Isn't this why people always save excel files a certain points of time? So you can go back to it and see it's state at certain "commit" points?
For me, it often looks like this.
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.01.xlsb
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.05.xlsb
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.08.xlsb
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.12.xlsb
The dates indicate minor updates/changes to the data (eg. the database is different but the logic is the same). Where as the version number is a change of business logic &/ formulas &/ file architecture (so v3 files are usually compatible with v3 files, but v4 files may break everything when comparing back to v3).
Granted, it doesn't help any with collaboration. My team still passes around the "current" file and deal with read-only locking issues (we find shared mode to be highly broken and conducive to file corruption). But, it does help with auditing because we can always go back and find why a number was what it was on any given day. So in that sense, Excel documents are as auditable as open source software. You have to want to read the code but it's all there for the reading.
Same. Also the problems I've encountered when one file tries to autosave, triggering a calculate before save, when I am actually working in something large that is calculation sensitive (manual calculation mode is on), and my whole application freezes/locks because it calculates when I'm not expecting it. Always happens 5 minutes before a deadline too. So yeah, disable that.
It's also a Workbook level setting so, you might have it turned off, but someone sends you a file with it enabled. For that reason, I have a macro that disables it at Open for all files (same for calculate before save, I really dislike that setting too).
For me, it often looks like this.
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.01.xlsb
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.05.xlsb
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.08.xlsb
2023 Budget v3 - 2022.08.12.xlsb
The dates indicate minor updates/changes to the data (eg. the database is different but the logic is the same). Where as the version number is a change of business logic &/ formulas &/ file architecture (so v3 files are usually compatible with v3 files, but v4 files may break everything when comparing back to v3).
Granted, it doesn't help any with collaboration. My team still passes around the "current" file and deal with read-only locking issues (we find shared mode to be highly broken and conducive to file corruption). But, it does help with auditing because we can always go back and find why a number was what it was on any given day. So in that sense, Excel documents are as auditable as open source software. You have to want to read the code but it's all there for the reading.