Tracking changes made in excel

Question

Hello,

I currently use Excel as part of my office 365. I created a spreadsheet that is used across multiple user. The auto save function is a must in order to progress throughout the day with relative ease. 

However, some of my staff has reported some changes made to the cells they edited. I was looking online for a way to see where I could find a log that show changes but there is nothing of the sort unless I convert the file to a "shared" workbook. This turns off the autosave function which will cause problems for us. 

Is there a way to export the spreadsheet on a daily or hourly frequency to a shared workbook format that tracks changes or something. 

This is causing an accountability issue and I need to resolve this quick.

Answer 1

Hi Sebastien,

Excel applications is having the feature called Shared Workbook, where it will enable to Track Changes, but this feature contains many limitations and Co-authoring feature replaces for best use when the file is to be shared. Track Changes feature is not available in Excel Online or when it’s co-authored and we understand the trouble caused due to its limitation, really apologies for this limitation. Given situation, we would like to convey that related Excel on web team is accepting votesfor related idea: Pls add TRACK CHANGES capabilities for us to track who changed what (specifically not by versions), in excel online or browser mode.in UserVoice platform. So, we also suggest you add your vote to it as brings attention to related team.

But OneDrive is having the feature called Version History, where it saves each version of previous files where we can see the difference or changes made to current file and previous files. Refer to this article: Version History.

Appreciate your patience and understanding.

Best Regards,

Chitrahaas

Answer 2

Hi Sebastien,

Totally understand your concern and apologies that we can't achieve your requirement using the formula's. But based on my search about inserting timestamp when a cell is modified, you can achieve it by using VBA. So, we helped you to move this case to related category as members who're experienced in it will guide you will exact code. And for reference, check this article: How to insert current timestamp when data in another cell changes in Excel?.

Appreciate your understanding.

Best Regards,

Chitrahaas

Answer 3

Shared workbook is not an option as we use the Autosave function. 

This workbook is used on 2 computers. My personal laptop for me and a work computer for 3 of my staff.

Lately some information has been getting changed and I would like to get a date and timestamp of when those changes were made.

Is there a way to implement this function without changing the workbook. Maybe like a hidden sheet that lists the changes to the cells based on time.