Slicers not appearing for Excel Online
Hi all I downloaded an Excel spreadsheet from a course I am taking online. I created a pivot table and chart as instructed by the instructor. The next step is to add slicers. I am not seeing the "analyze" or the "slicer" button anywhere. At one point, I think I did see the "slicer" action but it was greyed out. Is this option even available on Excel online ? Where can I "add on" this feature. Thanks !
Excel App Builder: Should Excel Support Turning Workbooks into Standalone Low-Code Applications?
Excel has been much more than a spreadsheet application for a long time. In many organizations, Excel is already used as an informal low-code development platform. Advanced workbooks often contain not only data and formulas, but complete domain-specific logic: calculation models, planning tools, dashboards, input forms, reports, simulations, administrative workflows, and sometimes even small internal business applications. This is one of Excel’s greatest strengths. It allows domain experts, power users, analysts, engineers, teachers, consultants, and small businesses to build working tools without becoming full-time software developers. However, there is a structural limitation: the final product usually remains an Excel workbook. That creates several problems: the user needs a compatible Excel installation, macro security and Trust Center settings can block functionality, formulas and business logic are difficult to protect properly, distribution and updates are not as clean as with real applications, workbook-based tools often look less professional than standalone software, user interface, data, and logic are often mixed together in the same file. I believe Microsoft could turn this existing reality into a major strategic opportunity. Core proposal: Excel App Builder / Excel Runtime My suggestion is an official Excel App Builder or Excel Runtime. The idea would be to allow selected Excel workbooks to be packaged as protected standalone applications. Excel would continue to serve as the calculation, data, and automation engine in the background. The end user would not necessarily see the workbook itself. Instead, they would interact with a clean application interface: input forms, buttons, dashboards, charts, reports, controlled tables, and export options. Possible output formats could include: Windows apps, web apps, Teams apps, SharePoint apps, mobile-friendly internal tools, protected specialist applications. This would not replace Power Apps. In my view, it could complement Power Apps very well. Excel could remain the place where fast domain logic, calculations, prototypes, and models are created. Power Apps, Dataverse, Azure, and the wider Microsoft ecosystem could then support larger, scalable, enterprise-level workflows. In other words: Excel could become the natural entry point into Microsoft’s low-code ecosystem. Why this could matter strategically Excel already has an enormous “hidden developer base”: people who are not traditional programmers, but who build useful tools with formulas, tables, Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA, Office Scripts, and now AI assistance. This is a unique market position. Many of these users would not start with C#, JavaScript, Python, or a full application framework. But they already start with Excel. They already build the logic there. The missing step is a professional way to package, protect, distribute, and update those solutions. An official App Builder could: strengthen Excel’s long-term relevance, differentiate Excel from simpler spreadsheet competitors, create a stronger bridge between Excel and Power Platform, give power users a professional deployment path, create new commercial licensing opportunities, reduce the need for fragile VBA/UI workarounds, make Excel-based tools more secure and maintainable. Example use cases A small engineering office creates a technical calculation workbook and exports it as a protected customer tool. A school or university builds a grading, diagnostic, or planning tool with Excel logic but provides staff with a clean app interface. A small business turns an Excel-based quotation calculator into an internal sales app. A finance department packages a planning model as a controlled scenario tool for managers. A consultant builds specialized calculation tools and distributes them professionally without exposing the workbook structure. These are not exotic scenarios. Many people already build this kind of logic in Excel today. The difference would be that Microsoft could provide an official, safe, and professional deployment path. Supporting features that would make this stronger 1. Modern UI layer for Excel-based apps Excel-based applications would need a modern interface layer: forms, dialogs, navigation pages, buttons, card layouts, dashboards, responsive views, mobile-friendly layouts, role-based views, binding to cells, tables, named ranges, and data models. This would create a clearer separation between data, logic, and user interface. 2. Protected workbook logic A professional app export would require strong protection options: hidden formulas, protected named ranges, protected scripts or macro logic, defined input areas, digital signing, controlled editing, update mechanisms, possible licensing controls for commercial distribution. 3. Formula cells with controlled manual override One frequent Excel problem is that users overwrite formulas. A useful new cell mode could be: default formula + optional manual override The cell would keep the original formula internally but allow a controlled manual exception value. Excel could show whether the formula is active or manually overridden. This would remove many helper-column and VBA workarounds in planning, pricing, grading, budgeting, and technical models. 4. Native database layer inside Excel Excel is widely used as a database, even when that becomes fragile. A native database layer could support: primary keys, relationships between tables, required fields, validation rules, change history, duplicate detection, form views, simple queries, optional cloud synchronization. This should feel like a natural extension of Excel tables, not like a separate database product. 5. Multidimensional workbook models Many workbooks use separate sheets for months, locations, versions, departments, or scenarios. This often creates duplication and maintenance problems. Excel could support native dimensions for tables and models, for example: time period, location, scenario, version, department. Formulas, charts, dashboards, and PivotTables could become dimension-aware. This would be especially useful for financial planning, controlling, simulations, scientific models, and project planning. Why now? AI is changing how people build with Excel. Copilot and other AI tools make it easier for non-programmers to generate formulas, scripts, models, and structured workflows. That means more users will be able to build complex Excel-based solutions. But if AI helps users create more advanced workbooks, the next logical question is: How can these workbooks be safely packaged, shared, protected, and used as real tools? An Excel App Builder could be the answer. Possible first step This does not need to start as a massive platform. A realistic first version could be experimental: selected workbook ranges, simple input forms, protected formulas, dashboard view, Windows or web runtime, export as an internal app, optional Teams or SharePoint integration. It could even begin as an Excel Labs / Microsoft Garage style experiment to test demand and gather feedback from power users, developers, and organizations. Core question for the community Excel is already used as a hidden development platform. Should Microsoft make this official? Would an Excel App Builder / Excel Runtime be useful for your organization, clients, or internal tools? Which feature would matter most in a first version? protected workbook runtime, modern UI layer, formula override cells, native database layer, multidimensional models, Power Platform integration, commercial app distribution? I would be very interested to hear how other Excel users, developers, MVPs, and Microsoft product people see this idea. In short: Excel already allows millions of people to build domain-specific logic. Microsoft could turn that strength into an official, secure, and economically attractive low-code application platform.
