Excel версия программного обеспечения

Ни для кого не секрет, что в пакете Microsoft Office одно из наиболее часто используемых приложений — Microsoft Excel . Ну, по умолчанию это электронная таблица с графическими инструментами, динамическими таблицами и языком программирования под названием «Visual Basic» , самый узнаваемый и используемый в мире. Учитывая это, он даже кроссплатформенный.

Однако, поскольку его запуск в 1985 году , существует множество версий Excel, которые были разработаны, и поэтому для некоторых людей очень интересно узнать, что такое каждая из этих версий, в деталях. Имея это в виду, последний из них был разработан и выпущен сейчас в 2019 году.

В этом смысле мы хотим рассказать вам, в основном, о наиболее важных функциях, которые делают Microsoft Excel уникальным инструментом, поскольку это электронная таблица. Кроме того, мы указываем каждая из существующих версий до сегодняшнего дня .

Прежде чем начинать список существующих версий Microsoft Excel с момента его создания до наших дней, чрезвычайно важно иметь в виду, какие особенности позиционируют эту программу Office как самый большой в мире для электронных таблиц. . Потому что благодаря этому он считается поистине уникальным инструментом для работы с электронными таблицами.

Таким образом, мы представляем вам эти характеристики ниже:

Имеет раскладку ячеек

С момента своего создания эта программа выделялась тем, что предлагала возможность ввода данных, как если бы вы делали это на листе бухгалтерских книг. ну это цифровая платформа, предназначенная для имитации этого, в частности .

Поэтому очень важный инструмент для профессионалов бухгалтерского учета , поскольку они смогли перенести большой переход с физической платформы на цифровую, но без необходимости вносить изменения в обычный формат.

Позволяет использовать функции

Без сомнения, еще одна из наиболее важных особенностей этой программы Office — это возможность пользователям использовать функции. Другими словами, он содержит уже предопределенные формулы, которые позволяют выполнять вычисления с помощью серии определенных значений и в определенном порядке. В способе упростить математические, статистические, базы данных, логические операции совместимости , И т.д.

Гарантирует простоту использования

Хотя требуются некоторые базовые знания в области бухгалтерского учета и управления формулами и инструментами, правда в том, что Microsoft Excel очень прост в использовании. Что ж, он содержит множество кнопок, которые упрощают его использование, и из-за этого пользователю не нужно будет изучать сложные команды для работы на этой цифровой платформе .

Предлагает создание макросов

Excel также выделяется тем, что упрощает создание макросов. Кто несет ответственность за запись сценария , чтобы пользователь мог выполнять эти действия автоматически.

Следует отметить, что для создания макросов используется язык VBA или Visual Basic для приложений, что позволяет добавлять новые функции или выполнять простые команды . Таким образом, сокращается рабочее время, уменьшается количество ошибок, и в конечном итоге ее можно классифицировать как более функциональную программу.

Хронология всех версий Excel, которые существовали на сегодняшний день

С другой стороны, мы дошли до раздела поста, в котором представляем вам, в хронологическом порядке, все существующие версии Microsoft Excel .

Конечно же, выделяя его наиболее характерные особенности, ниже:

Excel 1.0

Год выпуска: 1985

Как следует из названия, это первая версия этой программы Microsoft. Который, в первую очередь, был платформой, созданной для использоваться в операционной системе Macintosh .

Среди его особенностей, представляющих наибольший интерес, отметим, что благодаря графическому интерфейсу и его совместимость с мышью , он имеет заметное преимущество перед конкурентами, а именно над Lotus 1-2-3. Кроме того, отметим, что его создание было задано только для компьютеров. с платформой Apple MAC .

Excel 2.0

Год выпуска: 1987

Поскольку популярная операционная система Windows была выпущена только в этом году, Excel сосредоточился на выпуске первой из ее версий. Это означает, что в основном он показал те же характеристики, что и первая версия, но обеспечение непрерывности платформы, поддерживающей Windows .

В этом смысле он был каталогизирован как версия Excel, соответствующая Macintosh, но в нем есть добавлена ​​среда выполнения Windows ; Коротко.

Excel 3.0

Год выпуска: 1990

Три года спустя была выпущена версия 3.0 этой программы, и, поскольку Windows уже получила лучшее признание во всем мире, Excel внесла заметные улучшения в позиционирование как флагманское программное обеспечение Microsoft .

