So I am looking to create an Excel form which will be used by my company's production team on a regular basis, and I'm looking for a way to essentially make it mistake-proof without having to create more than one copy of it. The form will be created in library A, which normally the production team would not be able to access any location within library A, but for this form ideally they will be able to open just this form. Basically, production will work within library B, and library B would have a link to the form so they can use the form directly. Thing is, ideally the link in library B would have to work outside of SharePoint (i.e. if library B is synced so they use file explorer to open the link, it opens in Excel and not SharePoint in a browser), because the online Excel app only has view only or full edit options. If they open the form using the online Excel app, the viewing option does not allow them to add any information, and changing to editing option automatically starts saving over the original. They would have to open the form in Excel from the online Excel app, and I'm hoping there's a way to make it so we automatically skip that step and they don't have to know to open in Excel (mistake-proof it).
I know the SharePoint document has live versioning so it saves a new version every time it's edited, but this form would be used fairly regularly, and relying on the versioning function means someone has to periodically check the form to ensure it's not been messed up (extra hassle). Can anyone provide any guidance on how to create a link within a document library that opens the file directly and not the file in the online app? I'm thinking maybe there's a special shortcut type that can be specified to open using the Excel app?
