When multiple users collaborate on an Excel document with tracking changes (Track Changes) enabled, every insertion, modification and deletion made to cells is recorded. When reviewing these changes, you often need to accept all tracked changes (to formally merge the changes of others into the document) or reject all tracked changes (to revert all changes and restore the state before the edits). Handling these changes one by one in Excel is tedious and error-prone, while processing them in bulk through code in a web application is far more efficient. Spire.XLS for JavaScript completes this directly in the browser based on WebAssembly, and manages input/output files through a virtual file system (VFS), with no backend service required.

Spire.XLS for JavaScript provides revision-handling capabilities through the workbook object: after loading a workbook that contains revision records, call the AcceptAllTrackedChanges() method to accept all tracked changes in the document, or call the RejectAllTrackedChanges() method to reject all tracked changes in the document.

This article covers two core features:

• Accept All Tracked Changes in Excel
• Reject All Tracked Changes in Excel

For installation and project configuration, refer to Integrating Spire.XLS for JavaScript in a React Project. The examples below assume Spire.XLS is installed and the WebAssembly module is initialized.

Accept All Tracked Changes in Excel

When a workbook containing revision records has been edited by multiple users and passes review, all the changes need to be formally merged into the document, that is, the tracked changes are "accepted". After the changes are accepted, they become the official content of the document and the revision records are cleared. The main steps are as follows:

1. Create a Workbook object.
2. Load the workbook containing revision records with the Workbook.LoadFromFile() method.
3. Call the Workbook.AcceptAllTrackedChanges() method to accept all tracked changes in the document.
4. Save the workbook with the Workbook.SaveToFile() method.

Here is a complete code example showing how to accept all tracked changes in an Excel workbook in React:

function App() {
  const acceptTrackedChanges = async () => {
    // Get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // Check whether the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // Load the font and the Excel file into the VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);
    const inputFileName = 'TrackChanges.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}data/`);

    // Create a Workbook object and load the workbook containing tracked changes
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile({ fileName: inputFileName });

    // Accept all tracked changes in the document
    workbook.AcceptAllTrackedChanges();

    // Save the document
    const outputFileName = 'AcceptTrackedChanges_output.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile({ fileName: outputFileName, version: xlsModule.ExcelVersion.Version2010 });

    // Release resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // Read the converted file from the VFS and trigger a download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Accept All Tracked Changes</h1>
      <button onClick={acceptTrackedChanges}>
        Start
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Effect of accepting all tracked changes

Reject All Tracked Changes in Excel

When the tracked changes are disputed or no longer needed, the reviewer can reject all of them at once so that the document returns to the state before the edits. The main steps are as follows:

1. Create a Workbook object.
2. Load the workbook containing revision records with the Workbook.LoadFromFile() method.
3. Call the Workbook.RejectAllTrackedChanges() method to reject all tracked changes in the document.
4. Save the workbook with the Workbook.SaveToFile() method.

Here is a complete code example showing how to reject all tracked changes in an Excel workbook in React:

function App() {
  const rejectTrackedChanges = async () => {
    // Get the Spire.XLS WASM module
    const xlsModule = window.wasmModule?.spirexls;

    // Check whether the module is ready
    if (!xlsModule) {
      alert('Spire.Xls is not ready yet');
      return;
    }

    // Load the font and the Excel file into the VFS
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('ARIAL.TTF', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/font/`);
    const inputFileName = 'TrackChanges.xlsx';
    await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}data/`);

    // Create a Workbook object and load the workbook containing tracked changes
    const workbook = new xlsModule.Workbook();
    workbook.LoadFromFile({ fileName: inputFileName });

    // Reject all tracked changes in the document
    workbook.RejectAllTrackedChanges();

    // Save the document
    const outputFileName = 'RejectTrackedChanges_output.xlsx';
    workbook.SaveToFile({ fileName: outputFileName, version: xlsModule.ExcelVersion.Version2010 });

    // Release resources
    workbook.Dispose();

    // Read the converted file from the VFS and trigger a download
    const fileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
    const blob = new Blob([fileArray], { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' });
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const a = document.createElement('a');
    a.href = url;
    a.download = outputFileName;
    a.click();
    URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
      <h1>Reject All Tracked Changes</h1>
      <button onClick={rejectTrackedChanges}>
        Start
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Effect of rejecting all tracked changes

FAQ

The content is not restored to its pre-edit state after rejecting tracked changes

Cause: RejectAllTrackedChanges() rejects only the cell changes that were recorded by the Track Changes feature. If some changes were made before tracking was enabled, or were written by other means and never recorded, they are not revisions that can be rejected, so they keep their current values and the document will not fully return to the original baseline.

Can I accept or reject only part of the tracked changes instead of all of them

Cause: AcceptAllTrackedChanges() and RejectAllTrackedChanges() process all the revisions of a whole workbook at once. They do not provide APIs for filtering individual revisions by user, time or cell range.

Obtain a Free License

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