Keeping track of changes in your Excel workbooks is crucial for teamwork and data accuracy. When working with others on a shared Excel file, it’s important to know who made changes and when. This is where collaboration features in Excel, like coauthoring, come into play.
This guide will show you how to check the Excel version history, making it easy for you to manage your data.
What is Coauthoring in Excel?
Coauthoring in Excel allows multiple people to work on an Excel workbook at the same time. This feature is available in Excel for Microsoft 365 and Excel for the web. This way, multiple people can work on the same file without waiting for others to finish. You can see changes as they happen and reduce errors and duplication of effort.
How to Show Changes in Excel
The “Show Changes” feature in Excel helps you track changes easily. You can see details of who changed what, where, and when, along with the previous value of the cell for quick reversion. You can narrow down the list of changes by selecting any sheet, range, or individual cell, to see all changes that were made, including bulk edits. You can see past changes for up to 60 days.
View Changes for the Entire Workbook
- Open your Excel workbook.
- Go to the Review tab.
- Click on Show Changes.
Changes are shown in a pane with the most recent edits at the top.
You can see who made the changes, where, when, and what was changed.
You can also see the previous value of the cell for quick reversion.
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Filter the Changes
As you can imagine, the list of changes can get pretty long over time, so one of the cool features to know about is the ability to filter. You can filter by sheet or even by range.
Filter and See Changes for a Subset or Range
- Select any sheet, range, or single cell.
- Right-click and select Show Changes from the context menu.
This will display changes specific to the selected area. If new edits are made while the pane is open, click the See New Changes button to update the list.
Filter Changes from the Changes Pane
- At the top of the pane, click the Filter icon.
- Choose Range or Sheet to filter the changes shown.
- Enter the range or cell in the text box and confirm.
When many changes are made to a contiguous range of cells, the Changes list will group those changes into a single entry. You can click the “See Changes” link to expand the list to see the details.
Reverting Back to a Previous Version
If you need to revert back to a previous version of your workbook, you can do that with the Excel Version History.
- Go to File > Info.
- Select Version History.
- Browse through the available versions. Each version includes the date and time of the change and the name of the person who made the change.
- Select the version you want to restore and click Restore.
This action reverts your workbook to a selected version, undoing unwanted changes. This way, you’ll recover your work.
To preserve the existing copy and generate a restored one, click Save a Copy instead of Restore.
Requirements to Track Changes
The workbook must be stored in OneDrive or SharePoint to be able to track changes. You will also need editing permissions to the Excel file.
Q&A About Excel Version History
I made a change, but don’t see it in the Changes pane.
The Changes pane shows changes made to cell values and formulas. This includes operations like moving, sorting, inserting, deleting cells or ranges.
These are some of the changes that are currently not shown:
- Chart, shape, and other object edits
- PivotTable operations
- Formatting changes
- Hiding cells or ranges, or filtering
- Deleted location
If you’re having trouble to track changes in Excel, check out this article.
How can I track older changes?
The Changes pane shows only the most recent changes. To view changes over a longer period of time, use Version History by selecting File > Info > Version History and then select a version to preview it.
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Leila Gharani
I’ve spent over 20 years helping businesses use data to improve their results. I've worked as an economist and a consultant. I spent 12 years in corporate roles across finance, operations, and IT—managing SAP and Oracle projects.
As a 7-time Microsoft MVP, I have deep knowledge of tools like Excel and Power BI.
I love making complex tech topics easy to understand. There’s nothing better than helping someone realize they can do it themselves. I’m always learning new things too and finding better ways to help others succeed.
