ITS Technology Tips

There is an incredibly helpful collaboration feature built into Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 that many people aren’t even aware of.  In both versions you can share an Excel workbook so that multiple users can make modifications at the same time.  If you store Excel files on Loyola’s shared network you can share your file with a colleague so you can both add data simultaneously.  You can also prevent portions of the spreadsheet from being modified by protecting the document and locking specific cells.  

To share a workbook in Excel 2007:

1. Open your Excel workbook.
2. On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Share Workbook.
3. On the Editing tab, place a check beside the option: Allow changes by more than one user at the same time.
4. Click OK.

Protecting your workbook:

1. If you would like allow users to edit particular cells, highlight the cells that you would like give users write access to, then select Allow Users to Edit Ranges in the Changes group. 
2. Click New to display the range you selected, then click OK.
3. Next you will need to protect the rest of the worksheet.
4. Click on the Review tab and select Protect Sheet.
5. In the Protect Sheet dialog box, verify that the Protect Worksheet and Contents of Locked Cells check box is selected.
6. Then enter a password to use in order to unprotect the sheet. Keep in mind that this password is worksheet specific.
7. Check the appropriate boxes to assign permissions to other users then click OK.