Last week, the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee was announced which allows consumers, who buy and activate Office 2007 between certain eligibility dates, to download Office 2010 when it is available - at no additional charge.

You can get more info on this offer at the Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering blog.

From the “well I never knew that” dept. comes this handy little tip about Excel.

A client asked me the other day if there was any way to share an Excel spreadsheet so that multiple users could edit it at the same time (rather than getting the “this spreadsheet is locked for editing…” message. My immediate answer was no, you can’t do that with Excel.

A colleague who overheard me then pointed out that in fact it can be done and here’s how:

Go to: Tools / Options / General / Service Options / Share Workspace

==Add the user to the “Share Workbook”
On the Tools menu, click Share Workbook, and then click the Editing tab.
Select the Allow changes by more than one user at the same time check box, and then click OK.
When prompted, save the workbook.
On the File menu, click Save As, and then save the workbook on a network location accessible to the intended users. Use a shared network folder, not a Web server

==Other Share Workbook settings
To see who else has the workbook open, click Share Workbook on the Tools menu, and then click the Editing tab.  If you want to get automatic updates of the other users’ changes periodically, with or without saving, click Share Workbook on the Tools menu, click the Advanced tab, and under Update changes, click the options you want.
==To Edit a Shared Workbook
Go to the network location where the shared workbook (shared workbook: A workbook set up to allow multiple users on a network to view and make changes at the same time. Each user who saves the workbook sees the changes made by other users.) is stored, and open the workbook.
Set the user name to identify your work in the shared workbook: on the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, and then type your user name in the User name box.
Enter and edit data as usual. You won’t be able to add or change the following: merged cells, conditional formats, data validation, charts, pictures, objects including drawing objects, hyperlinks, scenarios, outlines, subtotals, data tables (data table: A range of cells that shows the results of substituting different values in one or more formulas. There are two types of data tables: one-input tables and two-input tables.), PivotTable reports, workbook and worksheet protection, and macros.
Make any filter (filter: To display only the rows in a list that satisfy the conditions you specify. You use the AutoFilter command to display rows that match one or more specific values, calculated values, or conditions.) and print settings you want for your personal use. Each user’s settings are saved individually by default.
If you want the filter or print settings made by the original author to be in effect whenever you open the workbook, click Share Workbook on the Tools menu, click the Advanced tab, and under Include in personal view, clear the Print settings or Filter settings check box.
To save your changes to the workbook and see the changes other users have saved since your last save, click Save .
If the Resolve Conflicts dialog box appears, resolve the conflicts.

Well I never knew that!

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