The editor of Downcodes brings you a practical guide for multi-person collaboration in Excel tables. In today's team office environment, efficient collaborative editing of Excel tables is crucial. This article will introduce in detail four convenient ways to collaborate with Excel tables, including using the online version of Excel, converting to Google Sheets, using OneDrive or SharePoint, and using Excel's built-in shared workbook function (applicable to older versions). No matter which tool or version you use, you can find a way to collaborate and be more productive that works for you.
The main steps to collaborate with Excel tables include: 1. Use the online version of Excel, 2. Convert to Google Sheets, 3. Use OneDrive or SharePoint to share documents, 4. Use Excel's built-in shared workbook function. These methods can help multiple people work on the same Excel sheet at the same time, and everyone's changes will be updated and saved in real time.
1. Use the online version of Excel
Using the online version of Excel is the easiest way to share and collaborate on Excel sheets. You only need a Microsoft account to use the online version of Excel, and it's completely free. There are some functional differences between the online version of Excel and the desktop version of Excel, but they are sufficient for general data entry and simple data processing. You can upload the Excel table to OneDrive, and then select "Open Online" in OneDrive to edit the table in the web version of Excel. In the web version of Excel, you can select the "Share" button in the upper right corner, enter other people's email addresses, and invite them to edit the table together.
2. Convert to Google Sheets
If you and your team are Google users, converting to Google Sheets may be a better option. The functions of Google Sheets are similar to Excel, and its real-time collaboration function is very powerful. You only need to upload the Excel table to Google Drive, then right-click the table in Google Drive and select "Open with Google Sheets" to convert it to Google Sheets. In Google Sheets, you can select the "Share" button in the upper right corner, enter other people's email addresses, and invite them to edit the form together.
3. Share documents using OneDrive or SharePoint
If you have a Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) subscription, you can use OneDrive or SharePoint to share and collaborate on Excel sheets. In OneDrive or SharePoint, you can upload an Excel table, then select "Share" and enter other people's email addresses to invite them to edit the table together. And, if you both have the desktop version of Excel installed, you can share and collaborate in the desktop version of Excel, giving you access to the full power of Excel.
4. Use Excel’s built-in shared workbook function
If you are using Excel 2010 or earlier, you can use Excel's shared workbook feature. In Excel, you can enable this feature by selecting the "Review" menu and then selecting "Share Workbook." You can then save this form in a location that everyone can access, such as a network drive. This way, anyone can open the form and their changes will be saved in real time. However, this functionality has been removed in Excel 2013 and later, so if you are using a newer version of Excel, you will need to use the other methods mentioned above.
1. How to achieve joint collaboration in Excel sheets?
Q: Can I edit the same Excel spreadsheet with other people at the same time? A: Yes, you can use Excel's sharing function to collaborate with others. In Excel, you can choose to save a workbook to a cloud storage service (such as OneDrive or SharePoint) and share the link with others or invite them to edit the sheet together. Q: How to invite others to collaborate on Excel spreadsheets? A: You can invite others to collaborate on Excel sheets through the following steps: Save the Excel workbook to a cloud storage service, such as OneDrive or SharePoint. Open the Excel workbook and click the "Share" button on the top menu bar. In the sharing window that pops up, enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite or select their contacts. Select the appropriate editing permissions (e.g. view only, can edit, etc.) and send the invitation. Invited people will receive an email with a shared link through which they can access and edit the Excel sheet. Q: What will happen if multiple people edit the Excel table at the same time? A: When multiple people edit an Excel table at the same time, all changes will be synchronized in real time. This means you and others can make changes to the table at the same time without conflicts. Excel automatically merges and saves everyone's changes and ensures data consistency. If a conflict occurs, Excel prompts you to resolve the conflict and choose which version of the changes to keep.2. How to track the progress of joint collaboration on Excel sheets?
Q: How do I know what changes others have made to an Excel spreadsheet? A: In Excel, you can use the Track Changes feature to track changes made to a table by others. When others edit an Excel sheet, you can see the changes they made by viewing the revision history. You can find the "Revision" option in the top menu bar of Excel and select "Show Track Changes" to open the revision history panel. Q: How to view comments and feedback in Excel? A: If others have added comments or feedback to the Excel sheet, you can use Excel's comment feature to view and reply to those comments. In Excel's top menu bar, select the "Review" tab and click "New Comment" to add your own comments. You can also reply to other people's comments by clicking the "Reply" button next to the comment. Q: What should I do if I don’t want to see other people’s changes to my Excel sheet? A: If you don't want to see other people's changes to your Excel sheet, you can select the "Revisions" tab in the top menu bar of Excel and deselect "Show Track Changes." This will hide other people's changes and show only the original version of the table. But please note that this does not affect other people's edits to the table, and their changes will still be saved and synced.I hope these methods provided by the editor of Downcodes can help you better collaborate on Excel spreadsheets! If you have any other questions, please feel free to continue asking.