What Travels with the Workbook
Saved in the workbook file:
Dataset definitions — the datasets you created.
Cached results — the data from your most recent refresh.
Not saved in the workbook file:
Your credentials — your Astrato sign-in and personal access token are stored in your Office user settings, never in the file. Sharing a workbook never shares your access.
What the Recipient Sees
When someone opens a shared workbook, ASTRATO.* formulas show the last refreshed figures from the cache. They can read the numbers straight away, with no Astrato login required.
To show when the data was last refreshed, use ASTRATO.LASTUPDATED in the workbook. See Excel Functions.
If the Recipient Wants to Refresh
Viewing cached data needs no login. Refreshing does — with the recipient's own Astrato account:
The recipient signs in with their own connection. See Connect to Astrato.
Refresh then uses their credentials and permissions — not yours. Everyone sees data according to their own access.
If the recipient does not have a connection with the same name as the one saved in the workbook, Astrato uses their first available connection. If that connection cannot reach the workbook's semantic layer, refresh fails and the workbook keeps showing its cached data. See Refresh, Cache, and Offline Behavior.
Share Read-Only, Cached Figures
If you want recipients to see your cached figures without refreshing, set the dataset update mode to Off before sharing. The workbook then uses cached data only and does not attempt to fetch new data. See Create and Manage Datasets.
Security
Because credentials are stored in your Office user settings and not in the file, a shared workbook never exposes your Astrato sign-in or personal access token. Each person who refreshes does so with their own access.