Microsoft Excel 2010 : Collaborating with Colleagues - Tracking and Managing Colleagues’ Changes

Whenever you collaborate with your colleagues to produce or edit a document, you should consider tracking the changes each user makes. When you turn on change tracking, any changes made to the workbook are highlighted in a color assigned to the user who made the changes. One benefit of tracking changes is that if you have a question about a change, you can quickly identify who made the change and verify that it is correct. In Excel, you can turn on change tracking in a workbook by clicking the Review tab and then, in the Changes group, clicking Track Changes and then Highlight Changes.

In the Highlight Changes dialog box that opens, select the Track Changes While Editing check box. Selecting this check box saves your workbook, turns on change tracking, and also shares your workbook, enabling more than one user to access the workbook simultaneously.

You can use the commands in the Highlight Changes dialog box to choose which changes to track. Clearing the When, Who, and Where check boxes makes Excel track all changes, whereas selecting a check box and using the commands to specify a time frame, users, or areas of the workbook limits which changes are highlighted. Each user’s changes are displayed in a unique color. When you point to a cell that contains a change, the date and time when the change was made and the name of the user who made it appear as a ScreenTip.

After you and your colleagues finish modifying a workbook, anyone with permission to open the workbook can decide which changes to accept and which changes to reject. To start the process, click the Review tab. In the Changes group, click Track Changes, and then click Accept Or Reject Changes. After you clear the message box that indicates Excel will save your workbook, the Select Changes To Accept Or Reject dialog box opens. From the When list, you can choose which changes to review. The default choice is Not Yet Reviewed, but you can also click Since Date to open a dialog box in which you can enter the starting date of changes you want to review. To review all changes in your workbook, clear the When, Who, and Where check boxes.

When you are ready to accept or reject changes, click OK. The Accept Or Reject Changes dialog box opens and displays the first change, which is described in the body of the dialog box. Clicking the Accept button finalizes the change; clicking the Reject button removes the change, restores the cell to its previous value, and erases any record of the change. Clicking Accept All or Reject All finalizes all changes or restores all cells to their original values, but you should choose one of those options only if you are absolutely certain you are doing the right thing.

You can create an itemized record of all changes made since the last time you saved the workbook by adding a History worksheet to your workbook. To add a History worksheet, click Track Changes in the Changes group, and then click Highlight Changes to open the Highlight Changes dialog box. Select the List Changes On A New Sheet check box. When you click OK, a new worksheet named History opens in your workbook. Excel will delete the History worksheet the next time you save your workbook.

In this exercise, you’ll turn on change tracking in a workbook, make changes to the workbook, accept the changes, and create a History worksheet.