Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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.

Turning Off Sharing

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 22, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


3

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:

  1. Display the Review tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the Share Workbook tool, in the Changes group. Excel displays the Share Workbook dialog box.
  3. Clear the Allow Changes check box.
  4. Click on OK.

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 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Turning Off Sharing.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing Page Margins

Part of determining page layout is to specify the size of the margins that surround the text on a page. Word allows you ...

Discover More

Saving Information in a Text File

The VBA programming language provide with Excel allows you to create and modify text files quite easily. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Placing WordArt Over Graphics

WordArt is a program that allows you to insert fancily formatted text, as a graphic, in your document. If you want your ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Needing to Save a Workbook Twice

If you save a workbook and then immediately close the workbook, Excel may ask you to save again. This tip looks at ...

Discover More

Problems with Default Workbook and Worksheet Templates

You can create a default template for both your workbooks and worksheets. These should be placed in the XLSTART folder, ...

Discover More

Worksheet Deletions Don't Reduce Workbook File Size

When you delete items from a workbook, it is natural to think that the workbook's file size should decrease. This may not ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 7?

2021-02-24 11:52:12

Protoss

Thank you Allen, saved the day for a co-worker


2020-08-26 03:29:57

Richard Curtis

Who is allowed to turn off sharing? Is it only the creator or can anyone do it?


2020-08-11 22:07:25

Peter

very helpful, thanks


This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.