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2 people editing a Word document at the same time in Dropbox
I work with one other person. We were both working on our laptops on the same file in our shared Dropbox folder. (I was adding to a working list and she was editing above.) But I kept getting an odd request for permission and the file name changed to a long sequence of numbers and letters and was saved in another folder called "old files." So the attempt to work on the same file at the same time failed. How can we make this work?
Hey Joan P.6, I hope you're well today!
From what you mentioned, you're working on the file locally through the Microsoft Word app, right?
When you edit the file through the local apps on your computer, real time collaboration isn't currently possible.
As you've seen, sometimes when editing a Word file, the app creates a temporary file which you've seen with the change in file name and location.
You can find out more info on why Word creates temp files from here.
To collaborate in real time, you'll need to use the Microsoft Office Online integration. The steps for this is outlined here.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Mod note: edited to update link in post [last update 2023]
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Hey Joan P.6, I hope you're well today!
From what you mentioned, you're working on the file locally through the Microsoft Word app, right?
When you edit the file through the local apps on your computer, real time collaboration isn't currently possible.
As you've seen, sometimes when editing a Word file, the app creates a temporary file which you've seen with the change in file name and location.
You can find out more info on why Word creates temp files from here.
To collaborate in real time, you'll need to use the Microsoft Office Online integration. The steps for this is outlined here.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Mod note: edited to update link in post [last update 2023]
Thanks. Your explanation was helpful and should be added to easily accessible instructions on the website. If it's there I didn't see it before. (An instructional video might be useful too.) One caveat-- don't be surprised if you find the MS Word online formatting was a bit different from your original document eg: some tabs were deleted.
