Tracking and Managing Colleagues Changes

Tracking and Managing Colleagues' Changes

Whenever you collaborate with a number of your colleagues to produce or edit a document, you should consider tracking the changes each user makes. When you turn on change tracking, any changes made to the workbook are highlighted in a color assigned to the user who made the changes. One benefit of tracking changes is that if you have a question about a change, you can quickly identify who made the change and verify that it is correct. In Excel 2007, you can turn on change tracking in a workbook by clicking the Review tab and then, in the Changes group, clicking Track Changes and then clicking Highlight Changes.

In the Highlight Changes dialog box that appears, select the Track Changes While Editing check box. Selecting this check box saves your workbook, turns on change tracking, and also shares your workbook, enabling more than one user to access the workbook simultaneously.

You can use the controls in the Highlight Changes dialog box to choose which changes to track, but clearing the When, Who, and Where check boxes makes Excel 2007 track all changes. Now, whenever anyone makes a change to the workbook, the change is attributed to the user logged in to the computer from which the change was made. Each user's changes are displayed in a unique color. As with a comment, when you move the mouse pointer onto a change, the date and time when the change was made and the name of the user who made it appear as a ScreenTip.

After you and your colleagues finish modifying a workbook, you can decide which changes to accept and which changes to reject. To start the process, click the Review tab. In the Changes group, click Track Changes and then click Accept Or Reject Changes. After you clear the message box that indicates Excel 2007 will save your workbook, the Select Changes To Accept Or Reject dialog box appears. You can use the When down arrow to choose which changes to review. The default choice is Not Yet Reviewed, but you can also click Since Date to open a dialog box, into which you can enter the starting date of changes you want to review. To review all changes in your workbook, clear the When, Who, and Where check boxes.

When you are ready to accept or reject changes, click OK. The Accept or Reject Changes dialog box appears, with the first change described in the body of the dialog box. Clicking the Accept button institutes the change; whereas clicking the Reject button removes the change, restores the cell to its previous value, and erases any record of the change. Clicking Accept All or Reject All implements all changes or restores all cells to their original values, but you should choose one of those options only if you are absolutely certain you are doing the right thing.

If you want an itemized record of all changes you have made since the last time you saved the workbook, you can add a History worksheet to your workbook. To add a History worksheet, click Track Changes in the Changes group and then click Highlight Changes to open the Highlight Changes dialog box. Select the List Changes On A New Sheet check box. When you click OK, a new worksheet named History appears in your workbook. The next time you save your workbook, Excel 2007 will delete the History worksheet.

In this exercise, you turn on change tracking in a workbook, make changes to the workbook, accept or reject changes, and create a History worksheet.

USE the Projection Change Tracking workbook in the practice file folder for this topic. This practice file is located in the My Documents\Microsoft Press\Excel SBS\Sharing folder.

OPEN the Projection Change Tracking workbook.

1.	On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Track Changes and then click Highlight Changes. The Highlight Changes dialog box appears.
2.	Select the Track changes while editing. This also shares your workbook check box. The Highlight which changes area controls become active.
3.	Click OK. A dialog box appears, indicating that Excel 2007 will save the workbook.
4.	Click OK. The dialog box disappears. Excel 2007 saves the workbook and begins tracking changes.
5.	In cell E6, type 15% and then press . A blue flag appears in the upper-left corner of cell E6.
6.	In cell E7, type 12% and then press . A blue flag appears in the upper-left corner of cell E7.
7.	On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the Save button to save your work.
8.	On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Track Changes and then click Highlight Changes. The Highlight Changes dialog box appears.
9.	Select the List changes on a new sheet check box and then click OK. Excel 2007 creates and displays a worksheet named History, which contains a list of all changes made since the last time a user accepted or rejected changes.
10.	Click the Sheet1 sheet tab. The Sheet1 worksheet appears.
11.	On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Track Changes and then click Accept/Reject Changes. The Select Changes to Accept or Reject dialog box appears.
12.	Click OK. The Select Changes to Accept or Reject dialog box displays the first change.
13.	Click Accept. Excel 2007 keeps the change and then displays the next change.
14.	Click Accept. Excel 2007 keeps the change and deletes the History worksheet. The Accept or Reject Changes dialog box disappears.

CLOSE the Projection Change Tracking workbook.