В этом смысле Excel 3.0 приобрел гораздо большее значение, в частности, из-за включенных в него новых функций. Такой как: панели инструментов, 3D-графика, функции рисования а также оптимизация внешнего вида платформы.

Excel 4.0

Год выпуска: 1992

За ним последовал Microsoft Excel версии 4, который не проявил интереса к широкой публике. Поскольку в операционной системе Windows не было конкуренции для этого программного обеспечения, время было использовано для улучшить инструмент, а затем выпустить версию 5.0 .

Excel 5.0

Год выпуска: 1993

Год спустя они решили выпустить Excel версии 5.0, доступной для компьютеров под управлением Windows и Mac, чтобы он был внесен в каталог как одна из самых запредельных версий этой таблицы.

Это, в частности, потому, что он начал разрешать создание нескольких листов на листе и, кроме того, добавлена ​​поддержка известного языка программирования VBA или Visual Basic для приложений, что упрощает добавление новых функций.

Excel 7.0 (Excel 95)

Год выпуска: 1995

Наверняка вам интересно, что случилось с Microsoft Excel версии 6.0, и перед этим следует отметить, что это было опущено, чтобы иметь возможность связывать другие продукты Office . В этом смысле с 1995 года версии Excel стали называться по году публикации.

Со своей стороны, Excel 95 представил очень важные новые функции для этого программного обеспечения. Один из них является возможность работать в 32-битной операционной системе или Windows 95.

Excel 8.0 (Excel 97)

Год выпуска: 1997

Это программа, также известная как Excel 97, вводит условное форматирование, а также проверку данных . Следовательно, потребовался больший бум, и таким образом стало программное обеспечение с большей мощностью и полезностью.

В дополнение к этому Excel 8.0 также имеет добавлен новый редактор VBA и смог представить модули классов и пользовательские формы. Для этого предлагайте своим клиентам по всему миру больше возможностей.

Excel 9.0 (Excel 2000)

Год выпуска: 2000

С 99-го года появился Excel в версии 9, в которой добавлена ​​поддержка надстроек COM, а также некоторые улучшения для динамических таблиц. В дополнение к этому, Формат HTML был добавлен как формат файла и было даже несколько буферов обмена.

Примечательно, что через год после зачатия он был запущен на рынок. Другими словами, в 2000 году и официально Excel 9.0 входил в состав Microsoft Office 2001 .

Excel 10.0 (Excel 2001)

Год выпуска: 2001

Всего через год после версии 9.0 была выпущена версия 10.0, также известная как «Эксель XP» . С тех пор он был готов стать частью Office XP и вместе с ним быть запущен. с операционной системой Windows XP .

Однако это второстепенная версия Microsoft Excel. С тех пор я добавил только такие функции, как сохраняя вашу работу после сбоя Excel и восстановление вредоносных файлов .

Excel 11.0 (Excel 2003)

Год выпуска: 2003

Что касается 2001 и 2002 годов, единственной версией, охватывающей эти периоды, была версия 10.0. Теперь, в 2003 году, был выпущен Microsoft Excel 11.0. Платформа, которая внесла некоторые исправления в некоторые статистические функции и имеет обеспечена улучшенная поддержка XML .

Следует отметить, что Excel 11.0 принадлежал пакету Office 2004 .

Excel 12.0 (Excel 2008)

Год выпуска: 2008

Только пять лет спустя была представлена ​​новая версия этой таблицы. Итак, за все это время у них разработал более полезную и, безусловно, более инновационную платформу .

В этом смысле одной из наиболее важных функций Excel в версии 12 была смена ленты. Таким образом, новый формат файла и новый пользовательский интерфейс было сделано . Кроме того, была улучшена концепция таблицы Excel, поскольку увеличена емкость листа с большим количеством строк и столбцов.

Excel 14.0 (Excel 2010)

Год выпуска: 2010

Два года спустя Microsoft пропустила версию 13, и появилась версия Excel 14. Это, также известный как Excel 2010, является один из тех, кто больше всего выделяется на 32 и 64 бит .

В этом смысле версия 14.0 представила мини-графики ячейки, показала замечательную оптимизацию в управлении и привлекательность динамических таблиц, добавлена ​​сегментация данных, а также представление Backstage .

Excel 15.0 (Excel 2013)

Год выпуска: 2013

Впоследствии Excel 2013 был представлен на рынке, и в этой новой версии были добавлены новые функции, представляющие большой интерес. Среди них мы находим быстрое заполнение столбцов, которое позволяет распознавать определенные закономерности в ваших данных и, следовательно, давать вам немедленные предложения .

