When you edit a document (such as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation, PDF, or image) FYI will first check that no other user has an exclusive lock on that document. FYI then takes the document and marks that it is being edited by yourself. It then takes a copy of the document into your FYI - My Edits OneDrive folder. The FYI - My Edits folder is automatically added for you by FYI.
Once you have finished editing the document, select the I am finished editing button, and close the document (see Finish Editing below). Any changes you made will automatically be saved back to FYI and overwrite the original.
If you only want to look at the contents of a document, as read-only, you can use the Preview or Read function. Refer to Previewing a Document and Previewing Documents as Read Only.
Refer also to Co-editing an Internal Document.
Video Walkthrough
For a video walkthrough of this feature, refer to Opening and Editing Office Documents.
This article contains the following sections:
- Opening a File for Editing
- Opening a Word, Excel or PowerPoint Document
- Using the Edit Icon
- Opening Files such as a PDF or Image
- Using My Edits
- Finish Editing
- Finish Editing if the Document is Still Open or Locked by OneDrive
- Force Stop Editing of a Locked OneDrive Document
- Stop Editing from a List
- Legacy documents, Office templates and Macro files
- Pasting Hyperlinks in Excel
Opening a File for Editing
- For the core Microsoft applications (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), FYI seamlessly opens up the document. This will either be online or on your desktop, depending on what you have chosen as the way you want to edit the document (Edit in Desktop or Edit in Browser).
Note: You can set the default for how you want to open documents in your profile. Refer to Setting Defaults and Filing Defaults for your own Login - My Settings.
- For documents other than for the core Microsoft applications, such as PDFs, and images such as jpgs or bitmaps, a message displays for you to open the file on your OneDrive.
- For the documents that are created and held within FYI (Tasks, Meeting, Phone, File Note, Web Link), all the information can be viewed and edited from the Drawer and there is no additional information to open.
While you have a document open for editing, no other user can edit it. The document is included in your My Edits list.
The document shows in lists in FYI with Document being edited icon.
Hover the mouse over the icon to display the name of the person who is editing it.
If you try to edit a document that another person has open for editing, a message displays which also includes the name of that person.
When a document is being edited, the Locked icon also displays next to the document name in a list.
Opening a Word, Excel or PowerPoint Document
- In any list in FYI, click on a document to highlight and select it.
- Click Edit.
This opens the document either via the browser or via desktop, using the method you have selected in your Profile settings (Online or Desktop). Refer to Setting Defaults and Filing Defaults for your Own Login - My Settings.
You can also use the drop-down next to the Edit button and select whichever is the alternative to your default method.
If your default method is Desktop, this will show Edit in Browser.
If your default method is Online, this will show Edit in Desktop.
The document is opened in either the online or desktop application for Word, Excel or PowerPoint as relevant to the type of document and how you selected to edit it.
The document is added to your My Edits list.
It is marked as being edited by you; no other user can edit it.
- The FYI document Reference number is added to the document name displayed at the top of the screen. Refer to Unique Document Reference Number.
Edit via Browser
If you selected Edit via Browser, the document opens in the online application as relevant for the type of document so you can edit and save it.
Note: You may find that, when reading or editing a Word document in Word online, the Microsoft shortcut key Ctrl+f for Find does not work. This is a restriction of Microsoft. Use the Find menu in Word online to do a search.
Edit via Desktop
If you selected Edit via Desktop, the Open Word/Excel/PowerPoint displays.
Using the Edit Icon
Click the Edit icon that displays next to the document Name. This opens the document using the default method you have selected in your Profile settings (refer to Setting Defaults and Filing Defaults for your Own Login - My Settings.
Make and save any changes to the Word, Excel or PowerPoint file as required.
Opening Files such as a PDF or Image
For documents other than the core Microsoft applications, such as PDFs, and image files such as jpegs or bitmaps, this creates a copy of the file in your OneDrive, which you can open for editing in a relevant application.
- Select the document in the list.
- Click Edit. In the Opening Document for Edit, click Preview.
Or you can click the Edit icon that displays next to the document Name.
- The file is added to your OneDrive and is opened in the relevant application.
or, where relevant, a link to the downloaded file is shown in the bar at the bottom of your browser screen. Click the download link to open the document.
- The document is added to your My Edits
It is marked as being edited by you; no other user can edit it.
When the document has been opened, make any changes and save it as required.
Using My Edits
All documents that you have opened for editing are included in your My Edits list.
You can reopen a document from My Edits by selecting the document and clicking Edit that displays next to the document Name. Or preview the document from the Drawer.
