Frequently Asked Questions

ShareSync allows multiple users to edit the same file. Co-authoring is fully integrated into the ShareSync Office plug-in and supports Word, Excel and PowerPoint file types. Co-authoring notifies collaborators about who else is working on the same shared document.

The feature automatically locks/unlocks files when editing to eliminate conflicts.


The first user that starts editing the file will be able to save a file both by pressing Crtl+S or clicking Save. Other users will see a pop-up dialog saying they cannot save changes to this particular version of the file.
If the second editor chooses to click the Save link instead of the Save As button the document will be saved anyway but in this case a conflict copy is created.


Save attempts by other collaborators are intercepted in the following ways:

• When the Master collaborator updates a file while others have the file open the following banner appears:

You are not working with the latest version of this file. Please close the file, wait for the new version to sync down to your desktop, then open it again to make your edits.
If a user tries to save the file in this situation, the following notification is shown:

• When a user is working with a file which he or she has View permissions for.

If a user tries to save the file in this situation, the notification is shown:

• When a file is locked by someone. Refer to the following Knowledge Base article for information on File Locking & Conflict Management.

Notes:

• Users can see themselves in the Co-authors pane sometimes, and it is by design. For instance, this can happen when a user opens the same file from two different machines.
• The master editor role is lost when a user is disconnected from the Internet. The new Master editor will be assigned to the person who has been editing the file longer than others.
• When a user saves a locked file no notification is shown.
• It is possible for a user to see multiple notifications. For instance, if 2 or more conditions are met:
  • The user has View permissions
  • The file is locked
  • The file was updated when the user was reading it
  In such cases there is a hierarchy of notifications, and for any combination the user won't see more than two notifications

Known Issues

• When two users open a shared PowerPoint document, they will see that both of them are editing without reading status.
• If a user closes a document, Word suggests to save the document before closing. If the user selects Don't Save the plugin will still ask about saving the file.
• If a user has an Excel table in a PowerPoint document, upon opening the document the user will see a notification about updating links in the document. If the user accepts it the file will be opened in Excel twice during a short period of time. This causes blinking of the user's name in the list of other co-editors.
• If the Preview tab is used to open a document (for example, in Explorer), the file will be marked as Reading, and this will be canceled only when Explorer is closed.
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