{"id":374,"date":"2014-04-10T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regroove.ca\/oh365eh\/?p=374"},"modified":"2023-02-24T20:45:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T20:45:58","slug":"collaboration-microsoft-excel-web-app-versus-2013-desktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regroove.ca\/oh365eh\/2014\/04\/10\/collaboration-microsoft-excel-web-app-versus-2013-desktop\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaboration in Microsoft Excel &#8211; Web App versus 2013 Desktop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A\u00a0client wanted to know:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;If you store an Excel file in a document library (via Office 365 SharePoint Online), can multiple people open and view\/edit data in a worksheet at the same time, and will updates appear in &#8220;real&#8221; time?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I knew the ability to collaborate has been available since Excel 2010, but the answer was not simple, more like a <em><strong>&#8220;yes, but&#8230;&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>And the reason for this is that <em><strong>yes<\/strong>, simultaneous editing is available if you&#8217;re using Excel Web Apps<\/em>, (and has been since 2010 &#8211; see Diego Oppenheimer&#8217;s Office Blog post from January 2010\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.office.com\/2010\/01\/21\/updated-collaborative-editing-using-the-excel-web-app\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>), <strong><em>but<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>only basic\u00a0features and functions are available<\/li>\n<li>an internet connection is required<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Which means that it&#8217;s inevitable &#8211; at some point you will need to open the file in a desktop version of the Excel software.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you open the Excel file in a desktop program (such as Excel 2013), you can use the <em><strong>&#8220;Share Workbook&#8221;<\/strong> <\/em>button<em><strong>*<\/strong><\/em> to allow multiple users to share a workbook, which is collaborative, but this is <em><strong>not the same as<\/strong> <\/em>working in the same file at the same time with changes updating in real time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em><strong>*<\/strong><\/em> Step by step instructions\u00a0from Microsoft Office Support\u00a0available <a href=\"http:\/\/office.microsoft.com\/en-ca\/excel-help\/use-a-shared-workbook-to-collaborate-HA102748977.aspx?CTT=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What it is:<\/strong> <\/em>each user&#8217;s changes\u00a0are saved as a copy of the file, and then the owner of the file must resolve conflicting changes by merging the copies into one.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that there are a slew of features that shared workbooks don&#8217;t support\u00a0(scroll to the bottom of this page <a href=\"http:\/\/office.microsoft.com\/en-ca\/excel-help\/use-a-shared-workbook-to-collaborate-HA102748977.aspx?CTT=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a> to see the complete list).<\/p>\n<p>My initial reaction was to recommend setting up a\u00a0hybrid solution &#8211; where\u00a0the Excel file is opened in Excel Web App to\u00a0allow multiple people to make basic data entry updates\u00a0to the same worksheet in the same workbook\u00a0and\u00a0then have the Excel file\u00a0opened in a desktop version of Excel to allow others to make more complex changes to the same workbook\u00a0using <em><strong>&#8220;Share Workbook&#8221;<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Seemed like it would work, until I tested it and hit this warning screen:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/regroove.ca\/oh365eh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/04\/Excel-collab-workbook-share-warning.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-378\" alt=\"Excel-collab-workbook-share-warning\" src=\"http:\/\/regroove.ca\/oh365eh\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/04\/Excel-collab-workbook-share-warning.png\" width=\"326\" height=\"272\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u00a0Summary:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 The Workbook Sharing button should not be left on 24\/7.\u00a0The feature is meant to be used in specific situations where a\u00a0file&#8217;s &#8220;owner&#8221;\u00a0wants to gather feedback from\u00a0a select group of\u00a0people, but ultimately wants to\u00a0control the final result by reviewing everyone&#8217;s contributions (via comparing original with each submission)\u00a0and then merging the\u00a0approved changes\u00a0into the original source file.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Real collaboration is available\u00a0using the Excel Web App.<\/strong><\/em> Any changes\u00a0beyond basic data entry should be performed by one person at a time with the document &#8220;checked out&#8221; (which is possible as the file is\u00a0stored in a SharePoint document library). And if that&#8217;s not an option, maybe it&#8217;s time to ponder if your organization <em><strong>really<\/strong><\/em> needs people making changes in the same Excel file simultaneously&#8230; If so, consider the ROI on breaking your one workbook with multiple worksheets into multiple workbooks, each with their own worksheet&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Agree? Disagree?<\/strong><\/em> Share your thoughts with me&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A\u00a0client wanted to know: &#8220;If you store an Excel file in a document library (via Office 365 SharePoint Online), can multiple people open and view\/edit data in a worksheet at the same time, and will updates appear in &#8220;real&#8221; time?&#8221; I knew the ability to collaborate has been available since Excel 2010, but the answer &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/regroove.ca\/oh365eh\/2014\/04\/10\/collaboration-microsoft-excel-web-app-versus-2013-desktop\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[56,78,137,140,165,229],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Collaboration in Microsoft Excel - Web App versus 2013 Desktop - Kelly LaForest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/regroove.ca\/oh365eh\/2014\/04\/10\/collaboration-microsoft-excel-web-app-versus-2013-desktop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collaboration in Microsoft Excel - Web App versus 2013 Desktop - Kelly LaForest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A\u00a0client wanted to know: &#8220;If you store an Excel file in a document library (via Office 365 SharePoint Online), can multiple people open and view\/edit data in a worksheet at the same time, and will updates appear in &#8220;real&#8221; 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