В дополнение к этому, он также выделялся для анализа данных, чтобы предоставить вам рекомендации о том, какие диаграммы создавать, а также предлагает некоторые параметры при создании сводной таблицы. Другими словами, в 2013 году цифровая платформа уже имел более продвинутые и интеллектуальные функции .

Excel 16.0 (Excel 2016)

Год выпуска: 2016

Этот инструмент Microsoft также называется «Эксель 2016» и имеет графику карты, на которой вы можете получить встроенные карты часть таблицы. Для этого предложите возможность наличия дополнительных приложений, расширяющих возможности использования этой программы.

В дополнение к этому, версия 16 добавила новые диаграммы (например, прямоугольники и воронкообразную диаграмму), она также выделялась тем, что предлагала сводные таблицы намного быстрее, чем предыдущие версии, и вводила новые функции для избегать использования агрегатных и модельных функций .

Excel 19.0 (Excel 2018)

Год выпуска: 2018

В составе Microsoft Office 2019 выпущена версия 19 Excel. Что было впервые доступно в Office профессиональный 2019. Можно было увидеть заметные улучшения в отношении специальных возможностей. Например, полезные звуки для оптимизации доступности .

Кроме того, делиться намного проще, это содержит выбор точности , улучшенное автозаполнение, быстрый доступ к участникам и подсказкам, новым темам и т. д.

Какой будет следующая версия Microsoft Excel и каковы ожидания?

После Microsoft Excel версии 19 , его преемник ожидается в 2020 году, то есть всего через несколько месяцев. Но пока никаких интересных подробностей относительно одного – ci или его точная дата публикации .

Проще говоря, предполагается, что он выиграет от определенных улучшений и останется неизменным. – стандартная электронная таблица формирует более важный с 2020 по 2025 год; хотя на рынке есть несколько альтернатив с большой емкостью.

Если у вас есть какие-либо вопросы, оставляйте их в комментариях, мы свяжемся с вами как можно скорее, и это будет большим подспорьем для большего числа участников сообщества. Je Vous remercie!

Excel has different features depending on the version you’re working with. It’s important to know what features are available to you to maximize your efficiency. If you’re having trouble finding what Excel version you’re using, we’re here to help.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what Excel version you’re working with. You might know the year based off of the application window, but you need to know other things as well. For example, Excel 2019 is available in two versions depending on whether you have Office 365 or not.

Versions are also important to be able to tell what patch you’re on. Microsoft releases updates to Excel with bug fixes and other improvements. Knowing your exact version makes it easy to tell whether these updates are available to you.

Once you know the difference between different versions, it’s easy to tell which one you’re working with. Below are examples shown to help you determine your version of Excel. We’ve also included a generic guide to check the exact version number in most versions of the application.

Jump To Section:

• Excel 2021
• Excel 2019
• Excel 2016
• Excel 2013
• Excel 2010
• Excel 2007
• Excel 2003
• How to check your exact version of Excel
• For Windows users
• For Mac users

Excel 2021

Microsoft Excel 2021 is a version of the popular spreadsheet software developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications and is widely used for organizing, analyzing, and manipulating data in a tabular format.

Excel 2021 includes a range of new features and improvements, including enhanced collaboration tools, new data analysis capabilities, improved data visualization tools, and more. Users can create complex formulas and charts, perform data analysis using built-in functions, and automate tasks using macros and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming.

Overall, Microsoft Excel 2021 is a powerful tool for businesses, organizations, and individuals looking to manage data effectively and efficiently.

Excel 2019

(Tteachucomp)

As of the time of writing, Excel 2019 is the latest version of the software. The design itself is not much different from its predecessor. Luckily, there are a couple of easy ways to tell the two versions apart right from launch.

The first thing you’ll most likely notice is the fact that Excel 2019 has a solid, green header interface. This is called the ribbon header, where you’ll find all the tools in Excel. If this bar is a solid green color, you’re most likely on the latest version.

Excel 2016

Despite a newer release being on the market, Excel 2016 is still a popular choice when it comes to spreadsheet software. You can recognize this version by the green ribbon, complete with designs in the background. To showcase these designs, the ribbon of Excel 2016 is slightly wider than Excel 2019, which doesn’t feature any designs.

