Excel Turns 40: Join the Celebration!
This year marks a major milestone—Microsoft Excel turns 40! In honor of four decades of innovation, we’re kicking off “40 Days of Excel”, a global community celebration spotlighting the features that made Excel iconic. It all started on September 30, 1985, when Excel debuted on the Macintosh, introducing a revolutionary graphical interface for spreadsheets. Since then, Excel has evolved into a productivity powerhouse, empowering people and organizations across the globe. Starting today, August 6, we’ll count down to Excel’s birthday with 40 days of features—each one introduced by an Excel MVP or Creator. These passionate experts will share what makes each feature special, offer pro tips, and tell personal stories of how Excel has shaped their work and creativity. This isn’t just a look back—it’s a 40-day journey through Excel’s evolution, packed with nostalgia, insights, and surprises. We invite you to follow along, learn something new, and share your own Excel memories with us. #Excel40 --- Day 1 Let's get started with some favorite keyboard shortcuts—Deb Ashby Day 2 Some favorite number formatting tricks—Leila Gharani Day 3 Save time every single day with Freeze Panes—Grant Day 4 One of the most iconic and enduring features: AutoSum—Bill Jelen aka Mr. Excel Day 5 Some PivotTable tips and tricks—Leila Gharani Day 6 Automate your workflow in seconds with macro recorder—Grant Day 7 VBA and charting—Jon Peltier Day 8 Use Goal Seek to quickly solve for the exact input value needed to reach a desired result—Bill Jelen aka Mr. Excel Day 9 Conditional formatting—John Michaloudis Day 10 Use data validation to help minimize errors in your spreadsheets—Deb Ashby Day 11 Filter by selection—John Michaloudis Day 12 Excel Tables (aka Ctrl-T tables)—by Jon Acampora Day 13 Dynamic charting with Tables—Jon Peltier Day 14 Show trends at a glance with sparklines—Grant Day 15 Reminiscing and reflecting on a favorite feature: Power Query—Oz du Soleil Day 16 Another favorite feature: PowerPivot—Ken Puls Day 17 Filter data using slicers—Aline Day 18 Analyze trends over time using timeline—Sheet Sensei Day 19 Automatically fill your data using Flash Fill when it senses a pattern—Jon Peltier Day 20 AutoSave had me—Leila Gharani Day 21 Instead of tennising emails, just add a threaded comment—Mynda Treacy Day 22 Create your own customized views using Sheet View—Deb Ashby Day 23 See what changes others have made to your workbook using Show Changes—Jon Acampora Day 24 An all time favorite dynamic array function: the FILTER function—Excel Dictionary Day 25 One of Miss Excel's favorite features: XLOOKUP—Miss Excel Day 26 Find UNIQUE values in your data—Aline Day 27 Write your own Excel functions with LET & LAMBDA—Dim Day 28 Dynamic charting with dynamic arrays—Jon PeltierAdvanced Formula Environment is becoming Excel Labs, a Microsoft Garage Project!
Today, we are thrilled to announce our continued investment in experimentation through the release of Excel Labs, a Microsoft Garage project. Excel Labs is an add-in that allows us to release experimental ideas for you to try, and to give us feedback that helps us evolve Excel to be most useful for you.New in Excel for the web: Power Query Refresh & Data Source Settings for authenticated data sources
We’ve reached yet another milestone in Excel for the web: Power Query Refresh is now generally available for queries sourcing data from selected authenticated data sources. As we released the ability to refresh Power Query data from anonymous data sources (link), it was only a matter of time until we added the ability to refresh Power Query data from authenticated data sources, which are the majority of data sources used, and require users to enter credentials. This milestone also enables us to release Import with Copilot to Excel for the Web (following Win32 and Mac), as it relies on Power Query for refreshing data. Getting started These new functionalities are available to all users on Excel for the Web. See this support article for more information on Power Query data sources in Excel versions. efresh a data source in Excel for the web using Power Query Refreshing Power Query queries You can now refresh the Power Query queries in your workbook that source data from a selection of authenticated data sources: Select the Data tab > then choose Refresh All Open the Queries Pane > then select Refresh When you refresh a query, if authentication is needed, you can select the relevant method – anonymous, user and password, or your organizational account. For example, to refresh organizational data, select the respective method: Your user will be automatically identified (you can also switch it, if needed), so you can easily click “Connect” to continue the refresh process. The list of supported connectors includes: