Somewhere in your organisation there is a file called
Budget_FINAL_v7_JMcopy_USE-THIS-ONE.xlsx, and everyone pretends
that’s normal. The email-an-attachment workflow produces exactly
this: five diverging copies, a reply-all asking which is current,
and one person merging changes by eye on a Friday evening.
Microsoft’s answer is that a workbook should live in one place (OneDrive or SharePoint) and everyone should visit it — in the browser or in desktop Excel, at the same time, watching each other’s cursors. This works, genuinely and rather magically. But browser Excel is not desktop Excel, and pretending otherwise is how sharing breaks. Here’s the honest map.
What the web version does brilliantly
Co-authoring is the headline. Two, five, ten people in one workbook simultaneously — each cursor a named, coloured box, every change appearing live for everyone. The version-seven problem doesn’t get solved so much as deleted: there is only one file. It works browser-to-browser, desktop-to-desktop (with AutoSave on) and mixed.
The calculation engine is the real one. Formulas behave identically — XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, dynamic arrays spilling, even LET and LAMBDA. Tables, PivotTables, charts, conditional formatting, slicers: all there. A workbook built on the fundamentals travels to the browser intact.
Comments beat email. Right-click → New Comment, @mention a
colleague, and they get a notification linking to that cell.
“See my email re: cell F14” retires. Threaded, resolvable, and
attached to the thing being discussed.
Version history replaces v1 through v7. File → Info → Version
History: the file quietly keeps its own past, restorable to any
point. Made braver by it: everyone. Fear of “what if someone
wrecks it” is mostly fear of not having this.
What it can’t do (and what to do instead)
The honest list, current as of writing:
| Missing on the web | The workaround |
|---|---|
| VBA macros — won’t run at all | Office Scripts (the web-native automation) or keep those workbooks desktop-only |
| Power Query authoring — refresh mostly limited, can’t build queries | Author and refresh in desktop; everyone else reads the output in the browser |
| Power Pivot / the data model | Desktop remains the modelling tool |
| Some paste behaviours, external links, add-ins | Test your specific workbook before relying on it |
The pattern: the web is a superb place to use a workbook and a limited place to build its plumbing. Which suggests the sensible split — build in desktop, share for the browser, and keep the heavy machinery (queries, macros) in files that don’t need co-authoring.
Sharing without regretting it
The Share button works; the habits make it safe.
- Share the minimum. Can view unless editing is the point; “Anyone with the link” only when you truly mean anyone. For outsiders, consider exporting a PDF or a values-only copy — a shared workbook exposes its formulas, its hidden sheets, and its other tabs.
- Protect the structure, not the people.
Review → Protect Sheet(unlock just the input cells first) turns “please only type in the yellow cells” from a plea into a property of the file. Pair with data validation on the inputs, and shared editing stops being frightening. (This is honesty-by-architecture, not security — sheet protection deters accidents, not attackers.) - Separate the workshop from the shop floor. The shared file is the dashboard and inputs; the query-laden, macro-bearing engine room stays yours. Where ten people need ten views of live data rather than editing rights, that’s the doorstep of Power BI.
The quiet takeaway
Notice what the browser version rewards: workbooks built on Tables, real formulas, and visible structure — everything the path teaches — travel perfectly. Workbooks held together by macros, mystery links and folklore don’t. The web didn’t change what a good spreadsheet is; it just started grading.
One file, living in one place, visited by everyone. Version seven was never a filename — it was a symptom. Treat the cause.