Sharing a spreadsheet over a network

[George]

Hi all,

Is there a way of sharing an excel file or a similar spreadsheet over a network but allowing more than one computer to edit and save it at one time? At the moment the second computer to open the file can only view it as read only, and then if any changes are made it has to be saved as a separate file

Thanks!

[edd666999]

Google docs.

[jason_rmh]

There's also smart sheet which I think is free for personal use but may be overkill for what you need it for.

http://www.smartsheet.com/coordinate-anything2

[rdfcpete]

Hi all,

Is there a way of sharing an excel file or a similar spreadsheet over a network but allowing more than one computer to edit and save it at one time? At the moment the second computer to open the file can only view it as read only, and then if any changes are made it has to be saved as a separate file

Thanks!

The only issue with that resulting two edited files is that presumably you'll need these changes to be merged at some point George, which creates bit of a PITA situation?

If it's not going to create too much work and the two files can be merged or edited manually with ease, then no problem. The standard NTFS read/Windows network controls are there to prevent duplication of work though, as annoying as they seem at the time.

[George]

Yea I understand that. Is there any spreadsheet software that will run it "live"?

Thanks 

[DanGB]

Office 365 maybe?

[simonp]

Use something like Dropbox?

[edd666999]

Yea I understand that. Is there any spreadsheet software that will run it "live"?

Thanks 

Yes Google Docs.

All the suggested items so far will save over work done previously or not allow 2 people editing rights.

Sticking it on Google allows live editing by multiple people. It shows an edit history, you can give people read or write access, you can lock sheets to specific members.

Is there a reason its not a possibility?

[George]

I've just tried google drive / google docs and I wasn't able to edit the excel document?

Thanks

[Makaveli]

As long as the file is on a network share and all the users have access to it then all you need to do is edit the spreadsheet so that it is shared as a workbook. All the users should then be able to view and amend the spreadsheet. If 2 users are in the spreadsheet at the same time and you save the file it flags the file has been amended by another user and highlights the cells.