Filters and sorting on a shared excel are applied for all :( - is there a way to prevent it?

Question

When working on huge documents we need to work on different sets of data but from the same sheet on Teams.

Sometimes I need to hide columns or rows, use filters, different sorting to pinpoint the data I need to work on. The issue is, the other person see those applied filters and sorting as well, while the other persons needs something completely different and we simply disturbing each other. In result we can't work on the same document in the same time.

I cannot believe that this is so badly implemented. There must be a way to disable filtering and sorting from sharing so we all could use it without getting in each others way.

I cannot find anything in google so I hope someone here has an answer to it. It has to be something basic and obvious, such obvious that nobody talks about it anywhere and nobody knows anything about it...

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Hi Michal,

Thank you for your message in this forum.

Per your description, it seems that you want disable filtering and sorting from the shared Workbook.

May I know if the scenario above is consistent with yours? If so, we’re afraid that there is no out of box way to achieve that in SharePoint Online. However, for a workaround, we’d suggest you share the workbook with others with only read permission. Then the other people can download the file to the load and they can filter and sort the data in the local and this will not affect the using of the others.

You can go to SharePoint Online > select the file > click Share > select Anyone with the link or People in the Contoso with the link .etc. > unselect the check box of the Allow Editing, as shown below:

We understand the situation and you make a great point. To address your concern about the situation, we’d suggest you go to SharePoint UserVoice to provide your feedback. This is the best platform to let us hear from you and make our products and services better for you and others.

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Sukie

Answer 2

Thank you for your replay.

Unfortuntalley this isn't the best solution. I not only need to filter the data out but also add or modify the sheet. I tried downloading a copy and working on it, but then I realized I must do changes that need to be added to the main file as well so it's a pointless and confusing work.

However, at some times it is possible that one of us could use the offline copy, so we can put it in our workflow. Too bad it's not always possible with every action. For example:

I have a source-data file where I need to update rows and columns (global modification), sometimes add or modify sheets. At the same time the other person needs to filter out the other part of the data and then put the output to the output file. Then once in a while I need to use this output file to upload the data to the different document that is imported into the online service. However, for that I also need to filter out, sort the data because at given times I need only certain parts of the document while the other person adds something different to that input file.

Changing the data is not a problem itself because we are usually working on different part of the document, but the issue are filters and sorting that we must apply. It disturbs the view for the other person who needs the other set of filters and sorting.

So the workflow is somewhat complicated and we both want to read and modify the same document at the same time. It all would be possible if there was a way to not sync filters and sorting, which would make them kind of offline (not shareable) part of the work.

At least I got the answer that this isn't really possible which is something. I was frustrated that I miss something obvious that everybody knows but nobody is talking about. Now I know I have to plan our work accordingly, although that slows us down.

I'll add my feedback and the idea to the Sharepoint User Voice and hopefully in the future this option will be added.

I'm just suprised that this wasn't obvious from the start. Sharing office documents exists for so many years now (google documents, MS office online, some other, similar programs) so I expected to have solutions to this kind of share work problems. Now I know we are not there yet and thanks to you I can add a feedback that hopefully will produce something positive in the future.

Thank you again.

Answer 3

Hi Michal,

Thank you for providing feedback to the UserVoice I provided.

I have read your requirements carefully, we understand that you want to disable filtering and sorting from the shared Workbook and several people edit this file together. However, it may not be achieved. Because this is real-time co-authoring. When the several people edit the same file together, the all of those people will see the changes in the same file. For more details, you can refer to this article: Document collaboration and co-authoring.

I do understand the inconvenience it has made and apologize for it. We are sorry as it cannot fully meet your requirement. As you have provided the feedback, we’d suggest you keep close eyes there for the latest updates of the feedback. If our product developers have some updates on the feedback, they will post the updated information there directly.

We appreciate your understanding!

Best Regards,

Sukie