Happy Halloween to those who celebrate!
Welcome to our October 2023 update! This month we are excited to share several new features rolling out across Excel for the web, Windows, and Mac. The Automate Work button, Formula Authoring Enhancements, and Queries and Connection Pane are now available in Excel for the web. Web Connector Enhancements and Optimized Narrator Screen Announcements have started rolling out to users of Excel for Windows; and Checkboxes in Cells and the ability to control your Data Conversions, to Insider users [on Excel for Windows].
Many of these features are the result of your feedback. THANK YOU! Your continued Feedback in Action (#FIA) helps make Excel better for everyone.
Excel for the web
- Automate Work Button
- Formula Authoring Enhancements
- Queries and Connections Pane
Excel for Windows
- Checkboxes in Cells (Insiders) #FIA
- Control Data Conversions #FIA
- Web Connector Enhancements #FIA
- Optimizing Screen Narrator Announcements
Excel for Mac
- Control Data Conversions #FIA
Excel for the web
1. Automate Work Button
The new "Automate Work" button replaces the "Automate a Task" button, extending Power Automate capabilities to Excel for the web by providing access to pre-built templates and allowing users to build workflows quickly and easily – within Excel for the web. Read more here >
'Automate Work' Button powered by Power Automate
2. Formula Authoring Enhancements
The new Formula Authoring Enhancements will help simplify the process of creating and fixing formulas, allowing you to work on your spreadsheets more confidently.
- Insert Function Dialog: Simplifies the process of building complex formulas, as it provides a user-friendly interface to help you select the right function and its arguments.
- Parentheses Coupling: Enhances the readability of long or complex formulas by visually highlighting the corresponding pair of parentheses based on your cursor's position.
- Monospaced Font: Introduces a fixed-width font experience in formula edit mode, improving the formula creation, editing, and reading experience.
- Value Preview: Simplifies the evaluation and troubleshooting of formulas by providing real-time displays of the value associated with any part of a formula when you hover your mouse pointer over the section or select it.
3. Queries and Connections Pane
By using the Queries & Connections pane, you can:
- Delete a query
- Rename a query
- Duplicate a query
- Drag and drop a query into a folder, or change its order
To open it, go to Data > Queries & Connections. This feature is already supported for Windows users.
Queries and Connections Pane
Excel for Windows
| #FIA |
1. Checkboxes in Cells (Insiders)
Simplify data entry and reduce errors with Checkboxes in Excel. You can now quickly visualize and set TRUE and FALSE values in a cell using checkboxes. Read more here >
Checkboxes in Cells
| #FIA |
2. Control Data Conversions
This new functionality allows you to change Excel’s default behavior and disable specific types of automatic data conversions as needed. This way, you won’t need to worry about your data being converted to a format that you didn’t want and weren’t expecting. This feature is currently rolling out to Windows and Mac users. Read more here >
Control your Data Conversions
| #FIA |
3. Web Connector Enhancements
The web connector for Excel (AKA Get Data From Web) is a powerful tool that allows you to connect to websites and import data into your Excel workbook. The Web connector leverages the strength of Power Query in Excel to import data. You can also refresh your data connection to get the latest updates from the selected websites. Read more here >
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Suggested Tables: Provides auto-detection of suggested tables, so you can easily structure your data.
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Add Table Using Examples: Allows you to provide examples of what you want your data to look like, and select from AI-generated table structures based on the examples provided.
Web Connector Enhancements
4. Optimizing Screen Narrator Announcements
Announcements are now more concise, customizable via keyboard shortcuts, and give more context about your spreadsheet. You can turn on Narrator on any Windows device by pressing Ctrl + Windows + Enter. Read more here >
Excel for Mac
| #FIA |
1. Control Data Conversions
This new functionality allows you to change Excel’s default behavior and disable specific types of automatic data conversions as needed. This way, you won’t need to worry about your data being converted to a format that you didn’t want and weren’t expecting. This feature is currently rolling out to Windows and Mac users. Read more here >
Control your Data Conversions
Check if a specific feature is in your version of ExcelClick here to open in a new browser tab
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Your feedback helps shape the future of Excel. Please let us know how you like a particular feature and what we can improve upon—"Give a compliment" or "Make a suggestion".. You can also submit new ideas or vote for other ideas via Microsoft Feedback.
Subscribe to our Excel Blog and the Insiders Blog to get the latest updates. Stay connected with us and other Excel fans around the world – join our Excel Community and follow us on X, formerly Twitter.
Special thanks to our Excel MVPs David Benaim and Bill Jelen for their contribution to this month's What's New in Excel article. David publishes weekly YouTube videos and regular LinkedIn posts about the latest innovations in Excel and more. Bill is the founder and host of MrExcel.com and the author of several books bout Excel.
Microsoft
