Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Turning Off Sharing.
At some point you may want to turn off workbook sharing in Excel. For instance, when the end of the development period for the workbook has been reached, you will want to turn off sharing and come up with your final version of the workbook.
You can turn off sharing by following these steps:

Figure 1. The Share Workbook dialog box.
When you turn off sharing and click on the OK button, Excel displays a warning that what you are doing may have consequences for other users. Provided there are no other users accessing the workbook, you should go ahead and click on Yes. If there are other users (shown back in the Share Workbook dialog box), you may want to ask them to save their changes and close the workbook before proceeding.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2917) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Turning Off Sharing.
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