SharePoint* files (Excel workbooks, TXT, CSV, XML, JSON, PDF) SharePoint* folders SharePoint Online List SharePoint List SQL Server Database OData Feed Web API IBM Db2 Database PostgreSQL Database Azure SQL Database Azure Synapse Analytics Azure HDInsight (HDFS) Azure Blob Azure Table Azure Data Lake Storage Gen 1 Azure Data Lake Storage Gen 2 Azure Data Explorer Dataflows Dataverse Microsoft Exchange Online Dynamics 365 (Online) Salesforce Objects Salesforce Reports *SharePoint/OneDrive for work or school The refresh happens behind the scenes so you can keep editing the workbook while refreshing. Note: There is a limit for 1000 data source credentials. For example, if you connect to the same data source with 2 different users, it counts as 2.. Managing queries using Data Source Settings You can now view and manage data source credentials for the Power Query queries in your workbook using Data Source Settings: Select the Data tab > then choose 'Data Source Settings’. Choose between ‘Current Workbook’ and ‘Global Permissions’ to view and manage data sources credentials in the current workbook or across all workbooks, respectively. To delete the credentials stored for a data source, click on the ‘Delete’ button. To edit the credentials stored for a data source, click on the ‘Edit credentials’ button. In addition, we’re introducing a new functionality in Data Source Settings – authenticating to a data source that exists in the workbook from within the dialog: Select the Data tab > then choose ‘Data Source Settings’. Navigate to ‘Current Workbook’. Click on the ‘Add credentials’ button: What’s next? Future plans include releasing the full Power Query Editor experience to Excel for the Web. Feedback We hope you like this new addition to Excel and we’d love to hear what you think about it! Let us know by using the Feedback button in the top right corner in Excel - add #PowerQuery in your feedback so that we can find it easily. Want to know more about Excel for the web? See What's new in Excel for the web and subscribe to our Excel 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 Twitter. Jonathan Kahati, Gal Zivoni ~ Excel Team
Explain Formulas with Copilot—Now on the Grid
Understanding complex formulas in Excel just got a lot easier. The new Explain Formula feature turns Copilot into your inline assistant, delivering clear, step-by-step breakdowns directly on the grid, right next to your data, no need to switch context or open the chat pane. What makes this especially powerful is that the explanations are contextual, grounded in your actual data and workbook, not generic descriptions. By bringing the explanation to where you’re working, Copilot helps you stay in flow. It’s a seamless, in-the-moment experience that makes it easy to scan, understand, and act on formulas right where you need it most. How It Works Here’s how to get an explanation in just a few clicks: Select a cell with a valid formula A Copilot icon appears next to the cell Click “Explain this formula” from the dropdown Copilot shows a step-by-step explanation directly on the grid Need to dive deeper? Click “Chat with Copilot” to continue the conversation in the side pane Note: If the Copilot chat pane is already open, the explanation will be displayed there instead of on the grid. What It Does: Contextual Formula Explanations When you select a formula cell, Copilot can now explain what that formula does using a dedicated card shown in the grid. Helping you quickly understand what the formula does based on your actual data and context, not just a generic description. This makes it easy to: ✅ Understand the formula’s goal in your workbook ✅ Learn how it works, function by function ✅ Build confidence without ever leaving your sheet For example, given this formula: =I4 * XLOOKUP(H4, $L$4:$L$7, $M$4:$M$7) With just a click, Copilot will explain that: Because the explanation is tailored to your actual data and scenario, it’s faster to grasp, easier to verify, and more relevant to your work. Copilot provides the clarity you need right where you need it. Copilot Can Explain Any Excel formula No matter how simple or complex, Copilot can explain any Excel formula. Whether you're working with math, logic, references, arrays, or text manipulation, Copilot helps you understand what’s going on and why. Availability This feature is gradually rolling out to Excel for Windows and Excel for the web. Feedback We’d love to hear how this new experience is working for you. Let us know: ✔️ Was the explanation clear and easy to understand? ✔️ Was it easy to access the explanation when you needed it? ✔️ Did the overall experience feel intuitive and helpful? Just click the 👍 or 👎 at the bottom of the Copilot response to share your thoughts. Your feedback helps us refine the experience and prioritize what’s next.
