As well as co-editing internal documents with your team, you can share documents with your client as Co-Edit with Client. This gives the client edit access to the document and also allows team members to work on the document at the same time.
This could be used, for example for an Annual Checklist that the client can fill in and enter any questions. There is no need for the client to email the document back to practice. While it is in Co-Edit with Client, the document is held on your practice's OneDrive in the relevant client's folder so you have access to see any changes the client has made.
Once FYI has been set up to Share documents (that is, your practice's OneDrive Admin Account has been linked and the Collaborate - Share filing structure has been set up) there is no additional setup or preparation needed for Co-Edit with Client. Refer to Link your Practice's OneDrive Admin Account and Configuring your Collaborate Settings to Co-Edit and Share Documents with Clients.
- You can only use Co-Edit with Client for an Office document (Word, Excel spreadsheet or Presentation) and these documents cannot be sent as PDF.
- You share the document in the same way as when sending the document as read-only using the Share button (refer to Sharing Documents via Collaborate). The only difference is that when you share the document, you select Include as PDF as "Off" and then set the additional option of Co-Edit with Client to "On". This gives the client access to edit the Office document. Refer to Co-Editing an External Document.
If Co-Edit with Client is "Off" the original Office document is sent, not converted to PDF, but it will be read-only and the client will not have access to edit it.
- For Automation Processes, when creating an Email as a step, if the email is set to be sent by Collaborate and not included as a PDF, you can set the Co-Edit with Client to "On" to send the document via the process so the client can edit it. Refer to Automation Process Steps and Process Step Details - Creating Documents and Tasks.
- To set the filing defaults for the Cabinet and Categories used for documents that are Co-Edited with your clients, these need to be set for your OneDrive Admin Account, that is, the FYI user who has linked your practice's OneDrive (refer to Link your Practice's OneDrive Admin Account). To set the filing defaults for a user, refer to Setting Defaults and Filing Defaults for your Own Login - My Settings.
If you will be sharing documents that the client can edit, we recommend that you also set up a standard email that you can send out to a client with information about how they can use it. This could also indicate points to the client such as the following:
- When opening the document it is edited using Office online (via the browser). There is no need to save the file as it is being automatically saved.
- The practice can also update the document so to ensure the client is always accessing the latest version they should not save the document locally.
- There is no need to save the document locally and email it back as the practice has access to the most recent update the client has made.