WebOffice lets you create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in your browser. You don't need any Office program on your computer. It works on any computer with an internet connection.

The tool behind it is called OnlyOffice. Switch chose it because it is easy to use, works very well with Microsoft Office files, and has strong tools for working together.

With it you can:

• write text documents (.docx),
• work with spreadsheets (.xlsx),
• build presentations (.pptx),
• work on the same document at the same time with others, and see each other's changes as they happen.

Editing together in the browser also avoids the usual version mix-ups. You know the problem: two people change their own copy and one of them wins.

Your data stays in Switzerland. WebOffice runs entirely in Switch's data centres in Switzerland. No office code runs outside them, and nothing is shared with anyone outside Switch.

1. Sign in at https://drive.switch.ch and open the folder where the document should be.
2. Click the + icon at the top.
3. Choose Document, Spreadsheet or Presentation.
4. The editor opens in your browser. Start writing.

The editor keeps the formatting and is very compatible with Microsoft Office. You can print the document or save it in another format, for example PDF, TXT, RTF, HTML, ODT, ODS, ODP or CSV.

Yes.

1. Move or upload the file to your Switch Drive. If you use the Sync Client, put it in your switchdrive folder.
2. Open https://drive.switch.ch in the browser.
3. Click the file name. It opens in the editor.

Opening from your computer instead: if you double-click the file in File Explorer or Finder, it opens in your local program, usually Microsoft Office. This works fine, but several people can't edit together that way. All changes are still synced to the other devices when you save or close the document.

Example: you want course participants to fill in a list called "Participants.xlsx".

1. Open the file in the browser. Click its name.
2. Click the Share icon in the editor's menu bar. The sharing panel opens on the right.
3. Type the names of the people, or of a group, and share just like you share a file or folder. Give them edit permission.

Please note: you can't force anyone to use the browser editor. People who use the Sync Client can open the file in Word or Excel on their computer and edit it without telling you. Co-editing then does not work.

Tip: send them a link that opens the document directly in the browser:

Dear collaborators, please click the following link to edit Agenda.docx in your browser: https://drive.switch.ch/index.php/apps/onlyoffice/FILE-ID

This link only works for people who have a Switch Drive account and to whom you have shared the file or its folder. Anyone else sees a "File not found" message.

Share the folder with a public link that allows editing.

1. Find the folder with the document and click the share icon.
2. Open Public Links and click Create public link.
3. Give the link a name. This helps if you create several links for different people.
4. Choose the permission Download / View / Edit.
5. Click Share. The link appears under Public Links. Click the copy icon next to it.
6. Paste the link into a new browser window to see what your partners will see.

A link that opens the document directly: open the document in the editor (double-click it), copy the web address from the browser's address bar and send that. Example:

https://drive.switch.ch/index.php/apps/onlyoffice/s/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?fileId=1234567890

Dear collaborators, please click this link to edit Agenda.docx in your browser.

Two important rules:

• People with their own Switch Drive account must not add the public folder to their account. Otherwise OnlyOffice can no longer tell that everyone is editing the same file. They should get a direct share instead.
• Use public links only with people you trust. Without signing in, nobody knows who is making changes. OnlyOffice shows them as "Anonymous" or "remote user". This can lead to unwanted changes, or to lost changes.

To edit a document you need upload and edit permission for the file or the folder it is in. Without it, you only see a red "File not found" message. Ask the owner to give you edit permission.

You got a private link? It looks like https://drive.switch.ch/index.php/f/1234567890. Try replacing /f/ with /apps/onlyoffice/. If the owner has shared the folder with you, the document opens in the editor.

Saving: OnlyOffice saves all the time in the background. You don't need to do anything. To save by hand, open the File menu and choose Save. Or simply close the browser tab. Your document is saved.

Undoing everything: there is no Cancel button, because every change is already saved. To go back:

1. Close the browser tab. This saves the document.
2. Open the Versions tab of the document.
3. Restore an earlier version.

Warning for shared documents: when you close the document, others may still be editing. The final version is saved only when the last person has closed their browser session. Look at the user icon in the top right corner of the editor. As long as it shows a number greater than 0, the document is not finally saved.

If someone forgets to close their session, OnlyOffice saves the document automatically after 1 hour of inactivity.

The document moves from the OnlyOffice server to Switch Drive only after all editing sessions are closed. After that it usually takes about 1 minute to reach all other devices. It can take longer when the system is busy.

Before you open the file in your local Word, Excel or PowerPoint, wait for the desktop notification that the document was updated. To see these notifications, switch on desktop notifications in the Switch Drive settings.

In long sessions, save a copy from time to time. If the network breaks or something goes wrong, you can't lose much.

1. Click the File menu.
2. Choose Download as….
3. Choose the DOCX format (or XLSX / PPTX for spreadsheets and presentations). The file lands in your Downloads folder.
4. Click Home and carry on editing.

At the end, if everything is fine, delete the downloaded copies. If something went wrong, open the newest copy and save it in the place of the original document.