Comments on: How to share Excel file for multiple users and co-author a shared workbook

The recent versions of Excel make it easy to share and collaborate on workbooks. By sharing an Excel file, you allow multiple users edit the same document simultaneously, which saves you the trouble of keeping track of multiple versions. Continue reading →

Comments page 2. Total comments: 77

  1. Hi, does this share option have a privacy facility? For example: I would like to be able to share a simple spreadsheet with a list of days work available with multiple users so they can input their own availability, but without other employees being able to see what they have entered. In effect giving each user individual columns only that they can see and edit alongside the original list of dates I have entered. Ultimately providing me with a list of who is available all in one place? Thanks in advance

  2. I am developing a workbook that has seven individual tabs belonging to seven individual people. I want to share it to the group via email. I want them to be able to edit their own tab but not be able to view the other tabs until they make changes to their own. And once they make changes to their own tab, it's final. They cannot go back in and make changes. Thank you in advance.

  3. can i share from my local pc over network?

  4. I have the same issue! We have five people accessing same Excel spreadsheet and do not want to open it up to multiple users making edits simultaneously. If it has been idle for a period, say ten minutes, can that user be booted out?

  5. the Unshare button on the review tab is greyed out and i wanted to know how to un grey it out so i can click on it. how can i get this to work so i can share my document

  6. In Excel, how can I make my "Save" icon only be "Save" and not "Save this document and refresh it with updates made by other authors."

  7. If I have save as the shared workbook on the another places and deleted it, then what will happen. Is the original file will still there in the older place or that also will deleted?

  8. How many people/users can work on a shared work book?

  9. I have a shared excel, mainly for production use, 2 of us use multiple times during the day. With 2-3 others a couple of times a week. Issue we have is it doesnt like us being able to work on it and make changes at the same time, so for safety reasons we only allow 1 person working on it at the same time. Our biggest problem is, when 1 person is working on it and walks away, the other needs to access it, is there a way you can boot the other person out and save their changes, in order to do your work?

    1. I have the same issue! We have five people accessing same Excel spreadsheet and do not want to open it up to multiple users making edits simultaneously. If it has been idle for a period, say ten minutes, can that user be booted out?

  10. Hi, how do you allow a xls file to have one master user and be able to distribute it as 'read only' to others without it being 'read only' when the master user goes in to modify it later?? Can it be done??

  11. So you are given the option to "open in excel", which allows for more of the useful functions to be utilized. When multiple people are working on the excel sheet at one time only one of them can open it in excel and when other group members try to they are told that it is locked. We can all work on it simultaneously in the online version, but again this limits the functionality of our excel workbook. Please let me know if there is a way to fix this issue so multiple people can edit the document in excel at once.

  12. I would like to have exclusive right to edit the workbook. But unfortunately I lost that right when I got another computer. How can I do that.

  13. Hi, sorry if this has already been asked...

    I've created a shared file for my team to use when forecasting performance for the rest of the year. Each team member have their own forecast input and forecast summary tabs, with all tabs having the same layout.

    The calculations all work fine, the problem is with the layout and format of what they see. I spend time each month adjusting the layout of the input tabs so they only see the cells they need to update - this involves, changing the groups of columns/rows to hiding/unhiding data, filtering data tables to the correct month(s), etc. However despite how the screens look when I save the file and pass it to them, when my team load the file they are presented with a different view to the one I've saved - cause by different cells/rows/columns showing on their screen to mine. This even happens if we open the same file at the same time.

    How can I 'force' Excel to open and show the same cells on their computers as I see on mine? FYI - I'm using Excel 2013 and they are all still on 2007, could this be the reason they receive different views?

    Thanks,
    Matt

    1. Hi Matt (and anyone else reading),

      I've been looking all over for a solution to this problem and I think I've found it.
      For the filtering problem:
      - Unshare the workbook
      - Share it again, but this time in the window that appears go to the 'Advanced' tab. Right at the bottom there is something about personal views. Clear the box next to 'filter settings' (I'm using the Dutch version, so I'm not sure about the exact English terms, but it should be something like that).

      For the hiding problem, I found two solutions that I haven't verified yet but supposedly work.
      1) https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/excel-questions/80924-shared-workbook-bring-back-view.html
      Post #4. This one definitely doesn't work for me, because I don't seem to have the Customer View tab. I guess it's a solution for older version of Excel.
      2) https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/05d75328-f33b-416d-97e2-653d1bcaf539/resolved-hidden-cells-not-hidden-in-shared-workbooks?forum=excel
      I have just applied this one to my workbook. I'm hoping this will work, but it did to the guy who posted it.

      Hope that helps! Good luck!

      Olga

  14. Hi, i'm trying to disable share workbook. Just want to be sure tho, if i disable Share Workbook but left the file in a shared folder, will my colleagues still be able to access/edit the file (although one at a time)? The intention is to disable the Share Workbook feature as we already encountered a lot of conflicts, but file will still be accessible/editable for those who have access in the folder where the file is saved.

    1. I have shared a workbook to five user, lead to my workbook become very slow when save, open and any filter. Why? Please help me solve the problem.

  15. Hi,
    Greetings..
    I have uploaded an excel sheet in onedrive and shared with team members. can we add new columns or rows while multiple users are updating the details in excel sheet at same time? is there any chances of loosing data ?

