Part IV: Using Advanced Excel Features
630
Understanding shared workbooks
You can share any Excel workbook with any number of users. Here are a few examples of work-
books that work well as shared workbooks:l Project tracking: You may have a workbook that contains status information for projects.
If multiple people are involved in the project, they can make changes and updates to the
parts that are relevant to them.l (^) Customer lists: With a customer list, records are often added, deleted, and modified by
multiple users.
l (^) Consolidations: You may create a budget workbook in which each department manager
is responsible for his or her department’s budget. Usually, each department’s budget
appears on a separate worksheet, with one sheet serving as the consolidation sheet.
If you plan to designate a workbook as shared, be aware that Excel imposes quite a few restrictions
on the workbook. For example, a shared workbook cannot contain tables (created with Insert ➪
Tables ➪ Table).
In addition, you can’t perform any of the following actions while sharing the workbook. You can
tell that these actions are not allowed because the relevant commands are disabled on the Ribbon.
l (^) Delete worksheets or chart sheets.
l Insert or delete a blocks of cells. However, you can insert or delete entire rows and
columns.
l Merge cells.
l (^) Define or apply conditional formats.
l Change or delete array formulas.
l (^) Set up or change data validation restrictions and messages.
l Insert or change charts, pictures, drawings, objects, or hyperlinks.
l (^) Assign or modify a password to protect individual worksheets or the entire workbook.
l Create or modify pivot tables, scenarios, outlines, or data tables.
l (^) Insert automatic subtotals.
l Write, change, view, record, or assign macros. However, you can record a macro while a
shared workbook is active as long as you store the macro in another unshared workbook
(such as your Personal Macro Workbook).
Tip
You may want to choose Review ➪ Protect Sheet to further control what users can do while working in a
shared workbook. n