Working with multiple users in Excel at the same time
By Dennis Spoelder · published 31 July 2026
Where collaboration in Excel works, and where it reaches its limits
Several people working in Excel at the same time — multi-user, co-authoring or a shared workbook — really does work these days. When an ordinary Excel file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint Online, several people can edit it at once: you can see where colleagues are working, and changes are merged automatically. You no longer have to take turns.
Sorting and filtering need not get in anyone's way either. A Sheet View lets you sort or filter for yourself alone, while your colleagues keep their own view. That is exactly where sharing a file used to cause problems.
Whether a file is enough does not depend on how big it is, but on what it has to enforce: access rights managed in one place, data validation you can rely on, and simultaneous changes that are controlled. Where that is needed, a shared file runs into the limits below - which is why business-critical applications usually keep their data in a database rather than in a file:
"Upload Failed" or "Upload Blocked": your changes could not be merged
Excel uses both messages for the same problem, which can arise when people collaborate in a file. It does not appear on every edit; it can appear when two people change the same cell at once, or when someone has been working offline for a while:
- "Upload Failed" or "Upload Blocked." Your work is still there, but the file on the server has been updated without you in the meantime. At that point there are two versions.
- If merging does not work, saving a copy is often the way out. That can leave you with several files and no clear indication of which version is correct.
- You can also edit a workbook containing macros in the browser, but the macros do not run there. Co-authoring works with .xlsx, .xlsm and .xlsb, so the file format is not the limit. Excel for the web opens and edits a workbook that contains macros, and the macros stay in it - but they do not run there, and they cannot be edited there. And the browser is exactly where simultaneous editing runs most smoothly. An application with buttons and forms therefore belongs on the desktop.
- One person using an outdated version of Excel can lock the file for everyone. If someone opens the workbook in a version that does not support co-authoring, other users receive a message saying the file is locked. The same goes for the Strict Open XML format, which co-authoring does not support.
- If your SharePoint runs on-premises, simultaneous editing does not work. It requires OneDrive or SharePoint Online.
- Permissions apply per file, not per row. You give someone access to the whole workbook or to nothing. You cannot restrict users to viewing or changing only their own department's data, and sheet protection does not solve this: it guards against mistakes, not unauthorised access.
- A validation rule in a workbook applies only within that workbook. A VBA BeforeSave check can prevent Excel from saving when a required field is empty. This is routine work, and we build these checks for clients. But the rule lives in that one workbook and only works while its macros run - not in Excel for the web, not when macros are disabled, and not for anyone who changes the data with another program. A database applies the rule to the data itself, so it applies to everyone, regardless of which file or program they use to access the data.
Three routes, and how they differ
There are several ways for multiple users to work in Excel: three separate routes, and which one fits depends on what the file does — not, in the first place, on how many people use it.
1. A shared workbook, or co-authoring
Excel handles it itself, through OneDrive or SharePoint Online. That works well for a list, a schedule or an overview several people update at the same time - with Sheet Views each can keep their own sorting and filtering too. The limits above apply to this approach: the data is stored in the file, so changes made by two people to the same cell have to be merged, and permissions apply to the whole file rather than individual rows.
2. Excel connected to a database
You still work in Excel, but the data is stored in a central database. There are no separate workbook versions to merge, because the central database holds the shared data. This approach supports the largest scale: in the resource planning case, 7,500 people worldwide work in the same system this way. The trade-off is that you get an application rather than a file, with the administration, access rights and maintenance that come with it.
3. A custom web application
Users work without Excel. That is the route as soon as people need to work on a phone or tablet, or without an Office licence. You do lose some of Excel's flexibility: making your own quick calculations, adding a column or exporting data in the familiar way. See custom web applications.
Back to topWhat we do
We build routes 2 and 3. On route 2 you work in Excel on your own computer; the difference is that your data no longer lives only in the file, but on a central server. Depending on your situation, you work entirely from that server, or your Excel file keeps its own working copy that's synchronised with the server.
Edits no longer conflict after they have been made: the server allows one edit per record at a time. If you want to change something a colleague is already working on, you see straight away who that is — no error message afterwards, but clarity beforehand. Users with read access can still view the data while someone else is editing it. And you decide who can see and change what.
The central server is the shared source of your data. Any working copy in Excel is synchronised with it, so you do not have to merge separate file versions yourself.
Back to topDoes this sound familiar in your organisation?
Briefly describe what you're dealing with, and we'll recommend the most suitable approach.