Working with multiple people on a single Word document can be daunting.

Here are six of them.

Take Advantage of Real-Time Editing

The first step is to upload the document to OneDrive.

Turning on “AutoSave” in Microsoft Word.

So, ensure you and everyone else working on the document isusing OneDrive.

Next, open Microsoft Word and go for the AutoSave toggle in the top-left corner.

In the prompt, follow the steps to sign in to your Microsoft account and select your OneDrive account.

Steps to access the settings to manage access in a Word doc.

However, this is optional.

tap the “People” tab and grab the collaborator you want to change the access permissions for.

Afterward, click “Apply” to save the changes.

Add a new comment in Microsoft Word.

The “Remove Direct Access” option revokes access completely.

This ensures everyone is on the same page and comfortable with edits.

To add a comment to a Word document, first, highlight the text you want to comment on.

Resolving a comment in Microsoft Word.

Next, grab the Review tab and click New Comment in the Comments section of the ribbon.

A Comments pane will appear on the right.

Then, input your comment and click Sendthe button with a paper plane iconto post it.

Restricting editing to tracked changes in Microsoft Word.

Now, you’re able to interact with each other in that pane.

When you’re done with a thread, consider resolving it instead of deleting it.

This gives you a nice paper trail you’re free to revisit if you gotta.

Bringing up the Revisions pane in Microsoft Word.

To resolve a comment, smack the three-dot icon and select Resolve Thread in the menu.

However, the original document remains unaffected since these are merely edit suggestions.

Now, every change you make to the document will appear in red.

Accepting or reviewing changes in Microsoft Word.

Other people’s edits will appear in a different color, and so on.

you might even restrict the formatting options.

This level of control is also whatmakes Microsoft Word better than Google Docs.

Comparing documents in Microsoft Word.

This is what the Revision pane is for.

This will bring up the Revisions pane on the left side of the document.

Fortunately, Word lets you easily do this while allowing you to review the changes.

Choosing documents to compare in Microsoft Word.

Then, click “Compare” in the menu.

Next, grab the original document in the left dropdown and grab the revised version in the right one.

Then, click “OK” to start the comparison.

Compared document in Microsoft Word.

The actual edits will appear in the middle pane as tracked changes.

you’re able to then accept or reject them.

After merging the revisions, you will need to save the document.

The merged document will be considered a separate one, and the original will remain untouched.