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Real-time communication among remote workers is crucial in this hybrid work environment since it might make the difference between finishing the task at hand today and scheduling another meeting. To that goal, Microsoft launched PowerPoint Live in 2021, transforming the presentation experience in Microsoft Teams to make it more engaging and beneficial for all parties. At Microsoft Build 2022 this year, the company unveiled Live Share (in Public Preview), which enables participants to co-watch, co-edit, and co-create in Teams and allows developers to move beyond passive screen sharing in third-party apps. 

Spreadsheet sharing at Teams meetings has up to now been a one-sided affair. Everyone observes as you make adjustments to a shared file when you make them. But what if your team used that meeting time to collaborate on the project? Excel Live, Microsoft’s improved collaboration solution for working on Microsoft Excel workbooks, enables your team to interact in real time within your Teams meetings.

How it Works

1. Open Teams and click the Share tray.
2. Scroll down to Excel Live. There you’ll see a list of your recent Excel workbooks.
3. Select the workbook you want to share.
4. When you’ll be asked to share access to the file with meeting participants, choose Share.

After sharing access to the file in Teams, everyone in the meeting can edit the Excel file directly from the meeting screen. Teams meeting window now is used as a canvas for all participants to work together. Meeting attendees can follow the presenter, interact, and edit the sharing workbook without leaving the meeting screen, and without the need of having Excel running on their device.

Also, if you have a workbook open and you want to share in a Teams meeting:

1. Click Share
2. Click Work together in Teams.

Excel Live make your Teams meetings more engaging and productive especially for project groups because it helps them to co-create, review, and revise workbooks together as a team in real time without the need of email chains or file swapping. 

Demo participants of Excel Live highlighted the following advantages:

• Simplifies collaboration by eliminating the need to switch between programs
• Saves time spent after meetings trying to capture/consolidate content
• Promotes inclusiveness and encourages contribution among team members
• Drives productivity

Excel Live will be available in Public Preview at the end of August 2022.

To enable your Teams client for the Public preview

1. First, IT admins need to set an update policy that turns on Show preview features.
2. Users then choose to join the Public preview individually.

Find out more about Excel Live and Public Preview here

IBSCY Ltd is certified as a Gold Partner of Microsoft in Cyprus, thus we are eligible to sell, install and configure Microsoft products across Cyprus and internationally. We offer a number of Microsoft 365 packages that suit your needs. Microsoft Office 365 is a suite of cloud-based applications that includes a set of productivity tools (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). Additionally, Microsoft Teams – a tool for teamwork – allows you to collaborate with your peers by sharing files, calendars and team chats.