Both Excel 2019 and 2016 have a built-in help feature called the «Tell me what you want to do» bar. Check the ribbon for this to get a hint of your Excel version. The «Tell me» bar is absent in all older versions, making these two more recognizable.

Excel 2013

(Ars Technica)

Excel 2013 introduced tons of new features to the product line and is still a reliable option to this day. You can tell if you have this version installed on your computer by looking at the menu bar.

Interestingly, Excel 2013 is the only version of the application to use capital letters for the various tabs in the Ribbon. You may also notice that most of the interface is white, lacking the green header we’re seeing in more recent versions.

Excel 2010

(OfficeProduct.info)

The decade-old Excel 2010 shows its age in its design as well. Right away, you can tell that the software was made for older systems, as it no longer matches up with the modern, rectangular design of Windows 10. Instead, Excel 2010 features rounded corners and a grey-toned interface reminiscent of Windows 7.

The giveaway here is the File button. It’s green and has rounded corners, while in new versions the corners remain sharp. There is also a gradient on the button, which is a design choice not found in Excel 2010’s successors.

Excel 2007

(Download Komputer Świat)

Veterans still rolling with Excel 2007 will easily recognize the software from the color scheme. This version of Excel changes things up a bit by using blue instead of white for the main interface.

The File menu is also replaced by a large, circle-shaped — and quite outdated — Office logo instead. You really can’t miss this, which makes it easy to tell Excel 2007 apart from other versions of the software.

Excel 2003

(OfficeProduct.info)

Since Excel 2003 is quite old at this point, which is reflected in its design as well. The window looks similar to most applications made for Windows XP. The vibrant blue header and interface show no trace of the now-standard green-white interface of Excel.

Although this version was reliable when it came out, it’s no longer supported by most operating systems. It also lacks crucial features later introduced by Microsoft. We highly recommend looking for an upgrade by visiting our webshop and purchasing a new version of Windows and Excel.

How to check your exact version of Excel

If you want to know the exact version number of your Excel software, follow the guide below.

For Windows users

1. Open your Excel application and select Account.
   Note: If the Account option is absent or you already have a document open, choose File from the Ribbon and then select either Account or Help.
2. Under Product Information, you’ll find your Excel version name and, in some cases, the full version number.
   
   
3. For more information, click on About Excel. A dialog box opens, showing the full version number and bit version (32-bit or 64-bit).

For Mac users

1. Open Excel.
2. Click on the Excel tab from the menu on top of your screen.
3. Choose About Microsoft Excel.
   
   
4. In the new dialog window that opens, you can see the version number as well as the license type.

We hope that this article was able to help you in determining which version of Excel you have. Feel free to return to our page any time you need further guidance regarding Microsoft’s spreadsheet app.

Check this blog about Excel Compatibility mode.  You can also consider subscribing to our newsletter. We regularly publish tutorials, news articles, and guides to help you in your day-to-day tech life.

A simple bar graph being created in Excel, running on Windows 11
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	November 19, 1987; 35 years ago
Stable release	2103 (16.0.13901.20400) / April 13, 2021; 23 months ago[1]
Written in	C++ (back-end)[2]
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Trialware[3]
Website	microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel

Excel for Mac (version 16.67), running on macOS Big Sur 11.5.2
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	September 30, 1985; 37 years ago
Stable release	16.70 (Build 23021201) / February 14, 2023; 54 days ago[4]
Written in	C++ (back-end), Objective-C (API/UI)[2]
Operating system	macOS
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	products.office.com/mac

Excel for Android running on Android 13
Developer(s)	Microsoft Corporation
Stable release	16.0.14729.20146 / December 22, 2021; 15 months ago[5]
Operating system	Android Oreo and later
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	products.office.com/en-us/excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and iPadOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Excel forms part of the Microsoft 365 suite of software.

Features

Basic operation

Microsoft Excel has the basic features of all spreadsheets,^[7] using a grid of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns to organize data manipulations like arithmetic operations. It has a battery of supplied functions to answer statistical, engineering, and financial needs. In addition, it can display data as line graphs, histograms and charts, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display. It allows sectioning of data to view its dependencies on various factors for different perspectives (using pivot tables and the scenario manager).^[8] A PivotTable is a tool for data analysis. It does this by simplifying large data sets via PivotTable fields. It has a programming aspect, Visual Basic for Applications, allowing the user to employ a wide variety of numerical methods, for example, for solving differential equations of mathematical physics,^[9][10] and then reporting the results back to the spreadsheet. It also has a variety of interactive features allowing user interfaces that can completely hide the spreadsheet from the user, so the spreadsheet presents itself as a so-called application, or decision support system (DSS), via a custom-designed user interface, for example, a stock analyzer,^[11] or in general, as a design tool that asks the user questions and provides answers and reports.^[12][13] In a more elaborate realization, an Excel application can automatically poll external databases and measuring instruments using an update schedule,^[14] analyze the results, make a Word report or PowerPoint slide show, and e-mail these presentations on a regular basis to a list of participants. Excel was not designed to be used as a database.^{[citation needed]}

