# The file that we are all looking at and modifying should exist in ONE place **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 19, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475 "2024-09-19T15:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/21 "2024-09-21T10:23:05Z")
It was only a very mild troll, more for humour than intentionally irritating you. But it seems I did, so, I apologise. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/22 "2024-09-21T11:38:55Z")
At my office, we rely on OneDrive / Teams / SharePoint for everything. We can edit a single Word or Excel document collaboratively, where we see each other’s cursors moving around. It works very well… for programmers, engineers and (technical) project managers. When we get our people from Sales involved, they send copies back and forth by email, they add paragraphs of comments instead of using the comment system, and everything becomes a jumbled mess. That being said, I’m talking about OneDrive / SharePoint in a large corporate infrastructure. OneDrive for home users is a dark-pattern mess designed to suck money from your grandma, and buggy enough to destroy her files in the process. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/23 "2024-09-21T12:29:27Z")
Yeah, i also used it at work, where it wasn’t as good as Google docs, but was basically fine. I hate that my home laptop is trying to use it, without first telling me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/24 "2024-09-21T14:54:36Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > At my office, we rely on OneDrive / Teams / SharePoint for everything. We can edit a single Word or Excel document collaboratively, where we see each other’s cursors moving around. This. Select “Track Changes”, then save the file to your computer - at which point it’s _also_ copied to your OneDrive account. Attach a link (not a file)\* to your email, send to your collaborators. Now they’re all editing _your_ OneDrive file, and the changes will propagate down to the copy stored locally on your computer. There were some growing pains when all of this new functionality first arrived, but once people developed a good mental model of how it all worked, it became really useful for streamlining collaboration on documents. \*To attach a link: don’t drag the file from the folder on your computer . Instead, use the “attach” menu in Outlook, which has a list of your most recently edited files. Pick your file from that list, and it’ll ask you if you want to attach it as a file (the old-school way, which means every recipient can download their own copy of it) or as a shared link (the new way, in which all of the recipients of that email are granted access to the file that’s on your OneDrive account. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/25 "2024-09-21T17:32:21Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > where we see each other’s cursors moving around. A lot of our documents include a “cursor parking lot”, which is a nice peaceful area of the doc for people to put their cursors while they are not actively editing something. > [@](#): > > It works very well… for programmers, engineers and (technical) project managers. When we get our people from Sales involved, they send copies back and forth by email, they add paragraphs of comments instead of using the comment system, and everything becomes a jumbled mess. And really you shouldn’t tolerate that. I’ve seen too many companies where they just accept that sales guys can’t use normal tooling. If they learned how to use word processors and email in the first place, they can learn how to use the collaboration tools. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/26 "2024-09-21T18:14:09Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > And really you shouldn’t tolerate that. I’ve seen too many companies where they just accept that sales guys can’t use normal tooling. If they learned how to use word processors and email in the first place, they can learn how to use the collaboration tools. I recall back at the start of the pandemic when all these new online collaboration tools were arriving on the scene, our workplace provided a lot of training opportunities for employees to learn how to make good use of them. I suppose some workplaces are not as good as others in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475/27 "2024-09-22T06:49:38Z")
Actually, I took it as a mild troll and wasn’t irritated at all. I guess my humor didn’t come across. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-file-that-we-are-all-looking-at-and-modifying-should-exist-in-one-place/1007475.md?page=1)