Create multiple folders and set unique sharing permissions for each. You can make a folder public, share it with specific individuals, or keep it just to yourself. You can also assign specific permissions (full permission or read-only) to individuals with whom you share.

When other editors make changes to your files, SkyDrive automatically saves a new version so that you can easily manage which edits get made to files that you own.

You can edit documents online using Office Web Apps, including Microsoft Word Web App, Microsoft Excel Web App, Microsoft PowerPoint Web App, and Microsoft OneNote Web App.

Saving a Word or PowerPoint file to a SkyDrive folder enables you to simultaneously edit that file with others who are using either Office 2010 or Office for Mac 2011. Additionally, you can simultaneously edit Excel workbooks and OneNote notebooks that are saved on SkyDrive with others by using Office Web Apps.

Hotmail integrates pretty nicely with SkyDrive and Office Web Apps as well. If you use Hotmail or receive mail for any account via your Hotmail inbox, you can view or edit Word, PowerPoint, or Excel email attachments online directly from your inbox.

If you edit the attachment online, a copy of the file is automatically saved to SkyDrive and you can reply to the email directly with the changes you’ve made.

You can also save documents, presentations, workbooks, and (for Office 2010 users) notebooks directly from the Office 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 programs to your SkyDrive folders, as shown in Figure 2-2.

If you’re traveling or your job takes you out of the office, storing your files (or a copy of them) online gives you easier access. With Office Web Apps, you can view those files and even make quick edits without opening them in the Microsoft Office desktop applications. So you can get things done from whatever computer happens to be handy.

When a company migrates to a new version of Microsoft Office, it can take time to move everyone over. In the past, migrations (especially in large companies) have caused a lot of pain and frustration when users in the same company are working on different versions and trying to share the same files. But if you have to share with users who are still using an earlier version of Microsoft Office, those users can edit your Office 2010 or Office 2011 files online.

On many group projects, particularly with people who don’t work in the same organization, being able to share and edit files online helps simplify tasks and save time. You don’t need to be concerned with what version of Microsoft Office others use, or even whether they have Microsoft Office on their computers. And the files are always accessible to everyone on the team.

When you don’t even have a computer handy and need to take a quick look at a document or find information in it, you can use the mobile version of Office Web Apps to access and view Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents right from the browser on your smartphone.

For each Office Web App, in Reading view (view mode), you see a command bar at the top of the screen that includes options similar to those you see in Figure 2-4 for Word Web App. All of the applications include the option to edit in the browser or open the file in the desktop application, and they also include a File tab. But there are a few unique features by program and even by platform.

Of course, the ability to open the file in the applicable desktop application requires that you have a supported version of the desktop application installed on your computer. As of this writing, this feature works on Windows with Office 2003 or later and, on Mac OS, with Office 2011.

Figure 2-4. The command bar in Word Web App, as seen on SkyDrive.

In addition to unique tools on the command bars, each Office Web App provides a few key features when you’re working in view mode.

When you open a file for editing, you see a very familiar face. All Office Web Apps use the Ribbon, with similar organization to what you know from the Microsoft Office programs on your computer.

Notice in Figure 2-5 that you see a File tab, a Home tab, an Insert tab, and a View tab. Additionally, you see contextual tabs when you select certain types of content—such as the Table Tools Layout tab shown in this example—just as you see in the Microsoft Office desktop applications. And you see common tools across all Office Web Apps, such as the Clipboard group on the Home tab, the Undo and Redo commands right above the File tab, and the option to insert a hyperlink (from the Insert tab).

Figure 2-5. The Word Web App Ribbon showing the Table Tools Layout contextual tab.

Note that only Word Web App includes the Save button. In the other Office Web Apps, content is automatically saved as you work.

Also note that you can copy and paste text between an Office Web App and the Microsoft Office applications on your desktop, and can copy and paste between Office Web Apps as well (except for Excel Web App, which limits its clipboard content to Excel only).

Almost all types of Office 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 documents can be opened for viewing in Office Web Apps. The only feature that will prevent you from opening a file for viewing in any Office Web App is if the document is protected using Information Rights Management (IRM). Other than this, only Excel Web App has a few additional limitations on files it will let you view—including workbooks with embedded files or embedded OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) objects.

There are, however, a handful of features that will prevent you from editing a document online. As you see in Table 2-1, this isn’t a long list. But it does include a few features that are likely to be present in many of your documents, particularly those you share with others—such as Word documents containing track changes and comments.

Of course, you can always open the file in the desktop application to create a copy that doesn’t include the prohibited feature (such as accepting changes and deleting comments in a copy of your Word document) if you need to edit it online. Also notice the R notations under Excel in this table. For those features, Excel Web App prompts you with the option to save a copy directly online that is stripped of any prohibited features.

Apply any paragraph or character style that is saved in the document, including your custom styles.

Apply basic font and paragraph formatting.

Note that only a few bullet and numbering formats are available from the Home tab on the Ribbon in Word Web App. However, if your document already contains custom bullet and number formatting—including in styles that are saved in the document—that formatting is retained (even though it is not visible in this mode). You can apply your customized styles while editing in Word Web App and see the results when you view the document in Reading view or in Word on your desktop.

Use spell checking (including the red squiggly underscores for spell checking as you type, with right-click access to corrections) and set proofing language for selected text.

Insert tables and edit basic table structure.

Insert pictures and clip art.

You can search through all available clip art on Office.com directly from the Insert tab of the Ribbon. And you can resize or add Alt Text to any image.

