Is a share register in Excel or Google Sheets allowed?

Yes. The law asks for a register kept by computer and names no program (5 kap. 2 §). It has to hold what the law lists, keep what is removed, and be preserved.

Is there a digital share register at Bolagsverket?

No. Bolagsverket registers the company, its share capital and its number of shares. The share register is the company's own and is not kept or filed there.

Does a digital register have to be signed, with BankID or otherwise?

No. The law asks for no signature on the register. It asks that entries are dated and that the board answers for the register.

Do we have to use a particular service?

No, and a company may change from one to another. What it must be able to do is take its whole register with it.

What do we do with the old paper book?

Keep it, for at least ten years after every share was entered in the new register (5 kap. 3 §).

May our accountant keep the register for us?

Yes. Entries are made by the board or by someone the board has authorised (5 kap. 9 §). The responsibility stays with the board (5 kap. 7 §).

Is there a free digital share register?

Yes. aktiebok.io costs nothing, and everything can be exported at any time.

Guide

A digital share register, in a spreadsheet or an online service.

A register kept by computer is the law's main rule, not an exception to it. What that takes, where a spreadsheet falls short, and what to ask of a service.

In short

Digital is the main rule. The law says the share register is to be kept by computer, and lets a company that is not an avstämningsbolag (one whose shares are not registered with a central securities depository) use a bound book or a safe loose-leaf or card system instead (ABL 5 kap. 2 §).

No tool is required or approved. The law names no program, no file format and no way of signing. A spreadsheet, a database and an online service are all allowed.

The duties are the same whatever the tool. The board is responsible for keeping the register, preserving it and making it available (5 kap. 7 §). A service is where the register is kept. It does not take over the responsibility.

What the law asks of it

The contents: Every share's number, the holder with id number and postal address, the class, whether an aktiebrev exists, and the förbehåll (5 kap. 5 §). Read more: What is a share register (aktiebok)?
A date on every entry: Entries and notes are dated, unless the day is clear from other material at hand (5 kap. 9 §).
What is removed is kept: What has been taken out of a register kept by computer is kept for at least ten years (5 kap. 3 §). A sold block is not simply typed over.
It can be shown: Whoever asks is given the chance to read a current printout at the company (5 kap. 10 §), and at a general meeting the whole register is available as it stands that day (7 kap. 28 §).
It lasts: The register is kept for as long as the company exists and at least ten years after (5 kap. 3 §). That is longer than most programs and subscriptions last.
Personal data: The company is the controller of the personal data in its register (5 kap. 4 §). A service handles it on the company's behalf, under a data processing agreement.

A spreadsheet

A register in Excel or another spreadsheet is allowed, and for a company with a few owners and no changes it is enough. A free one with the right columns is in A share register template.

What a spreadsheet does not do is keep the register for you:

It lets you type over a row. The old holder is then gone, and the law says what is removed is to be kept. On a spreadsheet the old row has to be struck through and left, and the new holder given a new row.
It does not check the numbers. Nothing stops a share number from standing on two rows, or on none.
It does not date anything. The day of each entry is typed by hand, or forgotten.
It is a file, and files multiply. Three copies in three inboxes, and the board has to know which one is the register.
It does no sums for you. Each owner's share of the capital and the votes is worked out beside it, by hand.

What to ask of a service

The register outlives the service it is kept in, and the board answers for it the whole time. Six questions to ask before choosing one, this one included.

Can everything come out?: The whole register with its history, in a file that can be read without the service. It is the only protection against a service that closes or changes its price.
Is the history kept?: Every change as an entry of its own, with its day and the document behind it, and nothing typed over.
Can it show any day?: The register as it stands today for whoever asks, and as it stood on the day of a general meeting or a dividend.
Who can read and who can change?: The board decides who makes entries (5 kap. 9 §). Shareholders, an accountant and an auditor should be able to read without being able to change.
What does it cost as you grow?: Many services charge by the number of shareholders or per feature. Work out the price for the number of owners you expect in three years.
Where is the personal data, and on what terms?: A register holds personnummer and home addresses. The service should say where they are stored and give the company an agreement on how it handles them.

In aktiebok.io

aktiebok.io is a share register kept by computer in the law's sense, and it is free. This is how a company starts.

What you doIn aktiebok.io

What you doHave the company's organisation number and bolagsordning at hand.

In aktiebok.ioSign in with your email and create the company: its name, organisation number, share classes and förbehåll.

What you doBring in the register you have: a paper book, a spreadsheet, or an export from another service.

In aktiebok.ioAdd entry, then Formation and each change after it, or move the whole register in at once: see Moving a share register.

What you doSomething happens to the shares: an issue, a sale, a split.

In aktiebok.ioOne entry, with its day and the document behind it. Or say it to your AI, which drafts the entry for you to review and confirm.

What you doSomeone asks to see the register.

In aktiebok.ioExport gives it as a PDF or an Excel file, in Swedish or English, for the day chosen on the page: today or an earlier day.

What you doYou want to leave, or just to hold a copy of your own.

In aktiebok.ioExport, with every part chosen, gives everything: the register, the cap table, the history, the holders and the notes.

An example

An example · Blåsippan Robotics AB

The founders of Blåsippan Robotics AB kept the register in a spreadsheet from the formation in 2024. Before the first new issue, in 2025, they move it to aktiebok.io.

The spreadsheet has two rows: Astrid Lindqvist with shares 1 to 40 000 and Johan Berg with 40 001 to 70 000, both entered on 12 March 2024.
They create the company and enter the formation, dated 12 March 2024, with the stiftelseurkund as basis and the same day under Entered in the earlier register. The register shows the same two rows.
They keep the spreadsheet, as the record of what the register was until then.
The issue to Sara Nyström in June 2025 is the first entry made in aktiebok.io: shares 70 001 to 90 000, numbered by the app and stamped with the day they were entered.

The spreadsheet

Share register.xlsx

Share registerBlåsippan Robotics AB · 559412-3087

Share numbersClassShareholderEntered

1–40 000AAstrid Lindqvist2024-03-12

40 001–70 000AJohan Berg2024-03-12

Also id number, address, share certificate and förbehåll.

The same register in aktiebok.io

aktiebok.io · Blåsippan Robotics AB

Cap tableRegisterHistory

Share numbersClassHolderEntered

1–40 000AAstrid Lindqvist2024-03-12

40 001–70 000AJohan Berg2024-03-12

2 rows · 70 000 shares, numbered 1–70 000

Questions that come up

Is a share register in Excel or Google Sheets allowed?: Yes. The law asks for a register kept by computer and names no program (5 kap. 2 §). It has to hold what the law lists, keep what is removed, and be preserved.
Is there a digital share register at Bolagsverket?: No. Bolagsverket registers the company, its share capital and its number of shares. The share register is the company's own and is not kept or filed there.
Does a digital register have to be signed, with BankID or otherwise?: No. The law asks for no signature on the register. It asks that entries are dated and that the board answers for the register.
Do we have to use a particular service?: No, and a company may change from one to another. What it must be able to do is take its whole register with it.
What do we do with the old paper book?: Keep it, for at least ten years after every share was entered in the new register (5 kap. 3 §).
May our accountant keep the register for us?: Yes. Entries are made by the board or by someone the board has authorised (5 kap. 9 §). The responsibility stays with the board (5 kap. 7 §).
Is there a free digital share register?: Yes. aktiebok.io costs nothing, and everything can be exported at any time.

This page is guidance on keeping the register right, following aktiebolagslagen (2005:551) as amended through SFS 2026:783. It is not legal or tax advice.

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