Excel’s Formula Bar Gets a New Look

Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2408 Build 16.0.17928.20336) 64-bit

After updating to the above build, I too found my Excel had changed to a Monospaced font and the option mentioned above is not available:

However, I changed the default font and size under General, restarted Excel and like magic it's fixed:

The option to turn it off is not there. 

Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2408 Build 16.0.17928.20336) 64-bit

Microsoft just loves to force changes no one asked for on their customers, while ignoring issues that have been complained about in forums for years.

Hate this monospaced font ! Why was option not kept to turn it off ?

Other idiotic changes (like the ribbon, or adding a text to a shortcut in quick access tool bar) can be neutralized, so why not with this horrible change ?

I do not have the option to disable the monospace feature that just started in my excel today. Any suggestions? There is no prompt for "Use monospace for all formulas" when I go to Options > Formulas

Was that removed again? My company laptop got upgraded to 2408 Build 16.0.17928.20336 today, Language setting is German.

The formula bar looks awful the moment I try to edit anything. Like variable-width font being used on a fixed width grid. I looked at the options to see whether I could change anything there. The checkbox described here is missing. Wasn't it introduced with 2405? What is happening?

I tried to switch language to English. Surprisingly the strange effect does not happen then. As soon as I go back to German as display language, it is back.

The setting of the checkbox is ignored. Whether or not it is checked, my formula bar has lost the monospaced font.

Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2412 Build 16.0.18311.20000) 64-bit

I agree that is a good decision.  Especially since some of the examples quoted didn't even look like they were monospaced.  Just to reply to the sarcastic tone of the word 'improvement', for me the change to non-proportional font wasn't about aesthetics, I needed as a matter of practicality.  For example, one Excel formula I wrote recently was

/* FUNCTION NAME:  MAPλ
    DESCRIPTION:    Implements a version of MAP that will return an array of arrays */
/*  REVISIONS:      Date            Developer           Description
                    28 Aug 2024     Peter Bartholomew   Adapted from BYROWλ to give MAPλ 
                    31 Aug 2024     Peter Bartholomew   JOINPAIRSλ modified to stack 2D result arrays
                    10 Sep 2024     Peter Bartholomew   Modified to accept 3 array argumments before λ-function
*/
MAPλ = LAMBDA(
    //  Parameter Declarations     
    [array1],
    [array2],
    [array3],
    [fnλ],
    //  Procedure
    LET(
        help, TRIM(
            TEXTSPLIT(
                "DESCRIPTION:   →Implements a version of MAP that will return an array of arrays.¶" &
                    "VERSION:       →10 Sep 2024    Peter Bartholomew ¶" & 
                    "    →¶" &
                    "PARAMETERS:    →¶" &
                    "  array1       →(Required) An array of values. ¶" &
                    "  array2       →(Optional) An array of values of the same dimension as array1 ¶" &
                    "  array3       →(Optional) An array of values of the same dimension as array1 ¶" &
                    "               →           (if the optional arrays are omitted, fnλ moves up). ¶" &
                    "  fnλ          →(Required) A lambda function that accepts 1 to 3 arrays as input.",
                "→",
                "¶"
            )
        ),
    //  Check inputs
        // Locate and set function
        args, IFS(
            NOT(ISOMITTED(fnλ)),    3,
            NOT(ISOMITTED(array3)), 2, 
            NOT(ISOMITTED(array2)), 1
        ),
        _fnλ, IFS(
            args=1, array2, 
            args=2, array3,
            args=3, fnλ),
        fnλ, IF(TYPE(_fnλ) <> 128, #VALUE!, _fnλ),

        // Set and check arrays
        PRESENT, LAMBDA(x, AND(NOT(ISOMITTED(x)), x<>"", TYPE(x)<>128)),
        _array1, IF(PRESENT(array1), array1, #VALUE!),
        _array2, IF(args>=2, IF(PRESENT(array2), array2, #VALUE!)),  
        _array3, IF(args>=3, IF(PRESENT(array3), array3, #VALUE!)),  

        //  Procedure
        m, ROWS(_array1),
        n, COLUMNS(_array1),
        // Implements MAP, returning thunked results at each step
        thunkArrayϑ, IFS(
            args=1, MAP(_array1,                    LAMBDA(_arg,                LET(term, _fnλ(_arg),                THUNK(term)))),
            args=2, MAP(_array1, _array2,           LAMBDA(_arg1, _arg2,        LET(term, _fnλ(_arg1, _arg2),        THUNK(term)))),
            args=3, MAP(_array1, _array2, _array3,  LAMBDA(_arg1, _arg2, _arg3, LET(term, _fnλ(_arg1, _arg2, _arg3), THUNK(term))))
            ),

        // Recombine pairs of thunks as a binary tree until the root node is reached
            // First work across the rows, finishing with one summary thunk per row
        h, SEQUENCE(LEN(BASE(n - 1, 2))),
        recombinedRowsϑ, IF(n>1, BYROW(thunkArrayϑ, LAMBDA(thunkRowϑ, @REDUCE(thunkRowϑ, h, JOINPAIRSλ(1)))), thunkArrayϑ),
            // Next work down the columns, finishing with a single summary thunk
        k, SEQUENCE(LEN(BASE(m - 1, 2))),
        recombinedϑ, IF(m>1, REDUCE(recombinedRowsϑ, k, JOINPAIRSλ(0)), recombinedRowsϑ),
            // Evaluate the combined thunk and remove #N/A caused by stacking uneven arrays
        result, IFNA((@recombinedϑ)(),""),

        //  Handle Error
        error, MAX(ISERROR(result) + 1),
        //  Return result
        return, CHOOSE(error, result, Help),
        return
    )
);

/*  FUNCTION NAME:  JOINPAIRSλ
    DESCRIPTION:    Called by modified helper function to stack the contents of thunks pairwise */
/*  REVISIONS:      Date            Developer           Description
                    09 May 2024     Peter Bartholomew   Original Development  
                    16 May 2024     Peter Bartholomew   Test for unpaired thunk in binary tree
                    30 Aug 2024     Peter Bartholomew   Modify to stack horizontally or vertically
*/

JOINPAIRSλ = LAMBDA([by_col], LAMBDA(thunkArray, [k],
    LET(
        alternate, WRAPROWS(thunkArray, 2, thunk("")),
        firstpart, TAKE(alternate, , 1),
        finalpart, TAKE(alternate, , -1),
        MAP(
            firstpart,
            finalpart,
            LAMBDA(ϑ₁, ϑ₂,
                LET(
                    x₁, (@ϑ₁)(), 
                    x₂, (@ϑ₂)(), 
                    v, IF(@x₂ = "", 
                        x₁, 
                        IF(by_col, HSTACK(x₁, x₂), VSTACK(x₁, x₂))
                    ), 
                    THUNK(v)
                )
            )
        )
    )
));

That finished up in the AFE and uploaded to GitHub but it started life as a cell formula.  It is almost impossible to keep track matched parentheses with a proportional font.  I realise that this is not what most users would even consider as spreadsheet formulas, but we don't all have the same needs.

THANKS!

And I hope that these "improvements" will be optional in future!?

Agreed, great to hear the big corporates actually listening to their customers. Only question would be why they changed it in the 1st place being that general feedback from users is so negative.

Well, to give credit where it's due, thanks for listening and making it optional. I can see that option in the dialogue box now, so I'm on the latest version.