The 9 Best Tips to Collaborate on Shared Spreadsheets for Your Project
If there are a lot of people working together on a shared project spreadsheet, you should set up some sort of workflow or process controls for getting things done easily. That way, you won’t lose track of what’s been done, and what needs to be done next—this will help keep everyone on the same page.
Here, we talk about those essential tips and best practices that you should follow when collaborating with other users in Excel or Google Sheets or similar.
1. Document Key Changes and Updates
When collaborating on spreadsheets, it’s important to keep track of what’s changed. You may end up overwriting someone else’s work if you’re not careful.
Try adding comments or notes to record changes—such as reasons for updating the item, names of editors making the changes, and why or how they did so. it’s possible to easily do this using theHighlight Changesfeature in a shared workbook. To activate this feature, follow the steps outlined below:
You can also color-code items or tabs in your shared spreadsheet so that you can easily see changes at a glance.
2. Input Source Data Correctly
It’s easy to make errors while entering the raw data into your spreadsheets. The problem is that if you don’t do this correctly, it can completely skew your results and lead you in the wrong direction.
Luckily, there are some quick pointers to ensure that you’re inputting the source or raw data correctly in your Excel files.
3. Use Spreadsheet Controls
By using spreadsheet controls, you can reduce the risk of errors in data input. Here are a few tools you could use:
Data validation:Using a tool such asdata validationallows you to collect input from multiple users in the appropriate format. It also ensures uniformity in data entry and prevents inadvertent user error. If you’re entering data that belongs to a known set of values, like a “Yes” or “No” or “Cannot be determined", it’s possible to create a dropdown list with these options to enable other users to select from a predefined list of options.
Sheet view:TheSheet View functionis another useful feature that allows spreadsheet users to create customized views of their workbook and set their own filters to view information—without being affected by changes made to the worksheet by other users.
4. Use Tables and Charts
Let’s face it: spreadsheets are pretty overwhelming at first, especially if you’re not used to working with large volumes of data. That’s why we recommend using tables, charts, or graphs to set up your data in an intuitive way.
While tables help you organize and sort your information, using a chart or graph can help in visual representation. This makes it easier to plot out trends or show comparisons between different groups of variables over time so that it’s possible to spot important relationships and trends in your data values.
5. Highlight Important Values With Colors and Formatting
By adding color to your text and headings, you can organize your data in a more readable way.
In this manner, you can focus on specific aspects of the data without getting overwhelmed by all the information at once. You can also use tools such asconditional formatting, which allows you to highlight specific cells based on criteria such as whether they’re within a certain range of values.
6. Use “Freeze Panes” to Lock Headings While Scrolling
The “Freeze Panes” feature is particularly helpful if you need to keep track of certain areas while scrolling through a long spreadsheet. Here’s how you can do this:
7. Use the Hyperlink Function
Using the Hyperlink function, you’re able to link anchor text to files, webpages, or worksheets.
This helps your team members find references or source files easily. For instance, if your company’s webpage lists products and services, you could easily create a hyperlink within a cell that takes team members directly to the page when they click on it.
8. Take Advantage of Built-In Collaboration Tools
Often, it can be hard to know what your colleagues are working on. However, spreadsheet tools such as Google Sheets make it easy for multiple editors to collaborate on documents together in real-time. You can open the chat sidebar by tapping the chat icon bubble next to the list of active users.
This is a handy feature—you can discuss any issues you may have encountered while working on shared files. It also allows you to communicate with each other quickly if you need help or assistance with something specific within their document.
9. Provide Collaborators With Edit/View Access
One of the first steps in collaborating on shared spreadsheets is ensuring that team members have edit/view (read-only) access. You’ll need to confirm you’ve enabled sharing in the first place.
Secondly, add collaborators to your individual workbooks as needed, and give them read-only or edit access as desired. ensure everyone has access to the compatible versions of the file, so they don’t have any issues with syncing or saving as they work.
Smarter Collaboration With Easy-to-Read Spreadsheets
At the end of the day, it’s all about communication. When you’re working on a shared project with a group of people, it’s important to ensure that your team’s communication goes as smoothly as possible.
These tips above should help make your spreadsheets more user-friendly and easier to read, so that sharing and interpreting information is always easy.
There are a bunch of ways you can track changes in Google Sheets, including email notifications and version history. Here’s how to use them!
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