New: Customizing Files per Person
One of the newest features launched in eXpresso is the ability to define limitations for the interactions a person may have with a file. This takes file collaboration to an unprecedented new level. Not only can people be viewing and editing the same file at the same time, different people can be working within their own customized view of the file. I’ll show you two simple examples.
The first is a “Sales Forecast” spreadsheet that will contain the projected numbers of sales per product or service category. This aggregate view makes a lot of sense for the Sale Manager, but each sales person specializes in specific categories, so seeing all the forecast categories is not necessary for them. In Figure 1, you can see that the file owner can see all columns and rows including the category color legend at the top, but the category color legend and the non-applicable category rows are hidden from each user. As a result, each user only sees the columns and rows that relate to her/his responsibilities. It’s like four different files exist, but really it is only one file that has been customized per person. This saves a lot of time for the Sales Manager because she/he does not need to consolidate files, create separate sheets for each sales person, or link cells across sheets.
Figure 1 – Customizing Spreadsheet Access per Person
My second example is similar but for a presentation. Let’s say this is a “Company Overview” presentation for an upcoming speaking engagement. Coworkers could be given access to update the slides that relate to her or his area of expertise. In Figure 2, the file owner can see all the slides, but specific individuals may only see their relevant slides. You could also hide slides from people with View Only rights, too. (Not to be confused with the Hide Slide feature in PowerPoint. With PowerPoint, hidden slides are still visible, except when in Show mode. With eXpresso, hidden slides do not even show up in the list.) In the past, people would have needed to send separate files, forcing the file owner to copy and paste submitted slides into one master file, but with eXpresso this can all be done with one file.
Figure 2 – Customizing Presentation Access per Person
Today, you can customize Excel files per person in eXpresso, but very soon you will be able to do this for PowerPoint too. To start customizing your spreadsheets:
- Sign in to eXpresso
- Share a file with someone by giving them “Limited Editing” rights
- Then “Set Limits” on the file to make customized views of the file
Sign in right now and give it a try.
