Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Turning Off Sharing.
At some point you may want to turn off workbook sharing in Excel. For instance, when the end of the development period for the workbook has been reached, you will want to turn off sharing and come up with your final version of the workbook.
You can turn off sharing by following these steps:
When you turn off sharing and click on the OK button, Excel displays a warning that what you are doing may have consequences for other users. Provided there are no other users accessing the workbook, you should go ahead and click on Yes. If there are other users (shown back in the Share Workbook dialog box), you may want to ask them to save their changes and close the workbook before proceeding.
If you are using later versions of Excel, such as Excel 2019 or Excel in Office 365, you will notice that the buttons related to the Shared Workbook feature no longer exist. Microsoft has introduced the concept of Co-Authoring instead. The following Microsoft Office support article explains how you can still use the Shared Workbook feature with newer versions of Word:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/what-happened-to-shared-workbooks-150fc205-990a-4763-82f1-6c259303fe05
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8487) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Turning Off Sharing.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
Having trouble saving a workbook? It could have to do with the age, size, and complexity of that workbook. This tip ...
Discover MoreIf you need to change the same data in a large number of workbooks, the task can be daunting. Here are some ideas (and ...
Discover MoreExcel has the capability to automatically open workbooks when you first start the program. You may not want to have one ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-03-10 23:59:38
cin
this page almost helped, except that there is no 'share workbook' in the ribbon.
this is the page that helped. if anyone else needs to merge formatting and can't because of legacy sharing.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/what-happened-to-shared-workbooks-150fc205-990a-4763-82f1-6c259303fe05
2018-10-03 19:49:31
Bob
Doesn't work anymore in Office 365 as there is no "Changes Group" or Share Workbook tool. (Excel 2018 OSX)
Still trying to find a solution to unshare this old workbook.
2017-11-09 05:55:42
Luke
This was a lifesaver. Thank you! Weird that they'd hide such a game-changing option in such a reclusive spot. Was working on a huge generated EXCEL file and it defaulted to a shared state, excel functions I needed were greyed out. This fixed that! Thank you, again.
2015-11-09 01:26:52
Velunce
Thanks
2015-08-13 02:21:51
Jacki
Great tip - thanks for the advice.
2015-04-11 11:16:01
Nigel
It is probably worth mentioning that you must be the owner of the document (e.g. I had work document I was working on at home, it took me moment to realise that I could only turn off sharing if I opened the document on the work network using my work credentials).
2014-12-09 07:30:24
Gourab
Thanks.
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
Comments