Track changes in a Excel file which is stored in Teams

[Jonas_JonesB]

Hi all,

I have the following task:

We have an excel file in MS Teams. We want to work together on that and want to be able to track exactly who has changed something in which cell. Is there a possibility in MS Teams to do that? The change history of the file in MS SharePoint is not sufficient in this particular case.

Many thanks in advance for all your answers and best wishes

Jonas

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jonas_JonesB ,

All files that you see in Teams are stored in SharePoint, you are just seeing a view of a folder within the underlying SharePoint site.  

If the functionality in SharePoint is not sufficient I am afraid that is all that is available. 

Andy Hodges | ThinkShare | www.thinkshare.uk

[#3]

Microsoft used to have the feature to Track Changes in Excel, but they deprecated it. You can still add it back to the Ribbon by going to Excel options, but this may limit how it can be shared (e.g. you might not be able to share it via OneDrive anymore).

This is a useful feature, so naturally Microsoft has removed it only to re-announce that it's a "new" feature landing soon in Excel. This new feature does the exact same thing as the old feature, so let's hope it stays around... it should roll out to all tenants over the next several months.

See more here: https://insider.office.com/en-us/blog/collaborate-with-confidence-with-show-changes-in-excel-web

[#4]

I was using an excel file today via teams and co-authoring and I was asked if I wanted to see the changes made. So this is in our tenant and may be in yours now or soon.

[#5]

I have found a perfect solution right now.
We need to use Microsoft Edge for that. We regularly paste links for meetings and attendance on Excel Sheets. We work in school and sometime someone deletes the link by mistake on the sheet or misplaces the data somewhere. We were worried about w(ho was doing that and needed to track the person.
First of, open your Teams in Microsoft Edge. Open your excel sheet in that. One the right top corner, there are three dots (Ellipses) click on them. This will show you an Excel Icon that says "Open in Browser". You click on that. a new but similar sheet will open up. The Theme of this sheet will now be Green color. If you look at the left side, just below your search bar, it will say the name of your file and in front of it will be the word "saved" and a tiny arrow pointing downwards. When you click on that tiny arrow it will be a small drop down menu, that also say "Version History" and the Bobs your uncle. On the right side the browser will show all of the changes and modifications with names, date, time and type. I hope it solves your problem.

[#6]

@Fiza_Hayat An even easier option though to see Version History as you suggest, is to simply click File > Info > Version History - there is no longer a need to 'View in Browser' when a file is open in Teams.

Hope this helps.

[#7]

simply click in excel (stored and accessing through TEAMS) on
review --> show changes

[#8]

If you get a link of that file, then you can use my app (sorry for the shameless plug, but I'd a similar pain point and solved it by spending 2 weeks in developing an app, as that was the only possible easy way...): https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/web-apps/iteratoeood1723739417240.tracksheet?tab=Overv...

It would track a shared online excel file and post the changes that happen every few hours, as a human readable change description.