Tracking Changes

Opening a live file

To start tracking changes, open an enrolled spreadsheet. You can do this from:

• My Files — click the Open live file icon next to any file

• File Versions — click the Open live file button at the top right

• OneDrive, SharePoint, or Google Drive — open the file directly from your file system

Open live file options from My Files and File Versions pages

For Excel files, the Rockhopper add-in appears on the right side of the screen. Sign in with your Microsoft account to connect. For Google Sheets, the Rockhopper sidebar activates automatically.

Excel with the Rockhopper add-in sign-in panel

Allow popup dialog and Microsoft account picker

How change tracking works

Once connected, Rockhopper tracks every edit you make. Tracking works even if the Rockhopper side panel is closed.

Rockhopper add-in showing "Tracking changes" status

Rockhopper captures two levels of changes:

Cell-level changes — any edit to a cell's value, including formulas, formatting, and cleared cells. Each change records the old value, new value, cell address, and who made the edit.

Worksheet-level events — structural changes to the workbook itself:

• Sheet added — a new worksheet was created

• Sheet deleted — an existing worksheet was removed

• Sheet renamed — a worksheet's name was changed

All changes are tracked per-user, so Rockhopper always knows who made each edit.

Excel vs. Google Sheets

Rockhopper works with both platforms. The core experience — change tracking, versions, comments, and reviews — is the same. A few differences:

	Excel (OneDrive / SharePoint)	Google Sheets (Google Drive)
Connection	Rockhopper add-in panel appears in the sidebar	Rockhopper sidebar activates automatically
File browser	Shows OneDrive and SharePoint files	Shows Google Drive files
Authentication	Microsoft account (Azure AD)	Google account
Deep link	Opens from My Files or File Versions	Also works from the Google Sheets add-on menu

Uncommitted changes

When changes are made to an enrolled file, Rockhopper flags it as having uncommitted changes — edits that exist in the live file but haven't been saved as a formal version yet.

You can review uncommitted changes before deciding to commit a new version or discard them:

• From My Files — click View changes on any file with a change indicator. A red dot means you haven't seen the latest changes yet.

• From File Versions — click the View changes button in the status bar.

View changes button on My Files page

View changes button on the File Versions page

The difference analysis view

This is where you review what changed. The screen is split into two areas:

Left side — the spreadsheet. Changed cells are highlighted with a blue border. Use the sheet selector at the bottom to switch between worksheets.

Right side — the context panel. Three tabs give you different views:

Tab	What it shows
Change Log	A structured list of every change — sheet-level events and cell-level edits — organized by worksheet
Comments	The file's comment thread
Reviews	Review requests and their approval status

Unread changes are flagged with a red dot, both on individual items and on sheet tabs that contain unseen edits.

Difference analysis view with change log and highlighted cells

Changes may take a moment to appear if the file is still syncing with Microsoft or Google. Rockhopper updates the change log automatically once processing is complete.

Navigating to a change

Click any item in the Change Log to jump directly to the affected cell in the spreadsheet view.

Changed cell highlighted in the spreadsheet with the corresponding change log entry

Cell edit history

Want to see the full history of a specific cell? Right-click on any changed cell and select View edit history. You'll see a complete record of every edit to that cell — who made each change and on which version.

Cell edit history context menu

Cell edit history panel showing the full change record