Microsoft allows for a number of optional command-line switches to control the manner in which Excel starts.^[15]

Functions

Excel 2016 has 484 functions.^[16] Of these, 360 existed prior to Excel 2010. Microsoft classifies these functions in 14 categories. Of the 484 current functions, 386 may be called from VBA as methods of the object «WorksheetFunction»^[17] and 44 have the same names as VBA functions.^[18]

With the introduction of LAMBDA, Excel will become Turing complete.^[19]

Macro programming

VBA programming

The Windows version of Excel supports programming through Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a dialect of Visual Basic. Programming with VBA allows spreadsheet manipulation that is awkward or impossible with standard spreadsheet techniques. Programmers may write code directly using the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), which includes a window for writing code, debugging code, and code module organization environment. The user can implement numerical methods as well as automating tasks such as formatting or data organization in VBA^[20] and guide the calculation using any desired intermediate results reported back to the spreadsheet.

VBA was removed from Mac Excel 2008, as the developers did not believe that a timely release would allow porting the VBA engine natively to Mac OS X. VBA was restored in the next version, Mac Excel 2011,^[21] although the build lacks support for ActiveX objects, impacting some high level developer tools.^[22]

A common and easy way to generate VBA code is by using the Macro Recorder.^[23] The Macro Recorder records actions of the user and generates VBA code in the form of a macro. These actions can then be repeated automatically by running the macro. The macros can also be linked to different trigger types like keyboard shortcuts, a command button or a graphic. The actions in the macro can be executed from these trigger types or from the generic toolbar options. The VBA code of the macro can also be edited in the VBE. Certain features such as loop functions and screen prompt by their own properties, and some graphical display items, cannot be recorded but must be entered into the VBA module directly by the programmer. Advanced users can employ user prompts to create an interactive program, or react to events such as sheets being loaded or changed.

Macro Recorded code may not be compatible with Excel versions. Some code that is used in Excel 2010 cannot be used in Excel 2003. Making a Macro that changes the cell colors and making changes to other aspects of cells may not be backward compatible.

VBA code interacts with the spreadsheet through the Excel Object Model,^[24] a vocabulary identifying spreadsheet objects, and a set of supplied functions or methods that enable reading and writing to the spreadsheet and interaction with its users (for example, through custom toolbars or command bars and message boxes). User-created VBA subroutines execute these actions and operate like macros generated using the macro recorder, but are more flexible and efficient.

History

From its first version Excel supported end-user programming of macros (automation of repetitive tasks) and user-defined functions (extension of Excel’s built-in function library). In early versions of Excel, these programs were written in a macro language whose statements had formula syntax and resided in the cells of special-purpose macro sheets (stored with file extension .XLM in Windows.) XLM was the default macro language for Excel through Excel 4.0.^[25] Beginning with version 5.0 Excel recorded macros in VBA by default but with version 5.0 XLM recording was still allowed as an option. After version 5.0 that option was discontinued. All versions of Excel, including Excel 2021 are capable of running an XLM macro, though Microsoft discourages their use.^[26]

Charts

Excel supports charts, graphs, or histograms generated from specified groups of cells. It also supports Pivot Charts that allow for a chart to be linked directly to a Pivot table. This allows the chart to be refreshed with the Pivot Table. The generated graphic component can either be embedded within the current sheet or added as a separate object.

These displays are dynamically updated if the content of cells changes. For example, suppose that the important design requirements are displayed visually; then, in response to a user’s change in trial values for parameters, the curves describing the design change shape, and their points of intersection shift, assisting the selection of the best design.

