Tip #08: Control how collaborators view and edit your documents in Writer.

Tip #08: Control how collaborators view and edit your documents in Writer.

Co-authoring tools in Writer are designed to help you take ownership of your work, even when it goes through collaborators for multiple levels of review. As the owner of the document, you can control everything from viewing, editing to locking your work or even a part of it from collaborators.


 
Here are the different ways Writer can help you stay in control of your collaborative process.

 
1. Lock content

Say you've finalized just one part of your document, but want to share the document with users for their input on the remaining part. You can lock your finalized part to prevent edits from collaborators while keeping the rest of the document free for any changes.
 
To do this, go to Review and click on the Lock Content icon from the top of the editor. A drop down will open. To lock a content that you've selected, click on Lock Selected Content and to lock the unselected content while keeping the selected portion unlocked, click on Lock Unselected Content.


Lock Selected Content



Lock Unselected Content



Apart from locking content from all your collaborators, Writer also lets you give editing access to specific users while locking the content for others. This comes in handy when your document contains information that you don't want all your collaborators to edit.
 
To do this, go to Review and click on the Lock Content icon from the top of the editor. From the drop down that opens, click on Advanced Options. Now choose whether you want to lock the selected or unselected content from your collaborators and then type in only the names of the collaborators to whom you want to grant editing access.


 
Click  here  to learn more.



2. Mask content

You can mask sensitive information from collaborators without affecting the original document. This way, the masked content will not be revealed to your collaborators while sharing the document. To do this, go to  Review and click on the  Mask Content icon from the top of the editor. Now insert the content you want to mask from your collaborators. 


 
Click  here  to learn more.


 
 3. Mark as final

Once you've discussed your work with collaborators and finalized it, you can mark the document as final. This will lock the document, preventing any more edits from collaborators. To do this, select Distribute from the top right of the editor and then click on Mark as Final. 


 
Click  here  to learn more.



4. Turn on/off Collaboration 

Still editing the document yourself? Mask your edits from collaborators by turning off Collaboration. Once you're done editing the document, you can reveal your final draft by turning On Collaboration mode. This will avoid any editing overlaps from multiple users. To do this, go to Review and switch ON/OFF Collaboration from the top of the editor. 

Turn On Collaboration




Turn Off Collaboration


 
​ Click  here  to learn more.





Happy writing!





Found this helpful? Subscribe to  Writer Community  for more tips and tricks.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 






    Access your files securely from anywhere

        Zoho Developer Community




                                  Zoho Desk Resources

                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                  • Digest


                                  • Functions


                                  • Meetups


                                  • Kbase


                                  • Resources


                                  • Glossary


                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                  • MVP Corner


                                  • Word of the Day



                                      Zoho Marketing Automation
                                              • Sticky Posts

                                              • 8 Neat Tricks in Writer You Should Know About

                                                Want to get the most out of Writer and speed up your work? You've come to the right place. We've compiled some productive shortcuts in Writer that can help you get work done more quickly: 1. Look up synonyms   No more need for a bulky thesaurus! Use Writer's synonym suggestions to explore different word choices, and find the one that fits your style and tone the best. All you have to do is right-click on a word, and select Synonyms from the dropdown list.  2. Insert images, tables and more   Typing
                                              • Tip #26: Filter your records before merging a document

                                                Tom is an HR executive who has to send onboarding emails every month to newly joined employees. He has a master spreadsheet with all the employee details, and new employees are added to them as they join. It's the month of March and Tom has to send onboarding emails to employees who've joined this month. But, how is Tom going to go through a big spreadsheet with multiple new and past information, and send onboarding emails to the set of newly joined employees?     Simple, by filtering and merging
                                              • Tip: #11 Collaboratively fill documents with your colleagues and clients

                                                Last week we talked about how Fillable Fields can help you create contracts and proposal templates you can repurpose across your processes. This week, we'll talk in detail about how to collaboratively fill those templates with your clients and team.    Say you've entered into a contract with multiple clients but the final contract amount is still under negotiation. Using fillable fields, partners can quote their contract fee directly in the template document without affecting other areas of the document. You
                                              • Tip #07: Five best defaults in Writer you can change to complement the way you work

                                                Find yourself adjusting settings to the way you like every time you create a new document? Try tweaking the default settings instead.  From font styles to auto correct options and more, here are the five best defaults settings you can control.   1. Default font style   Use your favorite typography across all your documents. You can customize a font style by adding a color, adjusting its size and more, and then set it as default.    To do this, go to More Options > Format > Font. Choose a font style
                                              • Tip #06: Make the best use of Zia in Writer

                                                About to share your work with your team? Looking to get a second opinion quickly before that? Let Zia do it.    Zia, Zoho's AI-powered intelligent assistant is now part of Writer. She's trained to check and polish your work. She doesn't just read, she understands. So apart from grammar and spelling checks, she'll let you know when you've used a wrong adjective, or have missed out words based on the context of your piece.   Every time you write, Zia makes a scorecard after carefully assessing your


                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                      Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                        Zoho Campaigns Resources


                                                                          Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                            CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                          • Kaizen

                                                                            Kaizen

                                                                          • Functions

                                                                            Functions

                                                                          • Meetups

                                                                            Meetups

                                                                          • Kbase

                                                                            Kbase

                                                                          • Resources

                                                                            Resources

                                                                          • Digest

                                                                            Digest

                                                                          • CRM Marketplace

                                                                            CRM Marketplace

                                                                          • MVP Corner

                                                                            MVP Corner





                                                                              Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                              Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                              Get Started Now