Log changes to Excel file

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MJU - 27 Oct 2007 23:25 GMT

Is there any way to keep a track of changes made to an Excel file?
I need to make a file that is open for changes to several people.
But, I need to keep track of who changes what when.

My ideal is to have a kind of logfile that keeps track of the user,
the time he edits what, and even if he saves the changes.
Is this possible?

Thanks

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Gord Dibben - 28 Oct 2007 00:30 GMT

If you share the workbook you can track changes.

From help on track changes

"History worksheet Excel can display a separate worksheet that provides full
details in list form, so that you can filter to find changes of interest and
print the information. This History worksheet (History worksheet: A separate
worksheet that lists changes being tracked in a shared workbook, including the
name of the person who made the change, when and where it was made, what data
was deleted or replaced, and how conflicts were resolved.) is useful when a
workbook has lots of changes, or you want to investigate what happened in a
series of changes."

See help for more on shared workbooks and track changes.

Note the loss of some features and functionality with shared workbooks.

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

>Is there any way to keep a track of changes made to an Excel file?
>I need to make a file that is open for changes to several people.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
>Thanks

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SysMod - 28 Oct 2007 10:14 GMT

Shared workbooks tend to bloat, and other problems have been reported.
If it is turned off, the history is lost.
There are a number of commercial and free change logging tools.
The top of the range are enterprise compliance tools like Compassoft,
Prodiance, ClusterSeven, etc.

Middle of the road is ComplyXL from http://www.lyquidity.com

I cannot now remember a free tool for this, perhaps if you posted a
request to the group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eusprig
someone will come back with it
Derek Wimmer posted a long comment on the weaknesses of Excel change
tracking to that forum on 12 Aug 2005.

A quick google finds :
http://www.ozgrid.com/VBA/track-changes.htm

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MJU - 29 Oct 2007 18:14 GMT

Okay thanks..
Will look into it, but extra software is no option.
The computers @ my work don't allow extra software!

Thanks!

>Is there any way to keep a track of changes made to an Excel file?
>I need to make a file that is open for changes to several people.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
>Thanks

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