Turning co-authoring off or on

Co-authoring with CDM is on by default. If a user is on a compatible version of Microsoft Office, co-authoring will be available automatically. However, a system administrator can turn it off or on by editing the registry or Group Policy settings. For more information about editing Group Policy settings for co-authoring, please refer to Learn.microsoft.com.

Co-authoring can be turned on and still not be available for use if:

• The user signed into CDM does not match the user signed into Microsoft Office.

• If a document library requires a user to check out files.

You can turn co-authoring off or on in Word and PowerPoint via the registry editor. However, co-authoring in Excel can only be turned off or on through Group Policy settings. Making changes to the registry will only turn co-authoring off or on for the current user, not other users on the device.

Turning co-authoring off or on for Word

1. Press Windows + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

2. Enter regedit in the Open: box, then select OK. The User Account Control dialog box appears.

3. Select Yes to launch the Registry Editor.

4. Expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive to select Software > Policies > Microsoft > Office > 16.0 > Word > Coauthoring (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\Coauthoring).

We have used Microsoft Office 16.0 as an example. Please update the registry path to match your version of Office.

5. Double-click the disablecoauthoring DWORD value from within the Coauthoring registry hive. The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box appears.

6. Enter 1 in the Value data: box to turn co-authoring off or 0 in the Value data: box to turn co-authoring on, then select OK.

7. Select Software > Policies > Microsoft > Office > 16.0 > Word > disablerealtimecoauth (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\disablerealtimecoauth).

We have used Microsoft Office 16.0 as an example. Please update the registry path to match your version of Office.

8. Double-click the disablecoauthoring DWORD value from within the disablerealtimecoauth registry hive. The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box appears.

9. Enter 1 in the Value data: box to turn co-authoring off or 0 in the Value data: box to turn co-authoring on, then select OK.

To turn co-authoring off or on for Word, you must set the value in both this Value data: box and the one from within the Coauthoring registry hive.

Turning co-authoring off or on for PowerPoint

1. Ensure you’ve launched the Registry Editor.

2. Expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive to select Software > Policies > Microsoft > Office > 16.0 > Powerpoint > Coauthoring. (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\PowerPoint\Coauthoring).

We have used Microsoft Office 16.0 as an example. Please update the registry path to match your version of Office.

3. Double-click the disablecoauthoring DWORD value from within the coauthoring registry hive. The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box appears.

4. Enter 1 in the Value data: box to turn co-authoring off or 0 in the Value data: box to turn co-authoring on, then select OK.

If you cannot find some of the keys or DWORD (32-bit) values mentioned, you may need to create them in the registry.