Need Users to Save As before Editing Template

You may not be using an "actual" Excel template... that is a file saved as a .xltx or .xltm on your shared drive. If you do this, then have your users create a LINK on their systems across the shared network, you're in for a treat.

When a user double-clicks a LINK to a .xltx or a .xltm file, Excel doesn't actually open that file, it opens an unnamed COPY of the file, the original sits untouched and ready for other use. As an unnamed copy, your users would HAVE to save it, it has no name otherwise.

This should solve the issue with multiple people accessing your template.

Anytime you wanted to edit the actual template, you would not open the file via a shortcut, you would open the actual file on the hard-drive. While you are editing, remember none of your users can access it, even via their LINKS. What I do is work on a local copy of the master template so I can work at my leisure and then copy it out to the network to publish my changes.