What is the best way to share a spreadsheet (with team members able to edit it)?

Community
21

[ot]

We didn’t lose it. :slight_smile: Sometimes posts go into the auto-moderation queue and have to wait to be approved by a moderator. We get to them as quickly as possible, so if this happens, please be patient.

I’ve now deleted your previous post, as it was virtually a duplicate of this one.[/ot]

22

Gotcha - thanx :slight_smile:

23

I don’t know of any and I already my Google search so, to be honest, I don’t know what to suggest.

24

Google Drive works for me… why will I pay for a software when I can share files without shedding a penny… :slight_smile:

25

He doesn’t want to use Google :slight_smile:

26

Not entirely correct.

He doesn’t want to use Google Drive but has no problem with using other Google services and no problem benefiting from others that use Google.

27

OP makes reference to costs but Share point is an option. It doesn’t seem to have many fans these days but it is still an option. Sky Drive which is now being called something else, I don’t recall atm, might work but overall if you are moving data in space you are going to have the “Google” issue. I suppose that the overall beauty of Share Point is the aspect of a secure environment.

28

UDATE:

  1. One of our group is banned by his office from have a Google account so Google Docs is out.
  2. We can all now use ms Office spreadsheets.
  3. We have been experimenting with DropBox. It looks great but the serious problem is that it does not do ANY file locking. So for example if you are editing a spreadsheet for a few hours. If someone else in the team wants to have a quick look, when using DB they cant tell that someone else is editing the file. This makes it very easy for someone to over-write someone else’s work (DISASTER!). DrobBox will try to create new ‘there was a conflict’ files but that is still dangerous.

Remember that if our users were to do this when sharing a LAN (local area network) drive (e.g. via using a VPN) Windows would give the second user to open a file “Read Only” access. This would be MUCH preferable.

Does anyone know if other “file hosting services” allow record locking when a user has a file open ?

J (OP)

29

Hi,

That’s reasonable. Not.

I always thought that it was the program in question which responsible for creating it’s own lockfile. Are you saying that this is not the case?

30

Did you look into SkyDrive, as coloradojaguar suggested?

31

Do all the records in the spreadsheet have the same format? If you need row locking it almost sounds like a database solution could work or do people need to edit the records offline also?

32

drop box and skype
<snip />

33

Have you tried SmartSheet?
It is an online spreadsheet for project management, interactive Gantt, file sharing and it has integration with Google Apps.

34

I am using Google Docs. It is easy to use.

35

Thanks for sharing that, but if you had bothered to read the thread you would have noticed that in post#28 the OP said:

One of our group is banned by his office from have a Google account so Google Docs is out.

Anyone else posting “I use this” or “I use that” without bothering to read the discussion runs the risk of getting fluffed.

Please read “Fluff” posting - what is it and how do we deal with it?

36

SmartSheet costs $168 per year. This is absolutely out of the question - far, far, FAR too expensive for the level of use we are planning.

37

Yes, for a small company of 10 that could be an unreasonable business expense. Maybe you missed this from a couple months ago?

38

I currently use Google Docs but like most of the people here I’ve already heard about the suspicions and dangers of using it. Might as well use Smartsheet but if you’re a large company it’s better to design a platform yourself.

39

Please read post#36

40

how about you guys use team viewer? The one who has the main spreadsheet will be the one inviting the other members. The other members would be able to see your screen. Also, they can control your desktop as well. So, if they want to point to something or type in or whatever, they can just do so.

You should try it. It’s free…