If you’ve been using Microsoft Excel to collaborate with others on a workbook, you may find yourself needing to unshare the workbook at some point.
Unsharing a workbook can be a bit tricky to do, but don’t worry! We have a simple, step-by-step guide to help you unshare your Excel workbook with ease.
In this article, we’ll discuss why you might want to unshare an Excel workbook, what you need to get started, and how to easily unshare your workbook.
Ready to get started? Let’s go!
Table of Contents
Short Answer
To unshare a Microsoft Excel workbook, open the workbook and select the “Review” tab.
Then select the “Share Workbook” option in the “Changes” group.
Uncheck the “Allow changes by more than one user at the same time” box and click on the “OK” button.
This will unshare the workbook and prevent other users from editing it.
You can also unshare a workbook by saving it as a different file type, such as .xlsx.
Why You Might Want to Unshare an Excel Workbook
Sometimes you may need to unshare a Microsoft Excel workbook in order to protect the data or keep it from being edited by other users.
For example, you may have been collaborating with a group and now want to ensure that everyone is working off the same version of the workbook.
Unsharing the workbook ensures that only you can make any changes to it.
You may also need to unshare a workbook if you have accidentally shared it with the wrong people, or if you no longer need the collaboration features of the workbook.
In any case, unsharing a workbook is a quick and easy process that can help keep your data secure.
What You Need Before You Start
Before you start the process of unsharing a Microsoft Excel workbook, there are a few things you’ll need to have in place.
First, you’ll need a computer with Microsoft Excel installed.
You’ll also need the relevant workbook to be open in the program.
Additionally, it’s important to ensure that all changes have been saved and everyone involved in the collaboration has been notified that the workbook will no longer be shared.
This will help to avoid any confusion or frustration when the changes take effect.
Finally, you should also make sure that any formulas or macros that are being used in the workbook have been tested thoroughly and are working correctly.
By doing this, you’ll be sure that any unintended consequences are avoided.
Step 1
The first step in unsharing a Microsoft Excel workbook is to open the workbook.
This can be done by opening the workbook file in the Windows File Explorer or by opening the Excel application and selecting the workbook from the list of recently opened files.
Once the workbook is open, the user can navigate to the Review tab at the top of the window.
On the Review tab, the user should select the Share Workbook option.
This will open a dialog box with a variety of sharing options.
The user should then uncheck the Allow changes by more than one user at the same time option.
This will remove the sharing capabilities of the workbook.
Finally, the user should click OK to save the changes and unshare the workbook.
Step 2
The second step in unsharing a Microsoft Excel workbook is to navigate to the Review tab and select the Share Workbook option.
This option can be found on the ribbon bar at the top of the Excel window.
Once selected, a dialog box will appear on the screen with a variety of sharing options.
Uncheck the Allow changes by more than one user at the same time option.
This will remove the sharing capabilities of the workbook and any changes made will be saved locally to the users machine.
After unchecking this option, click OK to save the changes and the workbook will be unshared.
Step 3
The third step in unsharing a Microsoft Excel workbook is to navigate to the Review tab and select the Share Workbook option.
This will open a dialog box with various sharing options.
The most important one is the Allow changes by more than one user at the same time option.
Unchecking this box will disable the ability to make changes to the workbook by other users.
It will also remove the collaborative features, such as the ability to track changes or chat with other collaborators.
Once this option is unchecked, click OK to save the changes and unshare the workbook.
When this process is complete, the workbook will be unshared and no longer available for others to edit.
However, keep in mind that unsharing the workbook will not delete any of the changes that have been made it will only prevent further changes from being made.
This means that all of the work that has been done on the workbook will still be there, just not able to be changed or edited by anyone else.
Step 4
The fourth and final step in unsharing a Microsoft Excel workbook is to save the changes and unshare the workbook.
To do this, simply click the OK button at the bottom of the dialog box.
This will save the changes you have made and remove the sharing capabilities of the workbook.
It is important to note that this does not remove any of the data or formatting from the workbook, it simply removes the ability to collaborate on the workbook with other users.
Once the changes are saved, the workbook is no longer shared and can no longer be edited by other users.
Step 5
The final step to unshare a Microsoft Excel workbook is to click the “OK” button to save the changes and unshare the workbook.
By doing this, the workbook will no longer be shared with others and all changes made by other users will no longer be reflected in the workbook.
This is an important step, as it ensures that the document is not accessible to anyone else and that all changes made by other users are no longer visible.
Once you have clicked the “OK” button, the workbook will be unshared and the sharing options will be removed.
Final Thoughts
Unsharing a Microsoft Excel Workbook is a straightforward process that takes only a few steps.
With this guide, you now know how to unshare a workbook and protect the data stored within it.
So the next time you need to unshare a workbook, you’ll be ready to take action.