Add-ins

Additional features are available using add-ins. Several are provided with Excel, including:

• Analysis ToolPak: Provides data analysis tools for statistical and engineering analysis (includes analysis of variance and regression analysis)
• Analysis ToolPak VBA: VBA functions for Analysis ToolPak
• Euro Currency Tools: Conversion and formatting for euro currency
• Solver Add-In: Tools for optimization and equation solving

Data storage and communication

Number of rows and columns

Versions of Excel up to 7.0 had a limitation in the size of their data sets of 16K (2¹⁴ = 16384) rows. Versions 8.0 through 11.0 could handle 64K (2¹⁶ = 65536) rows and 256 columns (2⁸ as label ‘IV’). Version 12.0 onwards, including the current Version 16.x, can handle over 1M (2²⁰ = 1048576) rows, and 16384 (2¹⁴, labeled as column ‘XFD’) columns.^[27]

File formats

Microsoft Excel up until 2007 version used a proprietary binary file format called Excel Binary File Format (.XLS) as its primary format.^[28] Excel 2007 uses Office Open XML as its primary file format, an XML-based format that followed after a previous XML-based format called «XML Spreadsheet» («XMLSS»), first introduced in Excel 2002.^[29]

Although supporting and encouraging the use of new XML-based formats as replacements, Excel 2007 remained backwards-compatible with the traditional, binary formats. In addition, most versions of Microsoft Excel can read CSV, DBF, SYLK, DIF, and other legacy formats. Support for some older file formats was removed in Excel 2007.^[30] The file formats were mainly from DOS-based programs.

Binary

OpenOffice.org has created documentation of the Excel format. Two epochs of the format exist: the 97-2003 OLE format, and the older stream format.^[31] Microsoft has made the Excel binary format specification available to freely download.^[32]

XML Spreadsheet

The XML Spreadsheet format introduced in Excel 2002^[29] is a simple, XML based format missing some more advanced features like storage of VBA macros. Though the intended file extension for this format is .xml, the program also correctly handles XML files with .xls extension. This feature is widely used by third-party applications (e.g. MySQL Query Browser) to offer «export to Excel» capabilities without implementing binary file format. The following example will be correctly opened by Excel if saved either as Book1.xml or Book1.xls:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
 <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet1">
  <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="2" ss:ExpandedRowCount="2" x:FullColumns="1" x:FullRows="1">
   <Row>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Name</Data></Cell>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Example</Data></Cell>
   </Row>
   <Row>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Value</Data></Cell>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">123</Data></Cell>
   </Row>
  </Table>
 </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Current file extensions

Microsoft Excel 2007, along with the other products in the Microsoft Office 2007 suite, introduced new file formats. The first of these (.xlsx) is defined in the Office Open XML (OOXML) specification.

Old file extensions

Using other Windows applications

Windows applications such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word, as well as Excel can communicate with each other and use each other’s capabilities. The most common are Dynamic Data Exchange: although strongly deprecated by Microsoft, this is a common method to send data between applications running on Windows, with official MS publications referring to it as «the protocol from hell».^[34] As the name suggests, it allows applications to supply data to others for calculation and display. It is very common in financial markets, being used to connect to important financial data services such as Bloomberg and Reuters.

OLE Object Linking and Embedding allows a Windows application to control another to enable it to format or calculate data. This may take on the form of «embedding» where an application uses another to handle a task that it is more suited to, for example a PowerPoint presentation may be embedded in an Excel spreadsheet or vice versa.^{[35][36][37][38]}

Using external data

Excel users can access external data sources via Microsoft Office features such as (for example) .odc connections built with the Office Data Connection file format. Excel files themselves may be updated using a Microsoft supplied ODBC driver.

Excel can accept data in real-time through several programming interfaces, which allow it to communicate with many data sources such as Bloomberg and Reuters (through addins such as Power Plus Pro).

• DDE: «Dynamic Data Exchange» uses the message passing mechanism in Windows to allow data to flow between Excel and other applications. Although it is easy for users to create such links, programming such links reliably is so difficult that Microsoft, the creators of the system, officially refer to it as «the protocol from hell».^[34] In spite of its many issues DDE remains the most common way for data to reach traders in financial markets.
• Network DDE Extended the protocol to allow spreadsheets on different computers to exchange data. Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer supports the facility.^[39]
• Real Time Data: RTD although in many ways technically superior to DDE, has been slow to gain acceptance, since it requires non-trivial programming skills, and when first released was neither adequately documented nor supported by the major data vendors.^[40][41]

Alternatively, Microsoft Query provides ODBC-based browsing within Microsoft Excel.^[42][43][44]

Export and migration of spreadsheets

Programmers have produced APIs to open Excel spreadsheets in a variety of applications and environments other than Microsoft Excel. These include opening Excel documents on the web using either ActiveX controls, or plugins like the Adobe Flash Player. The Apache POI opensource project provides Java libraries for reading and writing Excel spreadsheet files.

