2 ways to collaborate with others on your presentations-Part II

Part I of this series covers the Comments and Compare features.

A second way to collaborate online is to post your presentation on Office Online (previously called Office Web Apps). The online version of PowerPoint is missing many of the features of the desktop version but for simple edits, it’s quite capable. The trick is to start on your computer, using the desktop version of PowerPoint and then move to the online version.

Office Online allows synchronous editing, which means that you can both work on a presentation at the same time and instantly — well, almost instantly — see each other’s changes.

Getting set up

1. Log in with any Microsoft account or create an account
2. Click PowerPoint Online, the big orange button in the middle.
3. You then have 3 choices:

• New blank presentation
• Browse templates
• Recent documents on OneDrive

4. Choose Recent documents on OneDrive (even if your presentation isn’t there). On the left, choose Files. Then choose Upload at the top.
5. Navigate to the presentation on your computer and double-click it. You’ll now see it listed in OneDrive. (I have an account with OneDrive; if you don’t have one, you may have to create one, but I think that everyone who has a Microsoft account gets a OneDrive account automatically.)
6. Click Share. In the boxes, enter an email address and a note to your colleague, setting up a time to meet. Be sure that “Recipients can edit” shows below the note. If not, click the link and choose your preferred options.
7. You’ll both need to sign in. When you and your colleague are both viewing the presentation online, both of you should choose Edit Presentation, Edit in PowerPoint Online.

Working together

You can both now work on the presentation together. You can each see what the other adds or deletes. There’s a bit of a delay. If you don’t see the changes, refresh your browser and choose Edit Presentation, Edit in PowerPoint Online again.

When you’re done, you’ll want to save the changes back to your computer, so choose Open in PowerPoint. (You’ll probably have to confirm that you really do want to open it.) Now, you can resave the file on your computer. Remember that when you open the presentation in PowerPoint, it’s still on OneDrive, so choose File, Save As and then overwrite your original presentation, if that’s what you want to do.Have you successfully collaborated in PowerPoint? Leave a comment and share your experience!