Friday, July 2, 2021

Not able to lock and collaborate in Excel - Office 365 disadvantages 

As part of opting to OneDrive online cloud storage option, the added benefits the users get is the exclusive access to office applications and family sharing up to 6 members. However, recently when I explored the usage of Excel applications with my family and business, I met a strange problem. I wanted the detail the same in this article for my readers. 
  • Locking files and collaboration: I wanted to create online sheet for my business users to update daily sales and expenses. The sheet should be restricted only to certain business employees and should be accessible by my partner. However, the business users should have restricted access to the sheet and should be able to edit the sheet only when they enter pre-defined passcode or password. Additionally, the excel file should be accessible via shareable link and other family members should also be able to view the updates happening. 
  • I understand that Excel has password protection mode in-built, however when the password protection is enabled, the collaboration mode does not work as it was intended and does not store the updates in online cloud. Once the shared excel file is edited, the file had to be stored from the scratch and shared link does not reflects the updates. 
So, the Excel office 365 does not allow users to password lock the file and collaborate with other family members. Hope, Microsoft addresses this issue at the earliest and allows users to lock and collaborate. For more such articles, please feel free to check out the articles published in G R Team Sites.