Best Practices for Coauthoring in Excel

Update your Excel installation frequently 

We're always working to improve your coauthoring experience. By making sure you have the latest updates, you'll get access to the newest features and be less likely to encounter errors. Coauthoring works best when everyone can see changes made in real time.

How to install updates for Microsoft Office on Windows

How to install updates for Microsoft Office on macOS 

Use AutoSave 

The coauthoring features work best when AutoSave is enabled. For workbooks saved in OneDrive or SharePoint, it's enabled by default. If you want to make changes without saving them or making them visible to others, try opening your workbook in read-only mode. If you or your coauthors regularly make temporary edits to a workbook, you may also want to set the Always Open Read-Only option to prevent changes being saved to the original workbook. 

How to turn on AutoSave

Reopen when prompted

To keep your file up to date with the latest coauthor changes, click ‘Reopen’ whenever prompted.

Let OneDrive or SharePoint manage your files 

If you move or delete files in OneDrive or SharePoint, you may make them unavailable to your coauthors. 

Use Comments instead of Notes, where possible 

Comments are a great way to have a threaded conversation about your content. The ability to tag people makes them even more useful.

Let Excel create your tables for you 

Tables are a useful way to organize data into an easy-to-read format. Excel's built-in table creation tools can help you create them on the fly.  For more information on tables in Excel, see Overview of Excel tables.

Only edit macros or VBA code while working alone

Making changes to a workbook’s macros or VBA code while coauthoring can lead to interruptions for others who have the workbook open at the same time. Executing VBA functions or macros while coauthoring is fine, but we recommend writing or editing them when you're not actively coauthoring with others. You know if other people are in the file if you see pictures of people in the upper-right of the Excel window. You may also see their initials, or a “G” which stands for guest.

Use sensitivity labeling to keep information safe 

Sensitivity labels are a good way to keep information such as customer or employee details secure. Learn more about automatically applying sensitivity labels. Co-authoring isn't available for documents protected with Information Rights (IRM) or Rights Management Service (RMS).