The Onlyoffice Web application allows you to edit Microsoft Office documents without having to download them. It is also possible for several partners to work together on a document opened in Onlyoffice.

Click on the document name in the folder overview of the bwSync&Share folder. Onlyoffice starts in a separate browser window/tab.

Attention: If you are using Internet Explorer, you may have to adjust the compatibility view setting or switch to another browser (Firefox, Chrome).

If you want to use the Office program installed on your desktop computer, you must download the file. To do so, click on the download arrow of the document.

The use corresponds to a large extent to that of Office products. Onlyoffice help is located on the File tab. There is also the possibility to download the document.

When two authorized users open a document in Onlyoffice, both work in the same session.

1. User Interface

Fig.  1 Onlyoffice – Onlyoffice - Word Editor user interface

1. Tabs
2. Participants of the online session (authorizations are not managed in Onlyoffice, but in bwSync&Share)
3. View settings (see also Advanced settings, as well as under File)
4. Formatting options according to the currently selected object in the document
5. Activate/deactivate tracking of changes (see also tab Collaboration and see below)
6. Save - only relevant in formal mode (see below)
7. Comments
8. Chat

Fig.  2 User interface with chat (left) and overview of the participants (top right).

2. Collaborative work

The best overview of the different options can be found under Collaboration. For information on comments and tracking changes, see the Onlyoffice Help (File - Help).

Fig.  3 Tab Collaboration

Onlyoffice can support your collaborative work in different modes, see Co-editing Mode. The mode can also be set under File - Advanced Settings.

Fig.  4 Selection Modus

2.1 Fast

By default, quick mode is enabled. In quick mode, the actions and names of the person who entered the change are displayed to all participants as soon as a text passage has been edited (in real time).

Abb.  5 Fast mode

2.2 Strict

You would like to enter your changes at your leisure and only transmit them to the other participants after completion?

In Strict mode, changes are hidden from other users until you click the Save icon to save your own changes and accept changes from others (see user interface 6. above)

If a document is edited by several users simultaneously in strict mode, the edited text passages are marked with dashed lines in different colors. As soon as a participant works on a paragraph, it is blocked for all others. If you move the mouse pointer over one of the edited passages, the name of the user who is currently editing this passage is displayed.

Fig.  6 left: Processor in strict mode, right: View of additional participants