You can also mark that you have finished editing a document directly from the My Edits list by selecting the document and clicking Finish Editing
Finish Editing
When you have finished editing a document, you need to close the document and indicate that you have finished editing by clicking I am finished editing in the drawer. This releases the document so other users can edit it if needed.
There are various places where you can do this.
- For Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), you can do this from the FYI Drawer within the Office product application itself.
Note: After clicking I am finished editing, you need to close the document in the Office product to finish the syncing with FYI.
- For other documents, such as PDF, you need to indicate that you have finished editing a document from within FYI (from My Edits or using the Drawer).
- From My Edits in FYI, select the document and click Finish Editing.
- From any list in FYI, select the document and click I am finished editing in the Drawer. The Drawer then closes automatically.
- See also Stop Editing from a List below.
When you finish editing, the document will automatically sync with FYI.
When you have marked that you have Finished Editing the document:
- It will no longer display with the Document being edited
- The document is no longer included in your My Edits
- It can be edited by another user.
- The copy of the document is automatically removed from your OneDrive FYI - My Edits folder so there is no further action you need to take.
- For all Office documents, a new version is created within the FYI drawer. This gives visibility to all versions and allows you to restore earlier versions of the document within FYI. Refer to Version History and Creating a New Document Version.
Note: When a document has a status of "Approved" no changes can be made to the document or to the filing details or information in the Drawer.
Finish Editing if the Document is Still Open or Locked by OneDrive
When you click I am finished editing, if you still have the document open, or if OneDrive is taking a long time to sync, you will see the message "This file is locked by OneDrive. Your document might be open, or OneDrive is taking a long time to sync".
Check if the relevant document is open and, if so, close it and the sync will refresh automatically.
FYI will keep trying until it can complete the sync, which means you should never lose any data from your changes.
Force Stop Editing of a Locked OneDrive Document
There may be instances where an Office document becomes locked by OneDrive when you click I am finished editing and this OneDrive lock lasts much longer than it would normally. This is caused if OneDrive has the document locked when FYI attempts to import and move the document.
If it is the case that the document is locked by OneDrive, you have the option to Force stop editing.
Clicking Force stop editing displays a message as in the following. The message shows the last date and time of the document version that FYI was able to re-import from OneDrive.
Clicking OK on the Force stop editing re-imports the document so you are no longer editing it.
The document will include any changes made up to the date and time shown in the message.
You will need to manually delete the affected file from your FYI - My Edits folder.
Important notes
- Once the editing has been stopped by clicking OK, you will need to manually delete the relevant file from your FYI - My Edits folder.
- Always check if the document is genuinely locked because it is open elsewhere. When this is the case, using the Force stop editing function is not appropriate and this could lead to some changes being lost.
- Where OneDrive has not synced the most recent document version, you can Upload the correct version after the Force stop editing has been done. Refer to Uploading a New Version of a Document.
Prevention
- You can use the FYI Desktop App to edit files locally and this prevents this issue with OneDrive. It also provides other benefits. Refer to FYI Desktop App.
- Alternatively, our testing has shown that saving the Office document on the desktop after any final changes (using Ctrl+s) prevents the issue.
Note: Some users have reported that this method does not always work for them and FYI suspect this is caused by more fundamental sync issues with their OneDrive.
Stop Editing from a List
On a list, you can also click the Document being edited icon displayed on the right-hand side next to the document.
This displays the Stop Editing pop-up where you can click Stop Editing.
If needed, an FYI Admin can check back in a document that is locked for editing so that another user can open and edit it. This can be used, for example, if the user who has a document locked for editing is out of the office. Refer to FYI Admin Check in of Locked Documents.
Refer also to Opening and Editing Emails.
Legacy documents, Office templates and Macro files
'Legacy documents' (that is, from old versions of Office such as .doc or .xls) may not be available to open in Office Online and may give a message when opening in Office desktop. This is the same for files such as Office templates or macros (.dotx or xlsm).
Files from an old version of Office display "Word - Legacy" or "Spreadsheet - Legacy" at the top of the drawer above the filename. You should be able to export the document to see its contents. Refer to How can I work with old (legacy) Microsoft files such as .xls and .doc?
Pasting Hyperlinks in Excel
If you need to paste hyperlinks into Excel spreadsheets, note the following:
- In Excel desktop, pasting an Excel Hyperlink formula does not apply the hyperlink formatting.
- In Excel desktop, you can double-click the cell and then paste the link and it does apply the proper hyperlink formatting,
- In Excel Online, pasting a hyperlink formula does apply the proper formatting.