>We recently launched a new application at a client which used custom Excel templates. These templates were associated to a content type so that they could control the relating metadata within Excel.

However users has the following problems:-

• when a user tried to edit the document properties the document information panel was frozen.
• Users could not merge/merge-center cells.

After a lot of Google searches and trying things different things out I worked out that it was to do with Shared workbooks. Shared workbooks allow multiple users to edit a workbook at the sametime, however to do this they seem to lock changes to the document properties and also the structure of the document. This does make sense but caused me and the client a lot of headaches.

So to fix this do the following:-

• Open Excel Workbook
• Choose the Review tab
• Click the ‘Share Workbook’ button
• Untick “Allow changes by more than one user at a time…..”
• Click OK
• Save the excel workbook.

Now your document information panel will be unfrozen.

Hope that saves someone some time!