excel 2003 shared workbook greyed out

[scouse13]

hi all
I have a workbook I have set up for work, they now want to have it shared, the problem I have is the shared workbook option on tools is greyed out, I have googled this problem and in 2003 excel lists are not supported, I have one sheet that contains lists of data that other sheets use, using vlookup to populate other sheets, is this the problem?, if so can anybody help with a workaround, I can supply the workbook if anyone is willing to help

thanks in anticipation

scouse13

[Richard Buttrey]

Before you get too enveloped and locked into sharing a workbook are you really sure that you need to and are you aware of the limitations?

Most of us avoid them like the plague since in practice they just cause too many problems. Do users need to be updating the same master record at the same time or are you just capturing new original data from the users? In which case I'd suggest you consider a mother workbook file which gathers data from many daughter workbooks on a periodic basis.

[BadlySpelledBuoy]

+1 for that.

I've rarely seen a shared workbook last more than a week or so before going toes skyward.

BSB

[scouse13]

thanks Richard
yes I know thy have many limitations, and I have advised myself about sharing a workbook, but the powers that be want it shared, with the lists I have, what would be the best way around it so the workbook shared option is available,

[Richard Buttrey]

Difficult to be certain without seeing the workbook. Any chance you could upload it?

It may simply be that the person who created it didn't want the workbook shared, but what do YOU mean by 'Lists of Data'

That said what's the answer to my question in #2 about users needing to update the same record?

Who are these 'powers' that insist on a shared workbook. Are they Excel savvy? Frankly if the powers believe that sharing is necessary because of some business critical requirement then they should be encouraged to use a proper database tool like say Access, then only use Excel if necessary for further reporting. Otherwise they are just storing up problems for the business.