Start an online meeting and share an Office document with others for collaborative editing using Office integration with Microsoft Windows® NetMeeting®. If you use Microsoft Outlook®, you can schedule an online meeting, set up reminders, and click a button to join the meeting directly from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft PowerPoint®.

Collaborative editing scenario

Joe wants to meet with his co-worker Ann, located at a different site, to work on a Word document with her. Instead of flying out to meet with Ann or holding a conference by telephone, he schedules an online meeting and they work on the files together at the same time. Here's what Joe does:

Schedules an Outlook online meeting

Joe and Ann have both downloaded the latest version of NetMeeting from the NetMeeting Web site. Joe schedules the meeting in advance using Outlook. He opens in Word the file that he wants to share. On the Tools menu, he clicks Online Collaboration, and then clicks Schedule Meeting. He sends the online meeting request to Ann's e-mail address.

Participates in the online meeting

When Joe invites Ann to the online meeting, Ann receives a message asking her to join the upcoming online meeting. When she accepts the request to join the online meeting, the meeting is added to her Outlook Calendar. When Ann receives the Outlook online meeting reminder, she clicks Join Meeting and the document that is being shared appears on her screen. When Joe receives his meeting reminder, he clicks Start NetMeeting to open the shared document and start working on it with Ann.

Communicates during the online meeting

Sends a typed message   Joe wants to chat with Ann about the document they are going to work on, so he opens the Chat window by clicking Display Chat Window on the Online Meeting toolbar. Only Joe can open the Chat window from within Office. If Ann wants to open the Chat window, she can click Chat in NetMeeting.

Shares control of the document   At the start of the online meeting, only Joe has control of the Word document, although Ann can see the document on her screen. Joe allows Ann to make changes to the document by turning on collaboration (on the Online Meeting toolbar, he clicks Allow others to edit). While collaboration is turned on, Joe and Ann take turns editing and controlling the document. When Joe is in control of the document, Ann cannot edit the document, but she can use the pointer to access any other programs on her computer. When Ann wants to edit the document, she must double-click the document. Joe receives a message that Ann would like to take control of his shared programs. If Joe clicks Accept, Ann takes control of the document and Joe does not have the use of his pointer — not only in the document, but also for any other purpose. Ann's initials appear next to the mouse pointer. Joe can press any key on the keyboard to take control of his computer again.

Works on the whiteboard   Joe wants to diagram a detail for Ann, so he opens the Whiteboard window by clicking Display Whiteboard on the Online Meeting toolbar. Only Joe can open the Whiteboard window from within Office (if he has control of the document). If Ann wants to open the Whiteboard window, she can click Whiteboard in NetMeeting.

Sends a file   Joe wants to send a related Word document to Ann during their online meeting, so he opens the document, points to Send To on the File menu, and then clicks Online Meeting Participant. Ann sees a dialog box that confirms that the file has been sent, and then clicks Open to open the file in Word. Ann now has a copy of the document on her computer in the C:\Program Files\NetMeeting\Received Files folder. Only Joe can send files from within Office. If Ann wants to send Joe a file, she can click Transfer Files in NetMeeting.

Ends the online meeting

Joe and Ann finish their work on the Word document, and Joe ends the meeting by clicking End Meeting on the Online Meeting toolbar. (Only Joe, as host, can end the online meeting for all the participants if there are more than two people in the meeting.) When the host ends an online meeting, others in the online meeting are automatically disconnected from each other. Ann, as a participant, can disconnect at any time by clicking End Call in NetMeeting.