Vault allows Admins to configure workflows for single and multiple documents to include collaborative authoring sessions. These workflows require you to add the authors as participants and create workflow steps or lifecycle entry actions for checking in and checking out a document from a workflow. Collaborative authoring workflows are useful when a document workflow requires multiple authors to edit a document at once.
Configuring Collaborative Authoring Workflow Actions
You can use workflow and lifecycle actions to automatically start, end, and cancel collaborative authoring sessions from a document workflow. The actions include:
- Check Out to Microsoft Office
- Check In From Microsoft Office
- Cancel Editing in Microsoft Office
To configure collaborative authoring actions actions on a workflow, you must add a System Action step. The System Action drop-down displays each action for you to select. You can also configure these actions as entry actions on document lifecycle states. These actions are available in workflow configuration by default, but you cannot activate workflows containing one or more of these actions if your Vault is not configured and verified for collaborative authoring.
When the workflow enters a lifecycle state or workflow step configured with one of these actions, Vault immediately executes it for any document in the workflow. For example, if the In Authoring state is configured with the Check Out to Microsoft Office entry action, Vault checks any documents in the workflow out to Microsoft 365 as soon as the workflow enters In Authoring.
Vault always considers the Workflow Owner as the user who executes collaborative authoring actions. It is recommended that you include both the Check Out to Microsoft Office and Check in From Microsoft Office actions in the collaborative authoring workflow configuration as it ensures the Workflow Owner checks in and checks out documents. If only one of these actions is included, it could cause issues in the workflow.
For example, if a user other than the Workflow Owner clicks Edit in Microsoft Office from the Actions menu, and a Check in From Microsoft Office action is configured on the System Action step or as a lifecycle entry action later in the workflow, an error will occur when the check in executes. This error happens because the Workflow Owner did not check the document out. The user who checks out and checks in the document must be the same. In addition, the Workflow Owner must have Edit permission on the lifecycle state configured with the collaborative authoring action.
If a document is already checked out when the collaborative authoring action runs or checked in before the workflow is complete, Vault will take no collaborative authoring action.
Note: You can configure these actions as cancelation actions. If configured, the Workflow Owner will receive a notification for each document in the workflow upon cancelation.
Limitations
The following limtations apply to using collaborative authoring workflows:
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When a collaborative authoring action is executed via a System Action step, the audit trail will show System as the Workflow Owner.
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Vault executes the collaborative authoring actions asynchronously. You may need to refresh your browser if the action’s results do not immediately appear on screen.
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Vault encounters an error if the SharePoint unique permission limit of 50,000 is reached. Ensure documents where users have Edit permission are checked back in after collaborative authoring is complete to avoid encountering this error.
About Notifications for Collaborative Authoring Workflow Actions
Admins can configure a summary notification to send out upon completion of a collaborative authoring workflow action. If the action is configured on a System Action step, the notification is sent to the workflow owner. If the notification is configured on an entry action, a notification is sent to the user who initiated the state change. Select one of the following options from the Send Notification upon (action) Completion drop-down:
- Always: A notification is always sent after the action completes.
- Only upon failure: A notification is sent if the action fails.
- Never: A notification is never sent for the action.
The notification includes the following information about each document in the workflow:
- Total number of documents that failed and succeeded
- Name of the specific action
- Date and time in your Vault’s time zone the action started
- Duration in hours, minutes, and seconds
The total number of failed and successful documents displays as a link that downloads the results to a CSV file. Use this file to view additional information, such as error descriptions when an action fails.
Note: If the workflow owner changes while a document is checked out, the new workflow owner must have the Vault Owners or All Document Actions permission in order to check the document in.