Placeholders are used for the SmartArt diagram, chart, and a content control. These are the same type of placeholders that you see for any content in the main body of the document that can’t be edited in Word Web App but won’t prevent the file from opening. Other such types of content include floating objects and some formatting marks (such as page breaks).

Placeholders indicate to editors that something is there when the content itself can’t be displayed, and thus help prevent that content from being inadvertently deleted.

Notice that the table at the bottom of the page includes some reverse text (dark shading with white text). The text in those rows isn’t visible in the editor because it is white, and the cell shading does not appear. But the text is still there, and it is still editable.

Text, pictures, and SmartArt graphics can be edited in PowerPoint Web App. Charts are visible but cannot be edited, and media (video and audio) does not play.

Picture formatting is limited to just changing picture styles (which you might not use much, since picture formatting typically comes from the slide layout in a PowerPoint presentation and is part of the theme formatting). But SmartArt graphics get one of the richest treatments across Office Web Apps in PowerPoint.

You can insert a new SmartArt graphic on a slide that contains an empty content placeholder. You can edit text, apply SmartArt styles and colors, and change the layout of your graphic. And, of course, because a SmartArt graphic is a graphical representation of a bulleted list, you can add and delete shapes from your diagram just by editing text.

When you double-click to edit an existing SmartArt graphic, the image disappears and you see just a text pane, as shown in Figure 2-7. Edit it just as you do a bulleted list. Then click outside the text area when done to see the changes to your diagram.

Figure 2-7. A SmartArt graphic shown on slide (left) and while being edited (right), both in PowerPoint Web App edit mode.

You can insert, delete, duplicate, and hide slides. When inserting a new slide, you can select from all layouts included in the active presentation—including any custom layouts.

Apply basic paragraph and font formatting.

As with Word Web App, only default bullet and number formatting is available when you’re editing. However, when you’re using layouts with custom bullet and number formatting, your custom formatting is retained. You see your custom formatting while viewing the slide in either view mode (Reading view) or edit mode. But when you click into a text area to edit it, your bullets appear to be default formatting.

View your slide show.

When viewed online, some animations and most transitions use defaults (such as fade for slide transitions), and dynamic content such as video and audio media does not play. But the view quality for content on slides is excellent.

You don’t see where others are editing during a simultaneous editing session, so it’s a good idea to communicate with other editors to avoid conflicts.

It is easy, however, to see who else is editing the file. A pop-up on the status bar tells you how many people are currently editing and who they are, as you see in Figure 2-8.

Changes sync in near real-time, so as you work you see updates from other editors periodically.

Like the other Office Web Apps, Excel Web App lets you do basic font and paragraph formatting of cell content. But it also gives you some application-specific formatting for cell content, such as number format and cell text wrapping.

As in Excel Web App view mode, in edit mode you can sort and filter content in tables and PivotTables, refresh external data sources, and search for text in the workbook.

Insert and delete cells, rows, and columns.

Insert a new table (which takes on the default table style for the theme in your active workbook) and toggle heading and total rows on or off in a table (the latter is available on the Home tab, under Table Options).

Other Excel table functionality is also available in Excel Web App. For example, type in the row just below a table (or the column immediately to the right of it), and the table automatically expands. If you type a formula in the column to the right of the table, Excel Web App automatically creates a calculated column (that is, a new column containing the same formula in all cells).

Insert a new chart (from a selection of common chart types, including column, line, pie, bar, area, scatter, doughnut, and radar charts). You can also edit several aspects of a selected chart from the contextual Chart Tools Design tab, including switching row and column data, selecting data, and editing formatting of chart elements like titles, labels, and axes.

Note that, at this time this chapter was written, creating and editing charts in Excel Web App was available only via SkyDrive.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that there is no Function command on the Ribbon. Just start to type a function (that is, type an equal sign followed by the first character of a function name in an otherwise empty cell), and you automatically see an IntelliSense list from which you can select the function you need.

As mentioned earlier, simultaneously edit the same notebook with others who are using OneNote Web App, OneNote 2010, or even OneNote Mobile for Windows Phone 7.

When you open a notebook for editing and someone else opens the same copy of that notebook at the same time, simultaneous editing begins automatically. Changes sync in near real-time, so you see updates from all editors periodically as you work.

Add or delete sections and pages.

You can add sections and pages from the Insert tab of the Ribbon or when you right-click a page or section tab in the navigation pane on the left side of the OneNote Web App window. Use the right-click options to delete sections and pages.

View authors for specific content on your OneNote pages and view previous page versions.

Like OneNote 2010, OneNote Web App automatically saves versions of pages in your notebook when other authors make changes. (The only exception is if history has been disabled for the notebook, which can be done only from OneNote 2010.)

Apply font and paragraph formatting, including available OneNote styles.

Just as in OneNote 2010, OneNote text styles are not customizable.

Insert note tags.

You can insert but not customize tags from OneNote Web App. To customize tags, use OneNote 2010.

Get some of the same functionality for your notebooks that you see in Word Web App for your documents, including spell checking, AutoCorrect, the ability to set a proofing language for selected text, and the ability to insert tables, pictures, and Office.com clip art.

Section tab colors are supported in OneNote for iPhone but can’t be created on the phone or on the web. If you have OneNote 2010, just right-click a section tab for the option to change the section color.

When you exit a page back out to the active notebook section, OneNote for iPhone automatically syncs changes you’ve made to that page back up to SkyDrive. You can also perform a complete sync manually in the application settings. When the keyboard is closed, you see the Settings command at the bottom of the screen. Sync Now is the top command on the settings page.

When the keyboard is closed, you also see two nice and handy timesaving features: quick access to recently accessed pages, and a Quick Note command that creates a new page with just a tap.