Add documentlibrary setting for opening in view or edit mode
Previously the default behavour was to open in Read mode, and then actively change to Edit mode - with the latest updates the default is to open in Edit-mode.
This causes Word Online to save the second the user opens the document, and thereby rendering the "Edited by" and "Last edited"-fields completly useless, as it in effect just shows who opened the document last.
It also causes users to make a lot of accidental changes to documents as well.
Since users are complaning about both the default behaviours, why not add a setting that let's the admins control how files open by default, per library?
That way everyone will be happy, and it adds a certain safety for libraries where users both read and contribute to documents often.
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30 comments
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Miguel
commented
Any news about this update? Because it changed suddenly a few months ago and we are waitting for an option to rollback this behaviour or that we have the option to choice our behaviour. Thanks!
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Andy
commented
Agreed
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Richard Bourke
commented
I concur with the feedback here. This was a terrible change for our organization.
Previously when our users clicked into a document, it opened in View mode. If the user needed to make changes they could click edit. This worked well for us because the full document is rendered in view mode (header + footer). We also have strict version control on publishing libraries and opening in view mode meant users would not inadvertently make changes.Since the announced change, documents now open in edit mode by default. This means that users no longer see the header/footer by default and for more complicated documents, Word Online cannot render all of the content properly. It also has the knock on affect of inadvertent edits creating new versions/ modifications where none were intended.
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Andy Wright
commented
The change to default to Edit mode in Word Online is a bad backward step. Unintended edits are happening with distressing frequency. Documents do not appear as they should. Users don't understand what has happened and why I can't stop it happening. Please reverse the change, or allow us to switch it off per tenant, per site or per library.
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Jeff MacPhail
commented
It's important that this solution works in Chrome. The Site setting to open in client or browser only works in Edge, so that isn't even a partial solution for us.
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Jeff MacPhail
commented
This change to opening documents in Edit mode has been terribly frustrating for my organization.
Lost is the metadata for seeing when a document was actually EDITED! Since just looking at a document "Modifies" it.
We also have workflows that run on edit, and now run everytime a document is viewed.
Please Microsoft give us a way to administratively control this behavior!
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M'bark Afroukh
commented
Hello,
As an administrator, this is a major problem because anyone with access can edit without knowing it, moreover it passes these documents in draft therefore inaccessible for the other users using this database. Not to mention that it interferes with our approval workflows for integration \ updating new documentation. We have no choice but to activate check-in check out at a versionning level, which has the effect of limiting the number of editions as it is only a pop-up (not to mention the effort of communication for all people with access not to do so ....), and it interferes with the approval workflow that is in place. To shorten, our organization faces a major concern both in terms of data loss (IT Security) and the daily monitoring effort to guarantee our delivery by constantly reintegrating data that are extracted from this automatic editing problem. -
Fatima Fernandes
commented
This new feature is causing a serious problem. The auto save caught everyone by surprise and managed to give us admins a lot of work.
This doesn't offer any safety for the information .Everyone can edit and change what is established. This is not an useful or appealing feature for any company!
Why not make a rolback and leave everyone happy? -
Anonymous
commented
This is a major problem for our users. One case - a document link was emailed to the company asking people to review the contents and in a few minutes 50 or so people opened it. The document opened in edit mode automatically, causing the risk of accidental changes and version updates.
As our policy is to give users edit rights (to enable collaboration - which is one of the main reasons we changed to SharePoint!) there is now no way of sending a document link that will default to preview mode. -
Anonymous
commented
I agree that a setting for default opening behavior is a must. Our permission policy is very liberal. The change to open in Edit Mode by default has caught all our users off guard. The auto save feature has wrecked many of our documents, and lots of time reverting to previous versions has been spent. We are now forced to limit the Edit permission, or train and require everyone to switch to read only mode after the document is opened. The business has zero appetite for either option, and further ingrains their hatred for the tool. Please let me toggle this option.
