Sharing Workbooks and Export Options — Microsoft Excel

Share Live or Export a Snapshot

Governors need a read-only pack — not an editable grid. Staff on OneDrive need one live workbook, not twelve email attachments. Dr. Helen Marsh received a PDF budget summary for the Northgate Academy meeting while James Okonkwo kept the live .xlsx on SharePoint for co-editing. With Budgets complete, you will export a PDF slice and practise share settings suitable for a school leadership team.

Select the print area — e.g. A1:K6 on Budgets (headers, data, totals). Page Layout \to Print Area \to Set Print Area if not already set. File \to Export \to Create PDF/XPS Document (desktop) or File \to Save As \to PDF . Choose Selection or Active sheet depending on the dialog. Name NorthgateBudget-Summary.pdf . Open the PDF — verify £ formatting and that formulas are not visible (only displayed values). The PDF shows the five departments and Dr. Helen Marsh's talking points — no accidental formula edits during the meeting. After the meeting, James Okonkwo updates Q4 in B2:E6 on the .xlsx and regenerates the PDF.

When NorthgateBudget.xlsx is on OneDrive or SharePoint : Share button (top right). Enter colleagues or choose Copy link . Set permission: Can edit for finance team; Can view for governors. Optional: set expiry date on sensitive budget files. Apply — link opens Excel on the web or desktop with the chosen permission. Co-authoring: Two editors may see coloured cell borders showing who is in which cell — save still merges to one file.

PDF vs shared XLSX

$PDF export$	$Shared .xlsx link$
$Read-only for recipients$	$Can edit if permission allows$
$Fixed snapshot for meetings$	$Live numbers update for all viewers$
$Smaller email attachment$	$Requires Microsoft account / link access$
$No formulas exposed$	$Formulas visible in formula bar$

Before Can edit links go to many staff: Unlock input cells only if you use sheet protection (see Protect lessons). Or share Can view link plus PDF for most people. One Can edit copy for James Okonkwo and finance leads. A budget link set to Anyone with the link can edit leaked to a parent forum. Totals were changed before anyone noticed. Use Specific people or view-only for sensitive data. Set expiry on temporary links. Governors open a PDF exported from Budgets — they cannot see =SUM(B2:E2) in a formula bar. PDF is flat — no Excel workbook. Regenerate PDF after budget changes — do not circulate stale snapshots.

Practice

Swipe or use the arrows to move between questions.

1 / 2

Governors open a PDF exported from Budgets. Can they see =SUM(B2:E2) in the formula bar?

You want governors to read but not change Q4 figures. Best option?