Today you practise three moves with work you already have in the school cloud: share a file at the right permission, leave a comment that is actually useful, and get an earlier version back if something goes wrong. By the end you will have shared at comment-only, left feedback, and seen how version history restores a previous state.
Send a copy (attachment or download): they get their own file. Their edits never touch yours, and you get no comments back inside your document.
Give access (share the live file in OneDrive or Google Drive): you both look at the same file. Permission decides what they can do:
- View only: read, nothing else.
- Comment (Can comment / Commenter): notes and highlights only; they cannot rewrite your work.
- Edit: they can change or delete anything.
For assessed work, comment-only is the useful middle. Cloud files also keep a version history, so a wiped paragraph can often be restored from an earlier save. You will try share, comment and restore next.
Work with a partner. Each of you needs a short document already in OneDrive (Microsoft 365) or Google Drive. Your research log, a draft from earlier work, or a quick practice page of a few paragraphs is fine.
Use whichever your school runs, OneDrive or Google Drive. You only need one.
- Share the document with your partner at comment-only.
- Leave one specific comment on a particular sentence, not a general "looks good".
- Open version history and restore an earlier version. If restore is blocked on your school account, watch the demo instead and write down what changed between the two versions.
Reply to your partner’s comment and resolve it, then leave a second comment of your own.
Apply the same habit to the work that matters.
Use your Student Project folder if you have one. If not, use your research log or any course folder with a few clearly named files (for example the piece, log and references).
- Share that folder or the main file with the people your teacher named, at the permission they asked for (view, comment or edit).
- Check the permission with your own eyes. If you shared with a named person (your teacher or a partner), ask them to open it while signed in as themselves and tell you whether they can only view, can comment, or can edit. If you used a link, open that link in a private or incognito window and check it matches what you intended.
- If access is wider than you meant, tighten it now and check again.
Before you finish, check: the right people can open it, the permission matches what your teacher asked for, and you have confirmed that rather than assuming the share panel got it right.
Pull the three ideas together.
Access is not the same as a copy. A shared live file is one document; the permission you set decides whether someone can only read, can comment, or can rewrite it.
Comment-only is the useful middle. A partner can still help you with specific, named feedback. They cannot quietly change the work you will be marked on.
Version history is a safety net, not a habit to lean on. It can undo a bad edit. It does not replace clear permissions, and it only helps if the file lived in the school cloud rather than as a one-off download on a shared device.
Before you hand anything in, check who can open it and what they are allowed to do.
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