Forum Discussion
Creating a live document
Hi All,
I wonder if anyone could help me please or guide me in the right direction.
We are a small charity who provides free transport for Cancer clients in our area as our nearest hospital is over 60 miles away. Once a week we produce a 'Run Sheet' in Word, convert it to a PDF and email the link of the file to all our drivers for their duties the following week. The problem we have is the sheet is out of date the minute we send it out as clients call continually and new 'runs' are added. We prefer PDF as our drivers (some with limited tech skills) have PDF Readers by default on their smart phones. Whether it's word or PDF, how could we create a 'live' run sheet so that when the co-ordinators add or change the 'run sheet' within our OneDrive the drivers can see this. I know the basic level of this is to just create a Word document and create a share link and send that but I am sure there will be a better way of doing it so that we can point 'one' link and not have to share the a different file each week. Is there something within the Microsoft Family that would do the job better? We have a full non-profit licence. Sorry if that is confusing. Any ideas are most welcome.
Thanks,
Andrew
3 Replies
No worries, I get what you're saying 😊. Sounds like you're stuck in a bit of a loop with updating that run sheet every week.
Given you've got a non-profit licence, you've got access to some pretty cool Microsoft tools. Here are a few ideas:
1. *SharePoint or OneDrive with a shared file*: Like you mentioned, you could share a Word doc or Excel sheet directly from OneDrive or SharePoint. The key is to make sure everyone has edit access, so when changes are made, everyone's got the latest version. You could even set up a shortcut to the file in Teams or Outlook for easy access.
2. *Microsoft Lists*: This could work well for managing the runs. You could create a list in SharePoint or Teams with all the run details, and drivers could access it from anywhere. Plus, it's pretty easy to update on the go.
3. *Power Apps*: If you're feeling adventurous, you could whip up a simple app to manage the runs. It's part of your non-profit licence, and it's pretty intuitive, even for non-techies.
4. *Excel Online with links*: Create an Excel sheet with the run info, and share the link. Drivers can access it from any browser, and it'll always be up-to-date.
The thing is, you're looking for something simple that doesn't involve re-sharing links every week. I'd say give the shared Word doc or Excel sheet a go – it's pretty straightforward, and with a shared link, everyone should be able to access the latest version.
What do you think? Want to explore any of these options?
- It does, yes. Is that something we should look at? We have never used it before.
Thanks.
