Co-Editing Access from Desktop App

Egnyte's Microsoft 365 Desktop integration lets multiple users edit the same Microsoft 365 files at the same time (such as .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx) — directly from the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint apps installed on their computer — while the file stays stored in Egnyte. This article explains how co-editing is triggered from the Egnyte Desktop App on Mac and Windows, how the per-app co-edit policy affects what happens when a file is opened, and how to start co-editing manually when needed.

Additional Setup

• To set up the integration domain-wide (admin task), see Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft 365 Desktop. That article covers prerequisites, supported file types, the Apps & Integrations setup, and the one-time Microsoft 365 storage sign-in (File → Account → Add a Service → Storage → Egnyte).
• To co-edit in a browser instead of a desktop Microsoft 365 app, see Co-Edit Using the Microsoft 365 for the web.

How Co-editing is Triggered

For most users, co-editing starts automatically when a user double-clicks a Microsoft 365 file in the Egnyte drive. The file will open in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint in a shared session.

What actually happens on double-click is controlled by the co-edit policy for that app. Egnyte has four policy values, set per Microsoft 365 app:

Policy	What happens when double-clicking a file?
Default	Follows whatever the administrator has configured for the organization in the Web UI. In most domains the default is Always co-edit
Always co-edit	The file opens straight into a co-editing session. No prompt
Ask	A prompt is displayed asking whether to co-edit or lock the file for individual editing
Never co-edit	The file will open locally and will be locked by the user. No one else can edit until that user closes it. To start a co-edit session for such file types, use the Egnyte Actions → Edit menu (see below)

Users can check or change the policy from Configure → Co-editing app defaults:

Mac

Users can change the policy from Accounts & Drives tab > Account Preferences

Organization-Wide Co-editing Controls

Users cannot change their preferred integration for co-editing if it has been configured by the admin. They will see a banner inside the co-edit dialog — "Integrations for co-editing are set by your administrator". In addition, admins can lock the per-app policies for the whole organization. When that's the case:

• The per-app dropdowns (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint) appear disabled or greyed out
• Selecting Reset all co-editing options will revert any local choice to the value set by the admin
• The behavior seen on double-click is the value the admin chose — users won't be able to override it locally

If users need a different policy than what's enforced, they should contact their Egnyte administrator. Admin-side controls are documented in Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft 365 Desktop.

 

Co-editing on Desktop App Core for Mac

Default flow: double-click

In Finder, navigate to the Egnyte mount and double-click the file. What happens next depends on the policy for that Microsoft 365 app:

• With "Always co-edit" or "Default" (when the admin default is co-edit): The file opens in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and joins the co-editing session immediately. Users see other participants' avatars appear in the top-right corner of the Microsoft 365 window within a few seconds.
• With "Ask": Users will be given a prompt with options on how to interact with the file:
  • Co-edit in Word Desktop: opens the file in Word and joins or starts a co-editing session
  • Lock and work on your own: opens the file in Word and locks it to the user so no one else can edit it until they close it

  • Check Always perform this action for Microsoft Word to remember the choice and skip the prompt next time. This effectively switches policy for that app to Always co-edit or Never co-edit, depending on which button was picked

    The Please make sure you add Egnyte as a storage service in the Microsoft app notice in this prompt means the one-time Microsoft 365 sign-in hasn't been completed. See Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft 365 Desktop for the steps.

    

• With "Never co-edit": The file opens locked to the user — same as the legacy single-editor behavior. To co-edit in this mode users need to start the session manually using the steps below.

 

Starting Co-editing Manually (When Policy is "Never co-edit")

If the policy is set to Never co-edit but user specifically want to start a shared session on one file, use the Egnyte Actions menu:

1. In Finder, right-click (or Control-click) the Microsoft 365 file.
2. At the bottom of the context menu, click More Egnyte Actions… 
   
3. The Egnyte Actions panel opens. Hover over Edit and choose Word for Desktop (or Word for the Web to co-edit in the browser instead).
   
