I would like to share an Excel document used by several people located
in different parts of US. After searching through Google, I found that
the only way I can share the document is using a web server or some
server accessible through internet. People can download the file, make
necessary changes and upload the latest file again to the web server.

I feel this is a tedious process coz sometimes people might forget to
upload the file and we lose the latest changes done. Is there a way
where I can share the document on a server, and people can just double
click the file (Excel is installed on all user's computers) and open
it on the computer and make the changes but when they save the
changes, these changes should be reflected to the file that is stored
on the server. Can this be done ? If so, what might be the suitable
solution ?
 
In my School, we've a network map drive where we can just double click
the file, make changes and save the file. These changes are reflected
to the file on the network drive.  How can such thing be done on a Mac
or a PC ?

My ISP(internet service provider) assigns a dynamic IP to my machine.
This makes the problem even more complex by not allowing anyone
outside my home network to access the shared documents.

What if the file is concurrently opened by multiple users ? Can you
suggest me some good solution to this problem ?

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 01 Jun 2006 02:57 PDT

Please take a look at the link below and tell me if this will fill your needs:

SecureSheet
http://www.securesheet.com/
..."Do you ever wonder why you can't share your Excel spreadsheet with
others over the web?  Now You Can...

SecureSheet? provides an on-demand solution that turns existing
spreadsheets into secure, multi-user, web based business applications
and databases..."

~~Cynthia

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Clarification of Question by lucenelover-ga on 01 Jun 2006 13:29 PDT

Hi Cynthia,
   This might work but itz pretty expensive and I've to learn a whole
new way of using this securesheet feature. Don't you think therez more
efficient way than this ?

pashupathi

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 02 Jun 2006 14:40 PDT

QuickBase
http://www.quickbase.com/p/home.asp

irows
http://www.irows.com/

How about one of these?

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 06 Jun 2006 14:53 PDT

Another idea:

Google Spreadsheets
://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/tour1.html

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Clarification of Question by lucenelover-ga on 06 Jun 2006 20:32 PDT

Hi Cynthia,
   irows website was not working. Quickbase is good but I think Google
spreadsheets solves the problem. I couldn't get access to the beta
test of Google Spreadsheets. Waiting for one.

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 06 Jun 2006 20:52 PDT

I just signed up earlier today myself, and I got my invite about 30
minutes ago. It'll be soon. Try it out and post back. If it works for
you, post back and I'll make it your official answer.

~~Cynthia

Hi lucenelover,

Here you will get  some useful information about excel sharing 

www.badblue.com/excelweb.htm 


Regards
gdprasad

Hi,
   I bought badblue EE but it is not working as I wanted. It's really
messy to work with.

pashupathi

You can do this using a WebDAV folder. This would be stored on a
server that is always connected to the Internet (e.g., your ISP's web
server). Then, Windows and Mac users can connect and open files
directly from it. You could ask your ISP if they support WebDAV access
to files. Alternatively, you could sign up for an account with a
company that provides on-line file storage using this protocol.

The iDisk feature of Apple's .Mac service can be used this way (for
both Windows and Macs): http://www.apple.com/dotmac/idisk.html

There is also more information about another company that does this here:
http://courses.ece.uiuc.edu/ece390/books/labmanual/graphics-mode13h.html

Novell's iFolder went open source a while back and I think it will do
exactly what you want with _any_ file.

http://www.ifolder.com/index.php/Main_Page


I use the closed-source iFolder and it rocks!