Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular and widely used spreadsheet applications in the world. Over the years, Excel has undergone numerous updates and changes, each time introducing new features to make it more powerful and user-friendly.
Cloud-based spreadsheet applications like Google Sheets offer an excellent tool for keeping track of changes made over time.
On the other hand, Excel’s desktop-based application is more popular than browser-based.
With Excel’s browser-based application, users can access and leverage the Version History feature for team collaboration. It allows you to keep a record of changes and revert them if needed.
This is a quick guide about how to restore previous version of Excel file. It includes a lot of helpful information for team collaboration, so make sure to read it till the end.
Click on the following links to read a particular section of your interest,
- What is Version History in Excel?
- How to view or edit the history of a spreadsheet in Excel
- How to restore old versions of a spreadsheet in Excel
- How to name versions of a spreadsheet in Excel
- How to Modify Recovery Settings in Excel
What is Version History in Excel?
Excel’s browser-based application allows users to view, track, and manage different versions of a spreadsheet.
It is beneficial when multiple users are working on the same document. Here’s the snapshot of the Version history in Excel,
As you can see, on the right side of the screen, Excel displays the date, time, and name of the person responsible for the change or edit.
Sometimes, we accidentally delete something, and calculations get messed up. But Version History in Excel allows users to restore the correct version of Excel using a few clicks.
Thanks to this feature, you don’t need to make different copies of your spreadsheet for the record. The Version History feature automatically records the changes to the spreadsheet and creates different versions that can be edited or restored later.
How to view or edit the history of a spreadsheet in Excel
As mentioned earlier, please note that you cannot access the Version History tool within a desktop-based Excel application.
You need a cloud-based version of Excel, which is a part of a Microsoft 365 subscription. It is straightforward to view and edit the version history in Excel due to its intuitive and easy-to-use interface.
Follow the steps below to see the entire log of the changes made to a given spreadsheet.
- Go to the main menu
- Click on the “File” menu
- Select the “Info” option from the menu
- Click on the “Version History” icon
- If you are using the Version History for the first time, then turn it on by choosing the location of your file in the Onedrive as shown below
- Once done, a new window will popup as shown below
The newly opened window contains the date, time, and name of the person responsible for the edit. When you click on each record, it will take you to that particular spreadsheet section where the changes have been made.
Each record represents a separate spreadsheet version, which can be restored with simple clicks.
There are two sections, as discussed below.
The first is where you can view a particular change and its location in the spreadsheet.
The second is the log or record of the changes made to the given spreadsheet.
How to restore old versions of a spreadsheet in Excel
There are times when you may feel like the previous version was better than the current one.
Here are a few of the common scenarios,
- The times you make mistakes and wish to revert them
- The times when the calculations go wrong and lead to unexpected outputs
- The times when your colleague mistakenly changes the content of a cell that was not meant to be edited
Excel is a beautiful tool that automatically creates a change log and records all the changes as a separate spreadsheet version. You can restore that separate version of the spreadsheet at any time in the future.
Here are the steps to restore a spreadsheet version in Excel,
- Open the desired Excel sheet
- Go to the main menu
- Click on the “File” button
- Select the “Info” from the popup
- Select the “Version History” from the available options
- A new popup will appear, as shown below
- On the right-hand side of the screen, choose the version you wish to restore
- A “Restore” button will be displayed on the upper-leftmost corner of the screen as shown below
Your current tab will be reloaded as soon as you click the Restore button in the last step. After following the above steps, you can replace the current version with the old one.
Note that Excel will update the log and display the restored version with clear tags to convey the original author and the one responsible for restoring the file.
How to Name versions of a spreadsheet in Excel
The built-in Version History feature automatically assigns a default name to each saved spreadsheet version. It doesn’t allow users to name different versions created by this feature.
But don’t worry; let me share a few alternatives that you can use to name different versions of your spreadsheet easily.
METHOD 1 – Using the Save-As Method To Name Different Versions
This is the most preferred method to save a critical version for future reference. It allows you to highlight a specific version whenever you access the tool to view the log.
Here are the steps:
- Open the desired version of your spreadsheet
- Click on the “File” option in the main menu
- Select “Save As”
- In the Save As dialog box, choose a location to save the file
(Name the file to reflect the version_Version1.0) - Now, save the file
Note that you need to repeat the same process whenever you wish to name a specific version for future use.
METHOD 2 -Using Comments in Version History
Although you can’t directly name different versions, here’s an indirect method that lets you quickly remember the purpose of a specific version of an Excel file.
The trick is to add a comment to the spreadsheet to note the significance of a particular version.
Here’s how to do it,
- Make the desired changes to your spreadsheet version
- Add a comment in a cell (mainly at the top or far left side) by clicking on “Comment,” present at the extreme right corner of the screen
- A new window will appear on the right side of the screen, as shown below
- Now, click on the “New” button to add a comment
- Save the file by clicking the “Home” tab and choosing the “Save As” option
How to Modify Recovery Settings in Excel
When the AutoRecover feature is enabled, a backup of your spreadsheet is saved every 10 minutes. This is a default setting, which you do not need to set.
But you can change the interval at which the tool will save the file. It can be less or more as per your requirements.
Here are the steps,
- Click on the “File” tab
- Select “Options” from the menu
- Select the “Save” tab as shown in the following image
- Increase the time in “Minutes” as shown below
- You can also enter the value manually using your keyboard
- Once done, click on “OK” to apply the changes
This means that Excel will automatically save a backup of your work at the frequency you specified, reducing the risk of losing data due to unexpected shutdowns or crashes.
FAQs
Q. How Do You Recover Unsaved Workbooks in Excel?
If you have not saved the file after doing specific changes, open the file you were working on previously and follow the steps,
- Hover to the main menu and click on the “File” button
- Choose the “Info” option from the left-side menu
- Go to the “Manage Workbook” section
- Select “Recover Unsaved Workbooks”
That’s it! You can recover all your unsaved files in Excel within no time using this trick.
Q. How Do You Revert Excel Files to the Previous Version in Excel 365?
If you feel that the previous version of your file was better than the current one, then you can restore the older version by following the simple steps:
- Open the desired Excel sheet
- Go to the “File” in the main menu
- Click on “Info”
- Select “Version History,” and you will see the available versions in the right corner of the screen
- Now click on the desired previous version
- Press the “Restore” button present at the top of the screen
You can quickly restore previous versions of an Excel file.
It is a beneficial feature for tracking changes, especially when multiple people are working on the same document. We have discussed it in detail in the above sections of this article.
Conclusion: Restore Previous Version of Excel File
Thanks to the Version History tool makes Excel an ideal spreadsheet application for team collaboration.
I hope you learned how to use the Version History feature for tracking and restoring previous versions in Excel. Feel free to comment below if you are stuck somewhere or having any particular issue while using the Version history feature.
Also, make sure to refer to our blog for more helpful tips and tricks about using Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets like a pro.