(Originally published on December 14, 2023 by Rubba Ashwas, Scott McFadden, and Manon Knoertzer)
Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders! Our names are Rubba, Scott, and Manon, and we’re Product Managers focused on collaborative experiences on web apps. We’re thrilled to announce that, based on your feedback, we have completed a design refresh of the Catch Up feature in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web to help you better stay aware of important updates and activities in your files.
Catch up on changes and comments from others
The Catch Up feature ensures that you can stay in sync with your collaborators. When you return to your collaborative files, it identifies the latest comment activity directed to you and a summary of recent changes. Clicking any item will take you directly to it so you can address the feedback, answer questions, or weigh in with an opinion.
How it works
The Catch Up feature will open automatically upon file open if there are new tasks, mentions, or comment replies for you that you have not seen.
You can also access Catch Up any time by selecting the Catch Up button in the upper-right corner of the menu bar in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for the web, next to the Comments button.
What’s different?
We now have two sections that help you quickly access what has happened in a file since you were last there:
Activities for you
When you come back to a collaborative file, the Catch Up feature will notify you of any new comment activity that is directed at you, in the Activities for you section. Clicking any of the items in that list will take you directly to that comment so you can quickly follow-up with your collaborators. These activities will include comment tasks, mentions, and replies.
Some notable updates:
- The blue dot next to each item indicates which activities you haven’t seen yet.
- Activities persist for up to 28 days and do not get removed when refreshing the file.
- You can individually dismiss any item from the list that you no longer want to see.
Changes in <file>
You will find a summary of who made edits in the document, workbook, or presentation since you last viewed it. Clicking this section will direct you to the top-most edit in the file. If there are no new edits, you will also be able to access previous edits from this section.
Catch Up shows the activities and changes in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web
Scenarios to try
Use the Catch Up feature:
- To quickly go to a comment you were recently mentioned in.
- To find out who has recently made edits to the file.
- As a checklist of comments or tasks you need to follow up on.
Requirements
To use the Catch Up feature, your file must be stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, and shared with others who have edit permissions.
Availability
These updates are available to all Word and PowerPoint for the web users, coming soon to Excel for the web.
We're working on bringing the Catch Up feature to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Windows, too!
Don’t have it yet? It’s probably us, not you.
Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of users.
Feedback
We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you think by selecting Help > Feedback and including #CatchUp in your comments so we can easily find them!
Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!
Microsoft
