu. The Share button is a fast way to collaborate within Microsoft 365 apps. Dave Johnson/Insider2. Enter the email address of the individuals you want to share with and type an optional message. 3. Click "Send." Share a link to a document from the Share window. Dave Johnson/InsiderThat's all you need to do to share access to the file with someone else, but you have more options as well:
One of the most powerful collaboration tools at your disposal in Microsoft 365 is the ability to edit a document simultaneously with two or more people. This way two or more people can work on the same file at once, notes and comments can be shared in real time, and you don't have to wait for one person to finish an edit before another person can start. 1. Be sure your file (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) is saved to OneDrive, not just your local hard drive. 2. Share the file in the same way you would if you wanted to send someone a link to the file: Click "Share" in the upper right of the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint window. 3. Add the names of the people you want to collaborate with and then click "Send." 4. When the collaborators open the file, everyone should have the ability to edit and make changes to the document at the same time. You should see icons for each collaborator at the top-right of the document window, and you can see a cursor with their initials in the doc which indicates where they are working. Changes will appear in real time. 5. Collaborators can add comments within the document to discuss editing issues. Each of your comments and edits will be the same color, allowing you to differentiate between your own comments and someone else's. Chrissy Montelli/InsiderSharePoint is one of Microsoft's oldest collaboration platforms, used in enterprises and other large businesses. It's an intranet — an online resource where teams can collectively store files, access team sites, and share information. Here are some of the ways you can use SharePoint:
How to share a file using SharePointWhile SharePoint has a lot of sophisticated features, don't neglect one of the most useful tools: sharing files with others. It works almost exactly the same as sharing within an Office app. 1. In SharePoint, select the file you want to share and then click "Share." 2. In the pop-up Share window, choose who you want to share it with (you can generally choose to share it with anyone who gets the link, people in your organization, or specific people), and if you want to enable editing on the document or to share it as read-only. 3. Click "Send." With all these collaboration tools, sometimes you'll find that files aren't where they need to be to share them with the right people. In particular, you might have a file on SharePoint that you need to copy to OneDrive or vice-versa.
Microsoft Teams is a real-time communication and collaboration tool that lets your team stay in touch and work together. It lets you chat one-on-one with individual coworkers, have group chats, and share documents. Here are some of the most important uses for Teams for sharing and collaboration:
Skype is a free communication app that anyone with a Microsoft account can use to chat, conduct voice calls, and place video calls. But Skype for Business offers some unique capabilities and can be an important element in any team's collaboration and communication toolkit.
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