Ensure only one person can Edit at same time for Excel Document shared in MS Teams
My company is sharing an excel workbook on MS Teams.
The document can be viewed and edited by anyone (really just adding rows to tables for analytical purposes).
However, although we wish to share the document we want to ensure that only ONE person can edit the document at the same time. In other words - when someone opens selects "Edit" - we want that action to "lock" the document so no one else can also "Edit" at the same time (so if a second user attempts to do so they would get a message saying "Mr. x has this document locked you can only read it" - or something like that.
I thought the option to do this was "Edit in Excel" (this will open it in excel on your local machine - and I thought this was supposed to then prevent others from editing it and give them a message like the above). However, this has been somewhat "hit and miss" - for example - someone on the team did this - and when I tried to edit it - it did give me that message, however, later when I edited it in Excel - someone else was still able to edit it online - and then it had a conflict with what I had done (and basically I lost all the changes I had made when I attempted to save).
So - bottom line is we are looking for a way to ensure that the excel document becomes locked for editing when the first person begins to edit until they save and close....
Is there such a method?
PS. We also use sharepoint - so perhaps we could put the document in sharepoint - and then link to it from MS Teams? Really just looking for foolproof way for "one person editing at a time".
Thanks!
The document can be viewed and edited by anyone (really just adding rows to tables for analytical purposes).
However, although we wish to share the document we want to ensure that only ONE person can edit the document at the same time. In other words - when someone opens selects "Edit" - we want that action to "lock" the document so no one else can also "Edit" at the same time (so if a second user attempts to do so they would get a message saying "Mr. x has this document locked you can only read it" - or something like that.
I thought the option to do this was "Edit in Excel" (this will open it in excel on your local machine - and I thought this was supposed to then prevent others from editing it and give them a message like the above). However, this has been somewhat "hit and miss" - for example - someone on the team did this - and when I tried to edit it - it did give me that message, however, later when I edited it in Excel - someone else was still able to edit it online - and then it had a conflict with what I had done (and basically I lost all the changes I had made when I attempted to save).
So - bottom line is we are looking for a way to ensure that the excel document becomes locked for editing when the first person begins to edit until they save and close....
Is there such a method?
PS. We also use sharepoint - so perhaps we could put the document in sharepoint - and then link to it from MS Teams? Really just looking for foolproof way for "one person editing at a time".
Thanks!
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Hello @Jesper Lauridsen
Just wanted to follow up on the question above as I think your solution is going to work - but I just need to know how that setting affects the Library. Is the Library where I am making the setting change equivalent to the folder containing the file or does it cover a broader swath of the sharepoint area?
Let me know as I would like to implement this as soon as I can,
All the best.
Just wanted to follow up on the question above as I think your solution is going to work - but I just need to know how that setting affects the Library. Is the Library where I am making the setting change equivalent to the folder containing the file or does it cover a broader swath of the sharepoint area?
Let me know as I would like to implement this as soon as I can,
All the best.
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I am not an expert in sharepoint etc - but I think I managed to find what you meant as follows (please confirm that this is the case - and I have one final question):
1. From the document in teams I used the "..." option and selected "Open in Sharepoint". this took me to sharepoint and showed me all the files (looks like a folder structure "Documents > MS Teams Channel Name"
2. I noticed the gear at the top right and there is an option "Library Settings" - I clicked this
3. There is then a set of options under three columns (General Settings, Permissions and Management and Communications). Under General Settings I see the option you mention called "Versioning Settings"
Here is the question - at what level am I setting these versioning settings? In other words what is a "Library" at which this setting is being applied? Is this equivalent to the folder with the same name as the Channel in MS Teams - or is it for all the whole "Team" (there are several channels), or is it some higher level that I am affecting?
I really only want to apply this setting to that document or to the "folder" within which that document is stored (which appears to be the same as the Channel in the MS Team) - that's ok too as the files in that "folder" are all related.
It is very difficult for me to tell from the "Settings" UI at what level I am applying these settings..... I'd like to restrict it to the files in the specific Channel (if at all possible).
Let me know - many thanks once again as I think this is definitely the right solution - I am need to know what else I am affecting with this setting.
Thanks!