SharePoints Page Coauthoring - Why You Should Be Excited!

Key insights

• SharePoint Page Coauthoring: This feature enables multiple users to edit a SharePoint page or news post concurrently, allowing real-time collaboration and enhancing team productivity.


• Advantages of Coauthoring: It improves collaboration by reducing communication delays, increases efficiency by expediting content creation, and enhances accuracy through real-time feedback.


• Technology Basics: Authors can share pages for editing, see presence indicators for active editors, and rely on automatic saving. Version history is available for reverting changes if needed.


• New Approach: Introduced in July 2024, this capability aligns SharePoint with other Microsoft products like Word and Excel that support real-time collaboration.


• Modern Approvals in Lists & Libraries: Users can create approval requests for list items or files using built-in templates. Approvals are managed via the Automate dropdown in SharePoint or the Approvals app in Teams.


• Limitations of Modern Approvals: Approval requests are auto-cancelled if the underlying item changes. The system requires manual access permissions for approvers without viewing rights to list items.

Introducing SharePoint Page Coauthoring: Revolutionizing Collaborative Content Creation

In today's fast-paced business environment, effective collaboration is essential. Microsoft 365 has taken a significant step forward by introducing coauthoring capabilities for SharePoint pages and news posts. This feature enables multiple authors to work simultaneously on the same content, streamlining the creation process and enhancing team productivity.

What is SharePoint Page Coauthoring?

SharePoint Page Coauthoring allows multiple users to edit a SharePoint page or news post concurrently. This real-time collaboration ensures that all contributors can see each other's changes as they happen, fostering a more dynamic and interactive content creation experience. The feature includes presence indicators at the page, section, and web part levels, so authors are always aware of who is working on which part of the content. Advantages of Using SharePoint Page Coauthoring

• Enhanced Collaboration: Teams can work together in real-time, reducing the need for back-and-forth communications and ensuring that everyone is on the same page—literally.
• Increased Efficiency: By allowing multiple authors to contribute simultaneously, content creation and review processes are expedited, leading to faster publication times.
• Improved Accuracy: Real-time editing and immediate feedback help in catching errors early, ensuring that the final content is accurate and of high quality.

Basics of the Technology

To utilize SharePoint Page Coauthoring:

• Sharing the Page: Authors can invite others to edit by selecting the "Share" button at the top of the page. This opens a sharing dialog where you can send an email invitation with a link to the page.
• Coauthoring in Action: Once shared, multiple authors can edit the page simultaneously. Presence indicators show who is working on which section or web part. While multiple authors can edit the same section, individual web parts are locked to a single editor at a time to prevent conflicts.
• Automatic Saving: Changes are saved automatically every few seconds. Authors can exit edit mode by selecting "Save and close."
• Version History and Undo: If needed, authors can revert to previous versions using the version history feature. The "Undo" function allows for the reversal of recent changes made during the current session.

What’s New About This Approach?

This coauthoring capability, rolled out starting in July 2024, brings SharePoint in line with other Word and Excel, which have long supported real-time collaboration. By integrating this feature into SharePoint, Microsoft addresses the need for collaborative web content creation, making it easier for teams to work together on intranet pages, news posts, and other shared content without the hassle of version conflicts or the need for manual check-ins and check-outs.

Considerations

While the coauthoring feature offers numerous benefits, it’s important to note that the "Save as draft" command has been removed, as it’s no longer necessary for checking in drafts. Additionally, the number of concurrent editing sessions is limited to 100 at a time. Authors should also be aware that if they attempt to publish a page while others are editing, a warning message will appear, though publishing can proceed if desired. By embracing SharePoint Page Coauthoring, organizations can significantly enhance their collaborative efforts, leading to more efficient and effective content creation processes.

Approvals in Lists & Document Libraries

You can use modern approvals in lists and libraries to create approval requests for list items or files, respond to approval requests, and view the approval status. Getting Started Modern approvals are pre-configured if a list is created from selected built-in list templates. These built-in list templates are:

• Content scheduler with approvals
• Travel requests with approvals

Simply create a list from one of the above templates to get started. Alternatively, you can enable or disable modern approvals in any list or library by going to the Automate dropdown and selecting Configure Approvals. The dialog will provide a switch to enable and disable at any time.

• Navigate to the command bar Automate dropdown and select Configure Approvals.
• Select the toggle for Enable Approvals and hit Apply.
• To disable Approvals at any time you can again navigate to the Automate dropdown, select Configure Approvals and click the toggle.

Note: disabling approvals will only hide the related approvals columns. Active approvals will still be actionable in Teams and you can re-add the columns to a view at any time. Create a Modern Approval Request on a List Item or File On a list or library, select an item or file and select Request approval from the contextual menu to open the approvals dialog box. Alternatively, you can select the status pill under the Approval status column to open the approvals dialog box.

• Enter one or more approvers in the Approver(s) field. By default, if any approver approves the request, the approval request is considered to be granted. If needed, you can also select the toggle below to require a response from all approvers. You can also add details about the approval request.
• Once an approval request is created, the status pill will change to Requested.

Important: When editing files, any in-flight approvals will be cancelled if changes are saved. To discourage edits of in-progress approvals, files will open in view-only mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web, and the same Windows desktop applications will show that the document is Marked as final. Additionally, any updates to list item or file metadata for in-progress approvals will show users a warning that updating the item will reset approval status. Respond to an Approval Request From a list:

• Select the list item that you wish to respond to an approval request and select Approval details from the contextual menu. Alternatively, you can select the status pill of that item under the Approval status column.

From the Approvals app in Teams:

• Go to the Approvals app in Microsoft Teams.
• Identify and select the approval request in the list of requests.
• In the approvals dialog box, you can select Approve or Reject for the request as needed. If you requested this approval, you will also see an option to Cancel request.

See the Approval History for a List Item From a list:

• Select the list item that you wish to respond for an approval request and select Approval details from the contextual menu. Alternatively, you can select the status pill of that item under the Approval status column.

From the Approvals app in Teams:

• Go to the Approvals app in Microsoft Teams.
• Identify and select the approval request in the list of requests.

Limitations of Modern Approvals on Lists and Libraries

User Experience

• If an approver does not have permission to view a list item, sending an approval request to that user does not automatically share the underlying list item with that person. The approver must be granted access to the list item manually.
• Approval requests are auto-cancelled if the underlying list item changes (i.e., edited or deleted). Users will receive a warning that there is an active approval and it will cancel the request if edits are completed.

Note: In this case, the system will note the user who created the approval request as the user who cancelled the request. To see and manage approvals whether you are the requestor or approver, go to the Approvals app in Teams. Approvals columns in SharePoint such as Approval status, Approvers, Responses, and Approval Creator will reflect the latest approval activity. For full history, leverage the Teams Approvals App. Availability In grid view, you can only request approvals, but you can respond to approval requests from the command bar. Effects on Other Features

• If modern approvals are enabled on a list, Lists sync is automatically turned off for that list.
• List rules can use the Approval status column; however, certain conditions and filter criteria may not have a valid user in the designated field to send an email from the rule.
• Content approval or request sign-off is not integrated with modern approvals.

Keywords

SharePoint Page Coauthoring Collaboration Features Real-time Editing SharePoint Online Team Productivity Microsoft 365 Document Management