Excel for desktop via ms 365 co-authoring not working

Question

I have an Excel workbook solution that relies on real-time coauthoring. The setup is such that:

• a set of workbooks is placed on Sharepoint map of the client organization,
• the map is then shared with all users in the organization
• users have at least valid Microsoft 365 basic licence
• each user adds shortcut to OneDrive for the shared map
• each user sets up OneDrive for desktop on their Windows computer
• and then they use the workbooks simultaneously
• (actually they also use additional workbooks that have macros that update shared workbook, but each one has their own individual workbook with macros).

now, this solution works perfectly for one client. I used same "framework" for another client and there we are losing the co-authoring feature constantly. We tried to figure out is it the licences, how users are set up, permissions etc... but none of this seems to be "out of order". I would like to exclude that something went very wrong with some OneDrive metadata that we cannot access and "refresh". Or maybe OneDrive actually behaves differently and has some issue in different server zones (like one Client is probably in some zone in Ireland, and the other one is probably in some zone in Hungary or so...). Here are some "breadcrumbs":

• if we create blank simple macros free etc. Excel workbook, open it by 2 users, we can see each other inside Excel desktop (co-authoring works). 2 minutes later when we both close the workbook, and re-open it - co-authoring no longer works (no-one else opened the workbook in the meantime) - basically you cannot work simultaneously on an open Excel file like that - you get error it couldn't upload changes.
• it happened on several occasions that I got error that changes could not be uploaded to server (Sharepoint site via OneDrive for desktop, yellow message bar in Excel), then I would select option to "save as" under a different name, Excel opened the Sharepoint server URL address of the shared map in the Save As dialog box and I could see all the content on the map, yet saving the new file there was not successful as if I was missing permissions or something. Yet, my user account can and does create and update Excel files via same desktop computer in same folder via same OneDrive for Desktop
• there is one known Excel file for which, when opened online, Excel UI shows that it is opened by one another user, yet that user certainly does not have it opened (on no machine or device) (and btw I cannot figure out how to resolve that, I had to change the file name so that we can do updates of that file with new version due to synchronization issues around it)
• from my computer through which I work for both of these clients, everything works for this first client I mentioned - same Excel for Desktop, same OneDrive for desktop installation (different OneDrive/MS accounts setup of course)
• at the beginning, I actually had a user within client's organization which didn't have ms office 365 licence, and I could only "synchronize" shared folder - I couldn't add it to OneDrive. I though that was the issue, so I tested with adding permission to a my user account from my own organization - but the resulting issues stayed the same.

I'm ruling out Internet speed or licencing issues on my computer because I'm using that same configuration to work with this other client where everything works.

I think the underlined breadcrumb is the most valuable to figure this out.

Does anyone have any clue what could be wrong and how to fix it? I tried all tricks and instructions I could find so far...
many thanks

Answer 1

Thank you Ralph, I'll contact them. I'll post solution if it gets found...

Answer 2

Dear damir.konjevod,

Good day! hope you are doing well.

After analyzing the information, you have provided and conducting further investigations from our end, we have concluded that this issue requires more resources and expertise than our forum team currently possesses. Therefore, I recommend that you create a support ticket with Microsoft Support directly by following steps from this link: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

If you are not an admin, you can contact your admin to contact Microsoft support. You can look for the way to find your admin through this link: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

Please accept my sincere apologies for not being able to resolve the problem and for redirecting you to the related development team. I regret any inconvenience this may cause. The fix to your concern can be identified through the background logs, and I suggest you raise a support ticket from the Office 365 admin center, where the related team will investigate the problem further by collecting the necessary background logs.

Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderator