PleaseReview and Microsoft Word: How they work together

Clair Blakeway Date published: Apr 21, 20

We all know Microsoft Office 365. It delivers an email system, project planning, file sharing, storage and tools for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations. We’re going to direct our attention to Microsoft Word, the bedrock for producing written material within the workplace and how you can take it to the next level with PleaseReview, our document collaboration software solution.

There is a close relationship between the two products- what you begin in a Word document you tidy up, refine and finish in PleaseReview. Think of it like building a house, the Word document is your foundation and basic framework. PleaseReview delivers the tiles, plaster, windows and doors to turn it into a finished property.

Collaboration

With a Word document, you can review collaboratively but in an unstructured format. It often involves multiple emails, versions and conflicting changes. Taking your document to PleaseReview gives you a controlled environment with a secure login where contributors can make changes in real-time in a single version of the document.

Any changes or comments are captured as suggestions, which the document owner will then implement as appropriate. This means they have clear visibility of all the suggested changes without them overwriting each other, making the editing process much smoother.

Controlled process

With a Word document, everyone with access to it can go in and review at any point, meaning content and additional changes and edits can easily be overwritten. PleaseReview solves this problem by having a structured process. The document owner controls who can review it, with the ability to assign certain areas of the document to individual contributors. This means only the people who need to see that section can see it.

In addition to this, you can set a deadline within the software that automatically sends out reminder notifications to all relevant parties. As you progress throughout the review, you can see who has or has not yet opened the document, giving you an easier view of accountability.

Security

Access to PleaseReview is controlled and secure. You need to have a login to be able to sign into the software from your web browser, which you can do from any device. This prevents uncontrolled access to sensitive documents when collaborating with third parties outside of your organisation.

Additional features and capabilities

With a Word document, you’re pretty much limited to reviewing one at a time. You can take this further in PleaseReview as the software allows you to set-up and link multiple reviews and embed reference documents where needed. It also offers multiple standard pre-defined review workflows and the ability to work with additional types of files and document formats. Comments can also be categorised for quick access to particular areas of the document.

Data capture

The downside to doing all the review work within the body of a Word document is that you can end up losing sight of all the work that has been completed; particularly with large, complex files where a significant number of people have contributed to. As a dedicated document review software solution, PleaseReview supports this particularly well. Every change, comment, or suggested edit is recorded and compiled into a reconciliation report after the review is completed and closed off. This means you have a record of every single contribution made which can be used during an audit to assure your organisation’s compliance with industry regulations.

Take your documents to the next level with PleaseReview. Download our free toolkit today for tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Microsoft Word.