How to share Excel files with advanced mode?
Papermark's Advanced Excel Mode allows you to share spreadsheets while maintaining advanced Excel functionality and interactivity.
Advanced mode features
Available on Business plan and higher:
- Interactive Spreadsheets: Viewers can interact with formulas and cells
- Formula Support: All Excel formulas remain functional
- Multiple Sheets: Navigate between different worksheets
- Data Filtering: Use Excel's built-in filtering capabilities
- Cell References: Maintain all cell references and calculations
How to enable advanced mode
- Upload your Excel file to Papermark
- Click the "More" menu (three dots)
- Select "Enable Advanced Mode"
- Your spreadsheet is now interactive
Security and control
Advanced Mode maintains security while enabling functionality:
- View-only Access: Viewers can interact but not modify the file
- Download Protection: Optional download restrictions
- Access Tracking: Monitor who views your spreadsheets
- Version Control: Update spreadsheets while maintaining the same link
Plan comparison
| Feature | Free | Pro | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Excel Viewing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced Mode | - | - | ✓ |
| Interactive Features | - | - | ✓ |
| Formula Support | - | - | ✓ |
| Multi-sheet Navigation | - | - | ✓ |
What is global advanced mode?
Global Advanced Mode is a team-wide setting that enables Advanced Excel viewing for spreadsheets across your team. When turned on, Papermark uses the Microsoft Office viewer for supported Excel files to preserve formatting, formulas, multi-sheet navigation, and interactivity.
Where to enable Global Advanced Mode
- Go to Team Settings → General
- Find "Excel Advanced Mode"
- Toggle it on or off
How global advanced mode works
- New uploads inherit the team setting automatically
- Existing supported Excel files in your team are updated to match the toggle state
- Advanced Excel files are rendered with the Microsoft Office viewer for higher fidelity
- A small badge/icon indicates "Advanced Excel mode" on the document header
Supported file types
- .xls (application/vnd.ms-excel)
- .xlsx (application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet)
- .xlsm (application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12)
CSV, ODS and other spreadsheet formats are not supported for Advanced Mode and will use the basic viewer.
Enable advanced mode for a single file
You can override the team-wide setting on individual documents. This is useful when most of your spreadsheets are simple tables (where basic mode is faster) but a few complex models need advanced mode, or vice versa.
To toggle advanced mode per document:
- Open your Excel document in Papermark.
- Click the three-dots "More" menu.
- Select "Enable Advanced Mode" (or "Disable Advanced Mode" if you want basic).
To revert, repeat the steps and toggle the setting back.
Per-document toggle behavior
- The per-document setting overrides the team-wide global setting for that specific file
- New uploads inherit the team default; you can change them later per document
- The setting can be flipped back and forth without losing analytics or links
- Useful for mixed document types: complex financial models on advanced, simple price lists on basic
- The "Advanced Excel mode" badge appears in the document header whenever advanced mode is active for that file, whether it was set globally or per document
Visual indicator
When Advanced Mode is active for an Excel file, you will see an "Advanced Excel mode" badge/icon in the document header next to the name.
Troubleshooting
- Make sure the file type is one of: .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm
- Verify your plan includes Advanced Mode (Business or higher)
- Ensure you have permission to change team settings (for global) or document settings (per file)
- If the viewer seems cached, refresh the page after toggling the setting