Share workbook best practices 2010

[JSH720]

We have a relatively large spreadsheet. At ant time there may be up to 4 people updating parts of it. It contains no formulas, but they do use the freeze frame function and some use the filtering tool. Many issues, freezing, lost data, error messages. It has been re built two or three times so far with resulting lost data that had to be re input. Database is not an option.

I don't know how to fix this and am very frustrated.

What are the best practices so this can work? Will it work? Is this a common problem with this feature?

Any comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

[chuckchuckit]

I've used shared workbooks and they can have those problems you mentioned when more than 1 user is allowed to modify any common cell. There is no easy solution unfortunately. One possible way can be if "each user" is only allowed to modify their own "personal" cells, and no one else can modify the original or anyone else's personal cells. This is not always feasible to do as it depends upon the type of shared use it is for. The housekeeping for it all can get quite extensive. If everyone understands the rules and does not deviate, things can work.

Many people do not like to use Excel shared workbooks at all (if you search past comments here on MrExcel) due to the problems you mentioned.