4. The file opens in Word and the co-editing session starts, regardless of the default policy for that app.

Starting from the Egnyte Web UI

1. Access the Egnyte domain in a browser (<Egnyte domain name>.egnyte.com).
2. Navigate to the file.
3. Click the three-dot menu next to the file name and choose Edit in Word for Desktop.
4. The browser hands off to the local Microsoft 365 app and starts the co-editing session.

Co-editing on Desktop App for Windows

In Windows Explorer, navigate to the Egnyte drive and double-click the file. What happens next depends on the policy for that Microsoft 365 app. Please refer to Co-editing Access from Desktop App section for details about policy settings.

Starting co-editing manually (when policy is "Never co-edit")

1. In Explorer, right-click the Microsoft 365 file.
2. At the bottom of the context menu, click Show More Options.
   
3. Select Co-edit in Word for Desktop or hover over Open with to choose between Word for Desktop and Word for the web.
   

 

Joining a Session that's Already in Progress

If a team member is already editing the file, users don't need to do anything different — double-clicking joins the existing session (subject to the policy). With the Ask policy, the prompt notes that a session is already in progress and offers to open the file in read-only mode or join the co-editing session.

Other participants will see the user’s avatar appear in the upper-right corner of the Microsoft 365 app within a few seconds of joining the session.

 

Closing a Session

• To leave: Close the file. Changes are saved automatically
• To end the session for everyone: All participants must close the file. The last person to close releases the lock and the final version is committed to Egnyte

 

Using Save As While Co-editing

During a co-editing session, using Save As (File → Save As, or F12 on Windows) will interrupt the session for that file. This is an expected behaviour and the steps to remediate this are provided below.

Why the file picker doesn't open to the Egnyte drive?

Normally, Save As opens the file picker to the same location as the file user is editing. During co-editing, though, the file is being edited live from the cloud rather than from a local folder, so M365 has no local location to point the picker back to. As a result, the picker defaults to Documents or another local folder, and the user will need to manually navigate to the Egnyte drive to save there.

What to expect after saving?

Saving the file onto the Egnyte drive with Save As does not resume co-editing automatically — the new file is saved as a regular file, not as part of a live session. As a result, AutoSave will also be off until co-editing is re-established.

How to resume co-editing?

1. Use Save As and navigate to the desired location on the Egnyte drive.
2. Save the file.
3. Close the file.
4. Reopen it from Finder(on Mac) or File Explorer(on Windows).

Co-editing and AutoSave will resume once the file is reopened this way.

Troubleshooting

Double-clicking Doesn't Start Co-editing

• Check the co-edit policy under Configure → Co-editing app defaults. If the relevant app is set to Never co-edit, the file will open locally locked. To fix this:
  • Switch the policy to Always co-edit or
  • Use the right-click → More Egnyte Actions… → Open with or Edit menu for a one-time co-edit session
• If the policy dropdowns are greyed out, the admin has locked the policy for the organization — contact them if a different setting change is needed
• Confirm Egnyte is connected as a storage service inside the Microsoft 365 app. If it isn't, follow Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft 365 Desktop to complete the one-time sign-in.

The Co-edit Options Don't Appear in the Right-click Menu

• Confirm whether admin has enabled Microsoft 365 Desktop under Apps & Integrations.
• On Mac, restart the Egnyte Desktop App if Finder integrations haven't loaded
• User may not have edit permission on the file or folder

User Wants to Reset all their Per-app Preferences

In Configure → Co-editing app defaults, click Reset all co-editing options in the top-right. This clears any per-app overrides and reverts everything to Default (the value set by the admin for the organization).

 

Related articles

• Configure Co-Editing for Microsoft 365 Desktop 
• Co-Edit Using the Microsoft 365 for the web 
• Importing Credentials from Desktop App for Microsoft Co-Editing.
• Switching From Microsoft Co-Editing (Legacy) to New Microsoft 365 Desktop Co-Editing Integration.
• Microsoft Co-Editing with External Users
• Co-Editing with Microsoft 365 on Egnyte Mobile Apps
• FAQs for Co-Editing with Microsoft 365 for the web and Google Workspace on Egnyte