If you spend a lot of time collaborating on documents that you develop with a team, Microsoft Office can make your job easier. With the Send to/Send for Review tools in Office, you can receive e-mail with attachments for review, and the documents will be automatically prepared for collaboration.

For example, your small, six-person consulting firm relies on contracts and proposals and your team has been meeting for several weeks to discuss your latest proposal. Ideas and input for the proposal have been collected, and one of your team members was tasked with putting together a draft. Your team member has just finished the first draft of the proposal, and now you've just received an e-mail with an attachment for review.

Receiving an e-mail attachment for review

The e-mail message you've just received was created when your team member selected Mail Recipient (for Review)... on the File menu. By using Mail Recipient (for Review)... you automatically create an e-mail message with an attachment of the document to review. Additionally, a message generated by Mail Recipient (for Review)... will automatically place the phrase "Please Review [document name]" in the subject line, and the message "Please review the attached document" in the body of the message.

When you read this message, double-click the attachment to open it. When you open the attachment, the reviewing tools will already be turned on, so that you can begin to edit the proposal.

Working with reviewing tools

On the Reviewing toolbar, you will see a number of tools to help you edit the document. While you work with the proposal, you may find you want to delete, revise, or comment on formatting or sections of text. The tools on the Reviewing toolbar can help you do that.

In the first drop-down box on the Reviewing toolbar, the Final Showing Markup option is automatically displayed when you first receive a document for review. This option allows you to see any new text you suggest underlined in red, and any parts of the document you delete are displayed in balloons in the side margin. You can see what the document would look like in its final form, including your suggestions, by clicking Final in this drop-down box. The Original Showing Markup option will appear deleted with a strikethrough in red, and the new text suggested will be displayed in balloons in the side margin. You can view the original document as you received it by clicking Original on this menu.

Answering your co-worker's questions within the document

When you find that you have questions about the document you're working on, with Word you can answer those questions within the document itself.

Imagine that in your firm, there is an ongoing debate about rates your firm should charge the company you're writing the proposal for. Because your rate plan is a part of the proposal, the team member who put the draft together inserted a question about rates in a comment balloon. You can answer this question by inserting a comment of your own in reply.

Reply to a comment

1. Select the comment you want to reply to.

2. On the Reviewing toolbar, click New Comment.
3. Type the comment text in the comment balloon.

You can also type your comments into the Reviewing pane at the bottom of the screen.

You can use comments to raise questions of your own, or you can draw attention to the changes you make and your reasons for suggesting them.

Suggesting changes to the document

With Word, you can suggest changes to the content or format of a document.

To change the text, you simply edit the document as you normally would. The changes you make will be displayed in color, and notes describing the changes you've made will be automatically generated and displayed in comment balloons in the margin.

To suggest changes to the format, you can also make changes as you normally would. You can suggest changes to the font, size, or style of the text, or you can adjust the margins, add numbering or bullets, or make any other format changes. Any changes you make will be described in comment balloons.

If you would like to see your changes without comment balloons or get a glimpse of what the final copy would look like with all of your suggestions and changes, you can click Final in the first drop-down box on the Reviewing toolbar.

When you make changes and suggestions, you can be confident that the original text and formatting will not be lost. You can compare the revisions you've made with the original by clicking Original Showing Markup in the first drop-down box on the Reviewing toolbar. The author of the original document still has final editorial control when you and all your team members have completed your revisions and have sent the document back.

Sending the document for further review

Once you have finished reviewing the document, adding your comments, and suggesting changes, you can return the document to the original sender by clicking Reply with Changes on the Reviewing toolbar.