Password protection

Microsoft Excel protection offers several types of passwords:

• Password to open a document^[45]
• Password to modify a document^[46]
• Password to unprotect the worksheet
• Password to protect workbook
• Password to protect the sharing workbook^[47]

All passwords except password to open a document can be removed instantly regardless of the Microsoft Excel version used to create the document. These types of passwords are used primarily for shared work on a document. Such password-protected documents are not encrypted, and a data sources from a set password is saved in a document’s header. Password to protect workbook is an exception – when it is set, a document is encrypted with the standard password «VelvetSweatshop», but since it is known to the public, it actually does not add any extra protection to the document. The only type of password that can prevent a trespasser from gaining access to a document is password to open a document. The cryptographic strength of this kind of protection depends strongly on the Microsoft Excel version that was used to create the document.

In Microsoft Excel 95 and earlier versions, the password to open is converted to a 16-bit key that can be instantly cracked. In Excel 97/2000 the password is converted to a 40-bit key, which can also be cracked very quickly using modern equipment. As regards services that use rainbow tables (e.g. Password-Find), it takes up to several seconds to remove protection. In addition, password-cracking programs can brute-force attack passwords at a rate of hundreds of thousands of passwords a second, which not only lets them decrypt a document but also find the original password.

In Excel 2003/XP the encryption is slightly better – a user can choose any encryption algorithm that is available in the system (see Cryptographic Service Provider). Due to the CSP, an Excel file cannot be decrypted, and thus the password to open cannot be removed, though the brute-force attack speed remains quite high. Nevertheless, the older Excel 97/2000 algorithm is set by the default. Therefore, users who do not change the default settings lack reliable protection of their documents.

The situation changed fundamentally in Excel 2007, where the modern AES algorithm with a key of 128 bits started being used for decryption, and a 50,000-fold use of the hash function SHA1 reduced the speed of brute-force attacks down to hundreds of passwords per second. In Excel 2010, the strength of the protection by the default was increased two times due to the use of a 100,000-fold SHA1 to convert a password to a key.

Other platforms

Excel for mobile

Excel Mobile is a spreadsheet program that can edit XLSX files. It can edit and format text in cells, calculate formulas, search within the spreadsheet, sort rows and columns, freeze panes, filter the columns, add comments, and create charts. It cannot add columns or rows except at the edge of the document, rearrange columns or rows, delete rows or columns, or add spreadsheet tabs.^{[48][49][50][51][52][53]} The 2007 version has the ability to use a full-screen mode to deal with limited screen resolution, as well as split panes to view different parts of a worksheet at one time.^[51] Protection settings, zoom settings, autofilter settings, certain chart formatting, hidden sheets, and other features are not supported on Excel Mobile, and will be modified upon opening and saving a workbook.^[52] In 2015, Excel Mobile became available for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile on Windows Store.^[54][55]

Excel for the web

Excel for the web is a free lightweight version of Microsoft Excel available as part of Office on the web, which also includes web versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Excel for the web can display most of the features available in the desktop versions of Excel, although it may not be able to insert or edit them. Certain data connections are not accessible on Excel for the web, including with charts that may use these external connections. Excel for the web also cannot display legacy features, such as Excel 4.0 macros or Excel 5.0 dialog sheets. There are also small differences between how some of the Excel functions work.^[56]

Microsoft Excel Viewer

Microsoft Excel Viewer was a freeware program for Microsoft Windows for viewing and printing spreadsheet documents created by Excel.^[57] Microsoft retired the viewer in April 2018 with the last security update released in February 2019 for Excel Viewer 2007 (SP3).^[58][59]

The first version released by Microsoft was Excel 97 Viewer.^[60][61] Excel 97 Viewer was supported in Windows CE for Handheld PCs.^[62] In October 2004, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2003.^[63] In September 2007, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3).^[64] In January 2008, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2007 (featuring a non-collapsible Ribbon interface).^[65] In April 2009, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2).^[66] In October 2011, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3).^[67]

Microsoft advises to view and print Excel files for free to use the Excel Mobile application for Windows 10 and for Windows 7 and Windows 8 to upload the file to OneDrive and use Excel for the web with a Microsoft account to open them in a browser.^[58][68]

Quirks

In addition to issues with spreadsheets in general, other problems specific to Excel include numeric precision, misleading statistics functions, mod function errors, date limitations and more.

