Regular Workbooks vs. Binary Workbooks

[Jerry]

Can you tell me the difference between a regular Excel workbook and a binary
workbook?

We use a shared workbook as a tracking system for our department, and we
often have conflicts, crashes, or other miscellaneous catastrophes. My
manager asked me to find out whether saving it as a binary workbook might
reduce the number of problems that we experience.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Jim Thomlinson]

Welcome to shared workbooks. Conflicts, crashes, or other miscellaneous
catastrophes are just part of the territory in my experience. To the best of
my knowledge there is no way around the problems... I personally never use
them any more.

 

[Jerry]

If you want everybody in the department to be able to tell the status of
every job at any time, what alternatives to shared workbooks do you propose?
We have about 20 people in the department and anywhere from 100 to 150 jobs
in process at any given time.

Is a shared binary workbook any more stable than a regular shared workbook?
Would one format crash less often than the other? Is there a significant
difference in either size or speed, and if so, in which direction?

Thanks.