[Excel] Maintain User's Singular View for Filtered Data on app and not just OWA?

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm contacting you to work on an issue I've been having with some of my managed clients. They use a massive project management/estimating sheet with detailed logs for each of the projects they manage and this information gets updated consistently. They told me they would like that whenever a filter is used, that they can see only their sorting/filtering like they can on OWA, sort of like this pop-up notification they get when accessing the file on OWA:

However, the application version does not have this ability from what I can find, so whoever makes a filter change for their data changes it for the entire people who are viewing the spreadsheet, which can throw off data entries for those who might not catch the filter changes. They cannot rely on the OWA version either as it doesn't have support for Macros compared to the App version which is a major part of their spreadsheet either.

Does anybody have any means to tell me if I'm missing something here for the app or is this an OWA-exclusive feature. Searching online brings inconclusive results so I'm hoping I can find some help here. Thanks!

Answer 1

Dear @Caleb,

According to my research, even though Sheet View is designed to allow users to filter and sort data independently in shared Excel workbooks, the feature is still buggy and inconsistent in the desktop app, especially when multiple users are collaborating simultaneously.

• Sheet View works best in Excel for the Web (OWA), where users are prompted with options like “See just mine” or “See everyone’s.” In the Excel desktop app, while Sheet View is technically supported, it does not consistently isolate filters per user. This means that even if users create their own views, filter changes may still affect others, especially in real-time collaboration scenarios.

This behavior is by design in the desktop version and is a known limitation. Microsoft has not yet fully aligned the Sheet View experience across platforms, and macro support (which is not available in Excel Online).

Current Workaround

I recommend you Continue using named Sheet Views to minimize disruption but be aware that they may not fully isolate filters.

In the meantime, I completely agree, being able to filter and sort data independently in a shared Excel workbook is a valuable and practical feature, especially for teams managing complex and frequently updated project data. Therefore, I highly recommend submitting your feedback directly to Microsoft Ideas · Community, where our product development team can know your requirements and ideas for product improvements. If enough users raise ticket for the same idea, Microsoft may consider adding this feature in the future. 

Note: As Microsoft Community moderators, please note that we are not involved in product design decisions and do not have direct access to the development roadmap, we want to assure you that your feedback has been acknowledged and is valued.  

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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Answer 2

Dear @Caleb,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

According to my research, the Excel team has provided a new solution called "Sheet View".  

Currently, this feature is available in Excel Online and Excel 365 for Windows and Mac, but only when the workbook is stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams. It is fine for everyone to access the workbook on the PC, but it has to be saved in the cloud. 

However, there is a pretty bad bug in Sheet View if you have a team of people working in Desktop Excel.  

• Everything is fine when the first person creates a Sheet View.  
• But when the second person creates a Sheet View, the default view changes for everyone.  

Microsoft's solution to this bug: If your team is all using Windows versions of Excel and people want to use Sheet View, then everyone needs to create a Sheet View and use it. 

Here are some steps I recommend you look through:

Step 1: Sync your file to OneDrive or Sharepoint 

Step 2: Before you create a view for user, create an unfiltered view called All or Everyone or Default. 

Step 3: Go to View tab 

Step 4: To create a new Sheet View, click New. 

Step 5: The new view is initially called Temporary View.

Apply any formatting or sorting. In the image below, Andy has filtered to his records and sorted the projects high-to-low. 

If you want to be able to return to this view in the future, you can either click the Keep icon or simply type a new name such as Andy Descending. 

Notice that the Row and Column labels are now black. This is to alert you that you are seeing a Sheet View. 

Step 6: When Betty opens the workbook, she can filter to Betty and sort ascending. She might name her view as BettyAscending. 

Note: If Andy edits cell C2 in his view and changes the value to $100,000 

When anyone goes back to the Default view of the workbook, the original sort order is retained. But - the new value for Andy's project A008 is auto updated.  

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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