Share, Co-author and Restore Versions in Excel

Emailing a workbook as an attachment creates copies, and copies drift apart: by Friday nobody knows which one is right. Sharing works differently. The workbook stays in one place in the cloud, everyone opens the same file, several people can edit it at the same time, and Excel keeps earlier versions so you can go back if something goes wrong. All of it starts with the Share button in the top-right corner of the window.

Before you start: save the file to the cloud

Sharing, co-authoring and Version History need the workbook to be stored in OneDrive or a SharePoint library. A file saved only on your computer can't be co-authored.

1. Open Save As

   Go to File › Save As. (If the file is already in OneDrive, you'll see Save a Copy instead, and there's nothing to do.)

2. Pick your OneDrive

   Choose OneDrive - Personal for a personal Microsoft account, or OneDrive - followed by your organization's name for a work or school account. Pick a folder, keep the name and click Save.

3. Check AutoSave

   The AutoSave switch at the top-left of the window turns on. Leave it on: co-authoring depends on it.

If you click Share on a file that's only on your computer, Excel first asks you to upload it to OneDrive.

Personal and work accounts

The same buttons work with both kinds of account, but some options exist only at work or school.

At work, your IT department decides which link types you can create. If an option is missing or grayed out, that's a policy, not a fault.

Where to find it

The sharing tools aren't on one ribbon tab:

• Share: the button in the top-right corner of the Excel window, and File › Share.
• Version History: File › Info › Version History, or click the file name at the top of the window and choose Version History.
• Talking to co-authors: the comment commands on the Review tab.

FileHomeInsertPage LayoutFormulasDataReviewViewAutomateHelp

New Comment

Delete

Previous Comment

Next Comment

Show Comments

Comments

Share a workbook

1. Click Share

   Click Share in the top-right corner of the window. If a short menu opens, choose Share again. The sharing window opens.

2. Add people

   Type names or email addresses in the box at the top.

3. Choose what they can do

   Set the permission next to the names to Can edit or Can view. People who can view can read and download the file but not change it. People who can edit can change it and add comments.

4. Send, or copy a link

   Add a short message if you like and click Send. Everyone gets an email with a link to the file. To send the link yourself, in a chat for example, use Copy link instead.

Who a link works for

When you copy a link, its settings decide who can open it. Open the link settings from the sharing window to change them:

Microsoft rewords these options from time to time, so yours may read slightly differently (for example, People you choose instead of Specific people). For anything confidential, use Specific people, and choose Can view when people only need to read.

Work on a file at the same time

Once two people have the same shared workbook open, they're co-authoring. Nobody has to wait for anyone else to close the file.

• Who's here: pictures or initials of the other people appear in the top-right corner of the window.
• Where they are: each person's selected cell is outlined in their own color. Click the colored outline to see whose it is. Your own selection is always green.
• What they change: edits appear on your screen within seconds, and AutoSave saves everyone's work. Everyone needs AutoSave on to see each other's selections.

C3fx

	A	B	C	D
1	Rep	Region	Calls	Deals
2	Ana	North	42	5
3	Ben	South	38	4
4	Chloe	East	51	7
5	Dev	West	29	3
6	Eva	North	47	6

Co-authoring works with workbooks saved as .xlsx, .xlsm or .xlsb. If someone uses a feature that co-authoring doesn't support yet, Excel may show a message asking you to refresh, and to discard or save a copy of changes it couldn't merge.

Restore an earlier version

OneDrive and SharePoint keep earlier versions of the workbook as it's saved. If a co-author deletes the wrong column, or you need last week's numbers, you can open an older version and bring it back. Undo can't help here, because it only undoes your own changes.

In the inventory list below, someone cleared the In stock column by mistake, and AutoSave saved it.

fx

	A	B	C
1	Item	In stock	Reorder at
2	Paper		20
3	Toner		5
4	Pens		50
5	Folders		25
6	Labels		10

1. Open Version History

   Click the file name at the top of the window and choose Version History, or go to File › Info › Version History. The Version History pane opens on the right, listing the saved versions with the date, time and the person who saved each one.

2. Open the version you want

   Pick a version from before the mistake, for example yesterday afternoon's. It opens in a separate, read-only window, so you can look without changing anything.

   fx

   	A	B	C
   1	Item	In stock	Reorder at
   2	Paper	40	20
   3	Toner	6	5
   4	Pens	120	50
   5	Folders	35	25
   6	Labels	18	10

3. Restore it, or copy what you need

   To go back to that version completely, click Restore in the bar at the top of the window. To keep today's other edits, copy only the cells you need (here B2:B6) from the old version and paste them into the current file instead.

Restoring doesn't throw anything away: the version you replaced stays in the list, so you can restore it again if you change your mind. Restoring does replace changes other people made after that version, so tell your co-authors before you do it.

For a file on your computer, Version History isn't available. Excel's AutoRecover copies, under File › Info › Manage Workbook, are the closest thing.

Real-world scenarios

Work

A shift sign-up sheet the whole team fills in

A team lead needs the open shifts for next week covered. Instead of collecting replies by email, she saves the rota to the team's SharePoint site and shares it with Can edit with the team.

fx

	A	B	C
1	Day	Morning	Evening
2	Mon	Ana	Ben
3	Tue		Chloe
4	Wed	Dev
5	Thu	Eva	Ana
6	Fri

Three people open the link within minutes, each sees the others' colored outlines, and they claim different cells without overwriting each other. By the afternoon every shift has a name, and there's only ever one rota.

School

A group project the teacher can watch

Four students plan a presentation in one tracker saved in a school OneDrive. They share it with each other with Can edit, and send the teacher a Can view link.

C3fx

	A	B	C
1	Task	Owner	Status
2	Research	Mina	Done
3	Slides	Joon	In progress
4	Script	Ellie	Not started
5	Rehearsal	Everyone	Not started

Joon changes Slides to Done from his phone, and the teacher sees it the next time she opens the link. She can't change the tracker by accident, and she doesn't need anyone to send an updated copy.

Personal

Undo a friend's mistake in shared trip costs

Three friends split holiday costs in a workbook in Sam's personal OneDrive. Lee sorts the Amount column on its own, so the amounts end up next to the wrong expenses, and AutoSave saves it.

fx

	A	B	C
1	Expense	Paid by	Amount
2	Cabin, 2 nights	Sam	74
3	Groceries	Lee	90
4	Fuel	Sam	126
5	Ferry	Jo	480

Sam opens Version History, picks the version from before the sort, checks that the cabin shows 480 again and clicks Restore. The list is back to Cabin 480, Groceries 126, Fuel 74 and Ferry 90.

Common mistakes

• Sending the file as an attachment. Every attachment is a separate copy that doesn't update. Share a link to the file in OneDrive or SharePoint instead.
• Sharing a file that's only on your computer. Others can't edit it at the same time, and there's no Version History. Save it to OneDrive or SharePoint first.
• Turning AutoSave off. Your changes stop reaching others until you save, and you won't see their selections. Keep it on while you co-author.
• An Anyone link for private data. It works for whoever it's forwarded to. Use Specific people, and Can view for people who only read.
• Restoring over everyone's work. Restore replaces the whole workbook. If others have made good changes since, copy the cells you need from the old version instead.
• Using the old Shared Workbook feature. It's a legacy feature with many limits. Co-authoring replaces it.

Practice

Practice

Share a workbook and restore a version

1. Create a small list in Excel, such as the inventory list above, and save it to your OneDrive.
2. Click Share, add a friend or a second account of your own with Can view, and send it. Then copy a Can edit link for yourself.
3. Ask the person you shared with to open the file while you have it open (or open the edit link yourself in a private browser window, signed in with a second account). Click different cells and watch the colored outlines.
4. Change a few numbers, wait a minute, and change them again.
5. Open Version History, open the earliest version and compare it with the current one. Restore it, then check that the newer version is still in the list.