Collaborate from comments
The power of the Microsoft 365 platform and similar cloud-based working environments is the ease with which it enables collaboration.
Using @mention references in comments in Microsoft Office applications is perhaps the simplest way to leverage these collaboration features. This is a one-step process that both enables you to communicate what you need to your colleagues, and also ensures that everyone you are referencing has access to the resource you are working on.
How does this work?
To use these collaboration features, your file must be saved in OneDrive for Business, SharePoint, or Teams.
From the Review menu on the ribbon select New Comment.
Type in your comment/question/task and @mention another user – a list of users corresponding to what you are typing will pop up, select the one you need.
Comment added in Word
Post your comment. If the file is not currently shared with the person in your @mention you will be prompted to share it with them with one click.
If the file isn’t already shared you will be prompted to share it
The other user receives an email notification that you have added a comment mentioning them. They can edit the document or reply to the comment, whatever is needed to resolve the issue.
This is a super useful and easy way to collaborate with others on documents in Microsoft Office, and for those struggling with remote or hybrid work provides a good set of tools to bring the work of teams together.
There are a couple of important caveats:
The UI for this feature is slightly different in the Office web apps than it is in the desktop apps. In the desktop apps you do not see the option to assign a task. The rest of the process including ensuring sharing is available and emailing the mentioned person works the same.
The task assignment feature is of questionable utility if you normally use tasks through Outlook or To-Do. These tasks are not synced with your other task lists, and so if you are looking for a solution that aggregates all your tasks in one place, this does not help with this effort. This issue is dealt with on a Microsoft 365 Blog post Connecting tasks experiences across Microsoft 365 - Microsoft Tech Community.
Check out some more information on this at the link below:
Title image credit: Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
