Ask HN: At work, do you you use Git for your Excel workbooks? - bjoerns
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fludlight
A few years ago, when I was in an Excel-heavy role we used Sharepoint, which
was ok. It was a big improvement over "pro forma $user v4 final final.xslx",
but it left a lot to be desired.

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samstave
I'm having a hard time understanding what you mean. Can you describe how
___you_ __use git for excel?

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bjoerns
Commit your Excel workbook to a Git repository. I know it's a binary file so
you can't diff or merge out of the box, but at least you get the commit
history. Does that make more sense?

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samstave
Sure, I was just trying to understand why...

If you want version control, then sure use that. Or stor in dropbox/drive
which have version control...

I am sure many people use many different tools for this. Most large enterprise
companies, such as biotechs and legal, use document management platforms for
this purpose.

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bjoerns
Ok, here's he full story: We have a product
([https://www.xltrail.com](https://www.xltrail.com)) that makes git diff and
all that work with Excel workbooks. So you get a lot more out of it than
dropbox/drive/sharepoint etc as you get to inspect content changes.

90% of our clients/prospects are in financial services (heavy workbooks with
VBA, think applications, not spreadsheets) but today I spoke to a prospect
from a different industry which made me think that there might be people
outside banks, hedge funds going down the same path.

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LiamPa
The issue we find is that if a user is using excel (a lot) there is a very
slim chance that they know what git is and/or how to use it correctly.

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bjoerns
In general, yes. However, from my own experience, there is a (small and
industry-specific) subset of "Excel developers", especially in investment
banks, hedge funds etc that know both.

