Microsoft Excel is a program used every day in companies and businesses. Many analysts, agencies, and consulting firms use Excel to create reports for internal and external clients. They do these reports to capture the client's needs by offering them a unique solution. It is possible to share your excel workbook report with outside clients using different ways. Excel provides a share option whereby you can send your information to others via email or other Excel features.
The article below gives you a guide to take when you want to share your excel reports with outside clients. Please read on to find out.
Steps to follow when sending an excel report to outside clients
Using the Review option to share Excel files offline
This method allows you to share your workbook with all external clients in the shared local area network. It also enables you to track any changes made to the files and choose the users you want to access the file. You have to ensure that you have saved your file in a location that every selected member can access. Here is what to do.
1. On your computer, launch the Microsoft Excel program.
2. Click on the File menu tab, and select Open to display a window. Please search for the location of your workbook and open it.
3. With your workbook report open, go to the Review tab on the main menu ribbon.
4. Under the section Changes, click on the option 'Share Workbook.'
5. It will prompt a dialogue box to appear. Tick the option that enables the shared workbook features. Here you can allow outside clients to edit the workbook.
6. On the dialogue box, go to the Advanced tab and enable Track Changes and any other settings you prefer to turn on (it is optional).
7. Click OK.
In case you want to share the workbook but protect it from editing, here is what o do.
- Go to the Review tab and click on the Protect and Share Workbook button.
- Tick the Sharing With Track Changes checkbox. After this, create a password, click OK, and then retype the password for confirmation. Click OK again.
- Save the workbook.
Sharing excel reports online using One Drive
1. On your open excel workbook report, click on the File tab.
2. Select the Share option and choose Save to Cloud.
3. Invite your outside clients to collaborate on the workbook by typing their names or email addresses in the corresponding box.
4. From the drop-down list, make sure Can edit is selected and click Share.
Note that this method varies across the different versions of Microsoft Excel.
Sharing reports in excel using Google drive.
It is the easiest way to share your Excel reports, provided that all your outside clients have a Google account.
1. Log into your Gmail account.
2. Go to Google Drive. To do this, click on the three-by-three dotted box and select Drive.
3. Once you are in, upload the Excel report you want to share. Right-click the file and select the Share option from the given list.
4. On the Share with people and groups popup window, select or type in the emails of the people you want to share the report with.
5. Create a link. Here you can either select the restricted option, meaning only the chosen people can open the link. 'Anyone with the link' means that anyone on the internet who has the link can view your report.
6. Click done to finish up.
Conclusion
Sharing Excel reports with outside clients is not only convenient but also creates a harmonious working environment. From the above article, you can choose either method to share your reports. Remember, when sharing a report offline, you can still unshare it after completing the teamwork effort.