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: Noting When a Workbook was Changed.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 26, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
In an environment where multiple people work on the same workbook, you may want a way to keep track of when people last changed a workbook. There are a couple of ways you can approach this task. One is to simply figure out when a workbook was last saved. This approach works well if you assume that any changes to the workbook are always changed. (Unsaved changes, of course, are not really a lasting change at all.) The following macro returns the date that a workbook was saved and stores that date in cell A1:
Sub DateLastModified() Dim fs, f Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set f = fs.GetFile("D:\MyFolder\MyFile.xls") Cells(1, 1) = f.DateLastModified End Sub
To use the macro, just replace the D:\MyFolder\MyFile.xls file specification with whatever is appropriate for you.
If you want a history sheet of who did what with your workbook, then a different approach is necessary. Perhaps the best solution is to try Excel's sharing feature, which can be configured to keep a history log for a workbook. Follow these steps:
As changes are made to the workbook, Excel tracks those changes (along with who made them) and puts them in a separate worksheet so you can review them later.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2935) 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: Noting When a Workbook was Changed.
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