Teams File Share

[Chris_X]

Hi

I'm looking to use Teams File share so about 30 people can use it to make updates to a shared excel document...

W are currently using excel on SharePoint and we have had a number of issues with people overwriting other peoples changes....

Im wondering if Teams somehow stops this from happening? What happens if more than 1 person has the excel document open and both save it... does someones work get overwritten?

I'm wondering if the Teams solution is a good way to stop this happening or if there still may be issues.

Thanks!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Teams has no mechanisms for storing and editing documents itself. This is also SharePoint behind the scenes. So it won’t differ if you already use SharePoint Online today. Question is about if you use check out required for example?
By default it auto saves continuously and several can work in a doc at the same time but never using the same cells and so on. And there are of course version history in case something goes wrong

[#3]

@adam deltinger thanks for response

"Teams has no mechanisms for storing and editing documents itself. This is also SharePoint behind the scenes." - ah i did not know that! thanks..

"So it won’t differ if you already use SharePoint Online today. Question is about if you use check out required for example?" - yes we use SP Online. yes we make sure we check out the document, however with 30 users mistakes happen...

a) sometimes people dont follow process and download the xls to local, make their changes and re-upload over the top of another version.

b) Also sometimes we think we have issues with checking out using different browsers (I.E. and Chrome), though we haven't proven that yet.

"By default it auto saves continuously and several can work in a doc at the same time but never using the same cells and so on." So, doesnt this differ to SP Online? are people able to checkout the same document and work on it at the same time? IF im wrong on this, then this could be a key part of our problem.

The way our xls works is people take the next available ID for something that is then used in code across different teams. So, i may 'claim' ID123 in row 21, and no-one else should be able to claim that ID. In theory, i check in the document after 5 mins, someone else comes along a few hours later, sees ive got ID123 and enters ID124 in row 22.

"And there are of course version history in case something goes wrong" - as above, SP Online is useful to see where the version history starts, meaning people have uploaded their own copy from local, but by this time the damage is done.

[#4]

First off, I’d make sure to teach people not to download the file and reupload! This will either create copies both offline and in SP or overwrite the file that exists, which also then will delete all changes that happened since the download!
By not doing this and just check out the file, this should help with most problems. By default team site libraries in SP don’t have checkout required enabled. You could try use the files without checking them out ( co-authoring). Although my experience with excel co-authoring is not that great, especially with many people involved.

[#5]

@adam deltinger 

Thanks again adam.

"First off, I’d make sure to teach people not to download the file and reupload! This will either create copies both offline and in SP or overwrite the file that exists, which also then will delete all changes that happened since the download!" - Yep, easy you'd think right! Unfortunately this has happened still on more than 1 occasion.Hence im trying to find a 'foolproof' way to protect the xls.

"By default team site libraries in SP don’t have checkout required enabled. You could try use the files without checking them out ( co-authoring). Although my experience with excel co-authoring is not that great, especially with many people involved." Yes its a tricky one with so many people involved.  Is there a way to enforce check out? I could password protect it i guess (which adds security, but also adds faff) assuming SP Ol allows that.

'Co-authoring' does that simply mean making changes to the document without checking it out? 

[#6]

@adam deltinger 

Thanks for your help. If you had more thoughts on my last post that would be great. :)

I had an email saying "A reply to a topic you are following has been accepted as a solution!" - however i didnt mark it as such.

Also any thoughts on this from anyone else also weclomed.