Excel for Mac 2016 version 16.9.0 has been live since Jan 2018 and there have been several updates after that. The version 16 release is powered by the Office Code convergence. It’s built from the same codebase as Excel for Windows, while also being integrated with macOS and tailored to Mac UI and capabilities like TouchBar. It has been an exciting journey as we worked on massive code alignment under the hood, bringing in many new user features and making it one of the best and fastest versions of Excel for Mac.
Excel for Mac has a very large and engaged customer base and it’s very important for us to continue to delight and improve the product based on our customer’s desires. Excel’s UserVoice is a site we use to capture feature request from our customers. Overall, we are proud to announce that with the version 16 release , we have addressed more than 50% of the Mac features by votes as requested by our customers! It is important to note that those some of these updates or new features are included only for our Office 365 subscribers. See below for some of the key features:
- Collaborative Editing and AutoSave
Work with others at the same time in your workbook. Check out the thumbnails in the upper-right corner of the window show who else is viewing or editing the file with you. Also, now Excel is equipped with AutoSave for files stored on OneDrive or SharePoint Online. AutoSave is exactly what it sounds like: Your file is automatically saved every few seconds. Plus, if other people are working in the same file, they can see your changes almost instantaneously. And if you need to roll back, simply check your file’s version history for a list of changes and access earlier copies. AutoSave can be switched on and off using a dedicated toggle button in the ribbon.
- More charts
Use new charts, such as funnel, sunburst and histogram, to transform your data into professional visualizations, or use the new Map chart type to transform geographic data into a beautiful map to tell your story.
- More functions
Shorten the formulas you write using the new logical functions IFS and SWITCH.
- Better support for PivotTable charts
Change your fields and filters in a PivotTable, and the chart you created will automatically adjust to show exactly what you want.
- Slice and dice your table data
You loved slicers for PivotTables. Now you can also use them for Tables to filter your data and see what filters you’ve applied.
6. Improved Visual Basic Editor (Shipped in Oct 2017 update)
Create and edit macros in the Visual Basic Editor using IntelliSense, VBA menus and toolbars, debug tools, an object browser, and more.
7. Speed up calculations
By taking advantage of multiple processing threads, Excel recalculates formulas much faster when values are changed.
This feature request (Will Excel for Mac 2016 utilize multiple cores on Mac?) was one of the top UserVoice requests with over 1730 votes and 700 comments. Since this feature was introduced, the impact has been great, as noted in these customer quotes:
“Yesterday's update had a HUGE improvement in performance. Rivals Excel on Windows for my financial model.” – Anonymous Uservoice customer
“The new update is fantastic. It now takes 40 seconds to update our biggest model. Thank you so much for your dedication to the Mac platform! “ – Paul Ljucovic, SVP Finance and Operations, Asics Canada
We believe with 64-bit version of Mac Office (released in Sept. 2016) and with the multithreaded processing enabled, Excel for Mac 2016 version 16 is the fastest ever!
8. Precision selecting
Ever selected too many cells or the wrong ones? You can now deselect extraneous cells without having to start over.
With the shared cross-platform code, we are able to light up new Office features more quickly and closer to simultaneously across various platforms. The precision selecting is one such feature which shipped in Windows and Mac version simultaneously. It’s a great win for customers who use Office on different platforms since it’s now easier than ever to keep working on different devices.
We love hearing from our customers. To stay connected to Excel and its community, read Excel blog posts, and send us ideas and suggestions for the next version of Excel through UserVoice. You can also follow Excel on Facebook and Twitter. We also know that there might be certain scenarios that are not acting the way they use to, please let us know by sending a smile or a frown from the app (top right hand corner). We will do our best to respond to the top suggestions as we continue to make deep investments in the product.
-Sangeeta Mudnal, PM Manager, Excel Team