Excel Roadmap Updates
11 January 2021
Microsoft is planning to add support for co-authoring protected Excel files. The new feature will allow users to protect Excel files using passwords yet still be able to share them with others who may edit these files without needing to remove the protection.
This feature was recently added to Microsoft Roadmap and will be available for both Microsoft Excel online app and Excel desktop app (the announcement is silent on whether Microsoft plans to add the feature to Android and iOS apps as well). Currently, Excel users can protect files, but they will need to remove the protection if they want to add a co-author. With the new feature, users will be able to add new co-authors without removing protection making it easier and safer to share confidential or sensitive information. This capability is expected to roll out by the end of June 2021.
Along with it, Microsoft is also planning to add support for Rich Text Formatting (RTF) inside cells in Excel.
The feature should help users format Excel files better and is scheduled for release by the end of this month. More anon.
