Central Desktop, a SharePoint-like SaaS collaboration platform for the enterprise, is launching a new tool that allows for cloud-enabled document collaboration for Microsoft Office users. Central Desktop’s tool allows users to simultaneously co-author Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in real time, as well as open and save files directly into the cloud.
Central Desktop for Office leverages technology from OffiSync and is compatible with any version of Microsoft Office including 2003, 2007 and 2010. Once installed, Central Desktop for Office adds a new toolbar in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint that enables users to open, save, edit and co-author files stored in the cloud – directly from within Office. The new tool allows users to comment on files, manage subscribers and track version history. Central Desktop’s co-authoring feature enables more than one user to edit Office files, simultaneously, by tracking and syncing all changes made by collaborators and merging them correctly into one updated version.
Of course, Microsoft Office includes similar multi-author, collaborative features in its new web-based version of Office. But Central Desktop says that their tool brings document collaboration to older versions of Office at a much lower cost than upgrading to the new version of Office.
There are other tools besides Central Desktop that offer similar capabilities, such as DocVerse, which was recently acquired by Google.
Central Desktop for Office Video from Central Desktop on Vimeo.