PivotTable Date Slicer Not Visible in Excel for the Web (Works in Desktop)
Hi everyone, I'm experiencing an issue with Excel for the web and was hoping to get some help. I have an Excel workbook that is linked to a 'Microsoft Forms' form. The form responses automatically populate the main sheet, and from that data I've created several PivotTables. In one of the PivotTables, I added a date slicer to filter the data. Everything was working fine at first, but recently the slicer is no longer visible in Excel for the web. However, when I open the same workbook in Excel Desktop, the slicer is visible and it works as expected. What I have tried so far: Recreating the PivotTable and adding a new slicer Creating a completely new PivotTable and slicer Checked if the slicer is hidden by adjusting the zoom Unfortunately, the issue persists in Excel for the web. Has anyone experienced this before and found a workaround? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Excel 365 Sheet Views are not working
I have 7 different Sheet views in a shared document, they were working fine until about a month ago. Since then I have tried everything, I deleted them, created them again and they don't work. When I create them they look fine but once my collaborators enter to work on the spreadsheet all the views start showing the default view. The sheet has the black border and the eye in the tab. How can I solve thiscombine multiple text into single line of text
Hi is there a way to combine all the cells into a single cell (of text) ignoring the duplicates/repeat values. i know concatenate but that function becomes very lengthy as ill have to define every cell into the function individually. is there any other function where i simply select the entire data (like an array) and it can do the required.Excel Pivot Table shows all records but one row is displaying blanks for some columns
Hello, My Excel pivot table returns all rows that should be returned according to filters applied directly to column filters in the pivot table itself, or via some Slicers that I've created off of this pivot table. For 2 particular Business Units, there is one row (again, that is properly returned as a row in the filtered pivot table - i.e., no 'missing' records) that shows values in the first 4 columns of the pivot table, but does not display the values in the subsequent 9 columns, despite the fact that the data is fully populated in the Source data. The one source field I've added to the 'Values' section of the pivot table (Report Count) does display values as expected. Troubleshooting tried so far: I've ensured that my Named Range data source is properly capturing the entire source dataset - i.e., no dataset rows or columns left off I've refreshed my pivot table numerous times after changing filters directly in the pivot table itself, as well as changing the filters in Slicers built off of that pivot table. In the Pivot Table Options, on the 'Data' tab: the 'Number of items to retain per field' is set to 'None'. And the 'Save source data with file' check box is not checked off. I've deleted/re-added the source data for the problematic, 'invisible' pivot table columns (not showing the data as expected) and refreshed the pivot table, but that did not correct the issue. I inserted a blank row adjacent to 1 of the 2 problematic records in the source data and copied the data from the problematic record into it, and deleted the original record and refreshed my pivot table, which also did not remediate the problem. I've also built another pivot table in the same workbook on a different Excel worksheet (using the same Named Range data source) and added all the same fields for one of the problematic records and they are all displaying normally. The only error message of any kind that is generated is when I go to one of the problematic records in the pivot table itself, select one of the cells in that row that is displaying a blank and then try to click on the Formula bar - the error message is, 'We can't change this part of the pivot table'. But, I believe this is a normal message if Excel senses that you're trying to update data in a pivot table. There are no error other messages or difficulty refreshing to report. Other relevant points: All told, I have 239 total rows in my source data, and all rows appear normally in the pivot table with the exception of these 2 problem records. There have been no other performance/display issues of concern outside of this one. This Excel workbook is mainly utilized on SharePoint by multiple Users, but for more complex updates/troubleshooting, I am easily able to bring it down to work in Excel Desktop as needed - and this problematic display with these 2 records is present regardless of whether I'm working with the file on SharePoint or with Desktop Excel. I can't think of what else to try at the moment - I've never seen anything like this in my 25+ years of working with Excel. I hope I'm missing something simple - any troubleshooting suggestions are greatly appreciated!Unwanted format changes on Excel worksheet in SharePoint
Hello - I've been working successfully with an Excel worksheet (.XLSX extension) that is published to SharePoint and has multiple Users viewing/updating data on this worksheet every day. Today, columns on this worksheet keep reverting back to varying widths (some way too wide and others way too narrow) despite going into the worksheet, re-formatting the column widths and saving the document. Other worksheets in the same workbook so far do not exhibit this behavior and are maintaining the desired column formatting (i.e., proper widths). I cannot figure out what is causing this unwanted formatting to happen and it has not happened before. I'm guessing this is an Excel issue, but might the SharePoint component be a factor as well? What are the potential causes of this, and what can I do to make the desired formatting remain and not revert back to the unwanted formatting? Thank you!
Sorting data on multiple sheets
Hi, I'm using Excel to track data from my team for analysis. I have 5 sheets in my workbook one for each week and a monthly overview. each week totals all data and totals are added to overview using SUM function, however when i sort a column, let's say i sort column a (Name) A-Z, all the data for each person on the monthly report changes. the same happens on the weekly sheets if i change the order of a column everything get mixed up so that each persons stats change. is there a way to stop this from happening? I want to be able to arrange it so that all the data in a row stays the same on each sheet
