How to Share Excel Files with Other Users Safely and Effectively

How to Share Excel Files with Shared Workbooks

Shared workbooks is a feature of Excel that lets you share Excel files with other users on a local network, without the need to use cloud services like OneDrive or SharePoint. However, this feature has some limitations and risks, such as change conflicts, slow performance, and data loss. Therefore, it is recommended to use this feature only if you have no other options. Here are the steps:

1. Store your Excel file in a location that other users on the local network can access, such as a shared folder or network drive.
2. Open your Excel file and select Review > Share Workbook. If you don’t see this option, make sure you’re using a version of Excel that supports this feature, such as Excel 2010 or Excel 2013.
3. In the Share Workbook dialog box, check the box that says “Allow changes by more than one user at the same time. It also allows merging workbooks”.
4. Select the Advanced Editing tab and set the options you want, such as the frequency of autosaves, the number of days of change history, and the list of users allowed to edit the workbook.
5. Select OK and save your Excel file.
6. Tell other users to open your Excel file from the same location. They can edit the file according to the permissions you grant.
7. If you want to see who’s editing the file, select Review > User List. If you want to see changes made by other users, select Review > Changes > View Changes. If you want to merge changes made by other users, select Review > Changes > Merge Changes.

Conclusion

There are several ways you can share Excel files with other users, depending on your needs and preferences. You can use OneDrive or SharePoint if you want to share Excel files online with people outside your local network. You can also use a shared workbook if you want to share Excel files offline with people in your local network. However, you should be careful of the risks and limitations that may occur when using this feature. Hope this article helped you understand how to share Excel files with other users easily and safely.