Understanding how documents open in Office Online
Understanding the basics of viewing and editing documents while online will save you some frustration when you first begin using Office 365 online apps. By default, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents are opened in View only mode when using Office 365.
There are three categories for opening documents when using Office 365 online apps: Viewing mode, Edit with the full Application if it is installed on your local computer, and Edit with the Online App.
Microsoft has developed a three staged approach to interacting with Office 365 documents. The three categories are:
1. View only
2. Edit with the traditional application installed on your local computer
3. Edit with an online app
View mode is the simplest and as the name implies you can view (but not edit) online Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents. New users are often confused when they click on a link to a document and then they try to edit the document online nothing happens. You cannot type anything and you cannot rename the document because, by default, it is opened in VIEWING mode.
You must “enable” EDIT mode of the document you are working on for it to be editable. Click on EDIT DOCUMENT at the top of the menu bar to enable editing.
When you select edit you have the two choices of “Edit with the application” or “Edit Online”. If you want to preserve the original document you can select EDIT A COPY.
Advantages of Office 365 Online Apps
The main advantage of editing with the Office 365 online app is that it is always available to you while you are online, even if you do not own the traditional office programs.
Another huge advantage is that when you work with the Office 365 online apps your edits are saved automatically keystroke by keystroke. There is no Save button for the Office 365 online apps.
To exit the document you are editing when using an online app press the Back arrow of your browser or click on your username from the title bar in the top left corner next to the Office 365 logo. You can still select Save As from the File menu if you want to save a copy of your work somewhere else (to OneDrive or your local hard drive). Saving functionality is automatically built into the Office 365 online apps.
The final HUGE advantage and reason for using Office 365 with an online app rather than the traditional application is that online apps provide COLLABORATIVE editing possibilities for multi-authoring of documents.