  16. May I know How to add and remove the user in sharing doc?

  17. Please... I shared an excel file over a lan network but each time I tried opening it on other connected systems it opens as a read only document... Any suggestions on making the worksheet editable

  18. Good morning. We have 4 people sharing an excel spreadsheet which has been working fine for the last year, but now one person cannot save. It keeps coming up with

    "Your changes could not saved to 'Shed Workflow Information.xls' because of a sharing violation. Try saving to a different file.

    Could someone please explain why this could be happening all of a sudden.

    Thank you Denise

    1. Where the user using excel sheet first remove file then open again.

  19. If excel is opened at two places and I have track changes made in excel every second in either places. In short, I have to refresh it every second without closing the excel.

  20. Help! At work, we have a spreadsheet that 4 of us update daily. Ever since we have gotten Excel 2016 in May, this spreadsheet doesn't show the correct data for everyone. If I update something and press save, then my coworker opens it and they cannot see what I have just saved and vice versa. We have used this spreadsheet for 9 years without an issue until now. Anyone know what is going on?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi,
      It sounds like my coworker and I are having the same problem. We used to be able to work separately on the same spreadsheet, and our changes would both save/automatically be moved down a line if we were entering data on the same line without knowing it, no problem. Now, we're constantly having to go back and adjust what we're entering if we happen to be entering new data on the same line, and can't see each other's work like we used to.

      I can't see what she has done until she saves her document, and I save mine after that...and vice versa. SO ANNOYING. Please advise if anyone has figured out a way around this.
      Thanks!!

  21. I have a Macro workbook that 5 different people need to make changes. It is also available to others as 'read only' When someone who is read only forgets they have it in their open files, no one who needs to make changes can get in to make changes. How can I stop this from happening ? I only want one person to make changes at a time / but still allow others to read only while we make changes. Is this possible ?
    thanks
    Charlie

    1. Did you get your answer ? because i have the same question.

  22. I am sharing a spreadsheet and have sent out all of the shared invites, i sent one to a colleague to test and when she trys to open the spreadsheet it says it is locked by me, how do I unlock, I want all users to see it all the time and make simultaneous changes.

  23. Hi,
    I made the excel shared sheet. I want everybody can see the changes and how it happened. However, only me can see any changes and how it happened (when, How)other people made, the other people couldn't see any sign for the changes and even their own made.

    Thanks

    Ping

  24. When I click on review, there is no share button.
    When I click Share, my Mac hangs for an hour.
    Any suggestions?

  25. Hi, My excel workbook was shared but now it does not give the option neithr to share it nor to unshare it, do you know what could have happened? It happens with every excel we open , not only with one. Thanks

  26. If I share a workbook with multiple tabs set up for different people, is it possible to restrict the viewing and editing of worksheets ie John can only view and edit the tab labelled 'John' and not the tabs for Mary and David? The same limits would apply to Mary and David.

    1. Did you resolve your issue? I have the same one

  27. Hi,
    I have problem with shared xls files according to Office version. Users have Office version 2010 and 2013. And not every formula works properly sometimes it shows right values and sometimes it shows #Value error. Dragging not changed formula in version 2010 solves problem. Why is it like this?

  28. How to activate "Unshare Workbook" button? Cannot click at all. It was in grey colour button.

  29. How to activate "Unshare Workbook" button? Cannot click at all. It was in grey colour button.

  30. Hi Svetlana,
    can you please advice me how to run my excel software in the cloud, thinking of using a NAS system ( need access from different PC's, not at the same time) My program has also Macros which needs to be used.

    Thanks for advice

    Regards
    Andre

  31. I'm trying to enable the conditional formatting and Protect sheet function for one of my excel files. The file is originally shared by my previous colleague and she left the company already. Is there a way to make it unshared by me to enable the disabled functions?

  32. With the recent update, Ms has disable shared feature. Is there a way to enable it again?

  33. Can we set up a password so that only the user who is sent the link can work on the file and the link cannot be shared with other third parties?

  34. Thanks for the details! Really appreciate it!

  35. Hi,

    I'm trying to share the workbook on an excel file with PowerPivot feature but was unsuccessful.

    Is this part of the limitation of Shared Workbook?
    Is there a workaround to resolve this?

    Thanks,

  36. Hi,

    Can all the users edit and save changes simultaneously? Something like "Allow changes by more than one user at the same time" option.

    1. Hi David,
      When two or more users are editing the same workbook simultaneously, some edits can affect the same cell or cells. In such situations, Excel keeps the changes of the user who saves the workbook first. To see how the possible conflicts can be solved, please read the section of this blog titled 'How to resolve conflicting changes in a shared Excel file'.

  37. I am trying this now, and when one user filters, everyone's copy filters. Makes it really difficult to collaborate when filters are going on and off. Is there a workaround?

  38. Hi Svetlana,

    I have very big matrix, suppose i select a particular cell, whether i can get the selected cell's first row and column( where the headings for the selected cell will be written).. I hope you got my query.

  39. Once you unshare the workbook, can you then insert pivot tables and charts or do you need to save a new copy to start analyzing data?

    1. Hi Mike,

      Once you unshare the workbook, all Excel features become available again, including pivot tables and charts. There is no need to save a new copy.

      1. Hi Svetlana,
        My unshare workbook is not clickable? How can i activate this?
        Thank you.

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