Can multiple users enter data into a spreadsheet simultaneously?

[Mondrogan]

At work I have Excel 2003 and I see a menu item which seems to indicate that
sharing a workbook is ok. Is this really true? I expect about 6 or 7 people
might be simultaneously appending data to a simple list in a spreadsheet
which might grow to several thousand rows. Any "gotchas" I should watch out
for, before pitching Excel to my boss as a possible database solution?

 

[Dave Peterson]

Take a look at excel's help for "Features that are unavailable in shared
workbooks".

You'll find a long list. If any of them are show stoppers, then you're done
considering excel.

If you don't find anything that disturbs you, you may want to search google for
"shared workbooks". You'll find that many people have trouble with them--I
don't use them at all for two reasons. First, I don't have a reason to and
second, the potential troubles scare me <bg>.

In fact, I would be that most would recommend using a real database if you want
to have simultaneous updates.