How to Check Who Edited an Excel Spreadsheet

Shared Excel spreadsheets make collaboration on projects quick and easy. To that end, Excel has features that can help when things go wrong (information deleted) and right (valuable information added) when several people have write-access to a spreadsheet. Its Track Changes feature highlights any edited cell and provides details of who made the edit.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to view Track Changes in a shared Excel spreadsheet on various devices.

How to Check Who Edited an Excel File on a PC

To see who made changes when and where on an Excel spreadsheet, do the following on Excel on your PC:

1. Open the Excel app.
   
2. From the main menu, tap “Review,” “Track Changes,” then “Highlight Changes.”
   
3. Do one of the following to select the changes you want to see.
   

To see all tracked changes:

• Check the “When” checkbox. In the “When” list, select “All.” Ensure the “Who” and “Where” checkboxes are unchecked.
  

To see changes made after a particular date:

• Check the “When” checkbox. In the “When” list, select “Since date.” Type the earliest date you wish to see the changes from.
  

To see changes made by a specific person:

• Check the “Who” checkbox. In the “Who” list, select the user’s name.
  

To see changes to a specific cell range:

• Check the “Where” checkbox. Type in the worksheet’s cell reference.
  
• Hover your mouse pointer over the cell[s] to view its change details.
  

How to Check Who Edited an Excel File in Office365

To see which user edited a spreadsheet, when, and which cell[s], do the following via Office365:

1. Sign in to office.com.
   
2. Click the Microsoft 365 App Launcher, then select “Excel.”
   
3. From the main menu, select “Review,” “Track Changes” then “Highlight Changes.”
   
4. Do one of the following commands to select the changes you want to see.
   

To view all tracked changes:

• Select the “When” checkbox. From the “When” list, choose “All.” Ensure the “Who” and “Where” checkboxes aren’t selected.
  

To view changes made after a certain date:

• Select the “When” checkbox. From the “When” list, choose “Since date.” Enter the earliest date from which you want to see the changes.
  

To view changes made by a specific person:

• Select the “Who” checkbox. From the “Who” list, select the user’s name.
  

To view changes to a specific cell range:

• Select the “Where” checkbox. Type in the worksheet’s cell reference.
  
• Hover your mouse pointer over the cell[s] to view its change details.
  

How to Check Who Edited an Excel File on an iPhone

Once you have the Excel app for iOS installed on your iPhone, you can experience Excel as if using the desktop version. To see which user edited a spreadsheet, when, and which cell[s] they edited, do the following via Excel for iOS:

1. Install the Excel for iOS app from the App Store.
2. Open Excel.
3. From the main menu, tap “Review,” “Track Changes” then “Highlight Changes.”
4. To select the changes you want to see, do one of the following.

To see all tracked changes:

• Select the “When” checkbox. In the “When” list, select “All.” Ensure the “Who” and “Where” checkboxes are unchecked.

To view changes made after a certain date:

• Tap the “When” checkbox. From the “When” list, choose “Since date.” Type the earliest date you want to see the changes from.

To see changes made by a specific person:

• Select the “Who” checkbox. From the “Who” list, choose the user’s name.

To view changes to a specific cell range:

• Tap the “Where” checkbox. Type in the worksheet’s cell reference.
• Hover your pointer over the cell[s] to see the change details.

How to Check Who Edited an Excel File on an Android

Follow these steps to see who edited an Excel spreadsheet using your Android device:

1. Visit the Google Play Store to install the Excel for Android app.
2. Open Excel.
3. From the main menu, tap “Review,” “Track Changes” then “Highlight Changes.”
4. Select one of the following to see the changes you’re interested in.

To view all tracked changes:

• Tap the “When” checkbox. In the “When” list, tap “All.” Ensure the “Who” and “Where” checkboxes are unchecked.

To view changes made after a particular date:

• Select the “When” checkbox. In the “When” list, tap “Since date.” Type the earliest date you wish to see the changes from.

To view changes made by a specific person:

• Check the “Who” checkbox. In the “Who” list, tap the user’s name.

To view changes to a specific cell range:

• Check the “Where” checkbox. Type in the worksheet’s cell reference.
• Hover your pointer over the cell[s] to view the change details.

Once you’ve chosen what you want to see, the applicable cells are highlighted with a blue border. Hover your pointer over the cell for complete details.

Discovering Who Made What Change in Excel Spreadsheets

Excel’s Track Changes feature for shared spreadsheets lets you see where changes have been made, when they were made, and by which user. This is useful in a team scenario when you need to query a change or praise someone who made a useful change. It’s also handy to keep track of when you made changes and want to revisit them at a later date.

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced when sharing spreadsheets? Does Excel offer features to mitigate them? Let us know in the comments section.