Numeric precision

Despite the use of 15-figure precision, Excel can display many more figures (up to thirty) upon user request. But the displayed figures are not those actually used in its computations, and so, for example, the difference of two numbers may differ from the difference of their displayed values. Although such departures are usually beyond the 15th decimal, exceptions do occur, especially for very large or very small numbers. Serious errors can occur if decisions are made based upon automated comparisons of numbers (for example, using the Excel If function), as equality of two numbers can be unpredictable.^{[citation needed]}

In the figure, the fraction 1/9000 is displayed in Excel. Although this number has a decimal representation that is an infinite string of ones, Excel displays only the leading 15 figures. In the second line, the number one is added to the fraction, and again Excel displays only 15 figures. In the third line, one is subtracted from the sum using Excel. Because the sum in the second line has only eleven 1’s after the decimal, the difference when 1 is subtracted from this displayed value is three 0’s followed by a string of eleven 1’s. However, the difference reported by Excel in the third line is three 0’s followed by a string of thirteen 1’s and two extra erroneous digits. This is because Excel calculates with about half a digit more than it displays.

Excel works with a modified 1985 version of the IEEE 754 specification.^[69] Excel’s implementation involves conversions between binary and decimal representations, leading to accuracy that is on average better than one would expect from simple fifteen digit precision, but that can be worse. See the main article for details.

Besides accuracy in user computations, the question of accuracy in Excel-provided functions may be raised. Particularly in the arena of statistical functions, Excel has been criticized for sacrificing accuracy for speed of calculation.^[70][71]

As many calculations in Excel are executed using VBA, an additional issue is the accuracy of VBA, which varies with variable type and user-requested precision.^[72]

Statistical functions

The accuracy and convenience of statistical tools in Excel has been criticized,^{[73][74][75][76][77]} as mishandling missing data, as returning incorrect values due to inept handling of round-off and large numbers, as only selectively updating calculations on a spreadsheet when some cell values are changed, and as having a limited set of statistical tools. Microsoft has announced some of these issues are addressed in Excel 2010.^[78]

Excel MOD function error

Excel has issues with modulo operations. In the case of excessively large results, Excel will return the error warning #NUM! instead of an answer.^[79]

Fictional leap day in the year 1900

Excel includes February 29, 1900, incorrectly treating 1900 as a leap year, even though e.g. 2100 is correctly treated as a non-leap year.^[80][81] The bug originated from Lotus 1-2-3 (deliberately implemented to save computer memory), and was also purposely implemented in Excel, for the purpose of bug compatibility.^[82] This legacy has later been carried over into Office Open XML file format.^[83]

Thus a (not necessarily whole) number greater than or equal to 61 interpreted as a date and time are the (real) number of days after December 30, 1899, 0:00, a non-negative number less than 60 is the number of days after December 31, 1899, 0:00, and numbers with whole part 60 represent the fictional day.

Date range

Excel supports dates with years in the range 1900–9999, except that December 31, 1899, can be entered as 0 and is displayed as 0-jan-1900.

Converting a fraction of a day into hours, minutes and days by treating it as a moment on the day January 1, 1900, does not work for a negative fraction.^[84]

Conversion problems

Entering text that happens to be in a form that is interpreted as a date, the text can be unintentionally changed to a standard date format. A similar problem occurs when a text happens to be in the form of a floating-point notation of a number. In these cases the original exact text cannot be recovered from the result. Formatting the cell as TEXT before entering ambiguous text prevents Excel from converting to a date.

This issue has caused a well known problem in the analysis of DNA, for example in bioinformatics. As first reported in 2004,^[85] genetic scientists found that Excel automatically and incorrectly converts certain gene names into dates. A follow-up study in 2016 found many peer reviewed scientific journal papers had been affected and that «Of the selected journals, the proportion of published articles with Excel files containing gene lists that are affected by gene name errors is 19.6 %.»^[86] Excel parses the copied and pasted data and sometimes changes them depending on what it thinks they are. For example, MARCH1 (Membrane Associated Ring-CH-type finger 1) gets converted to the date March 1 (1-Mar) and SEPT2 (Septin 2) is converted into September 2 (2-Sep) etc.^[87] While some secondary news sources^[88] reported this as a fault with Excel, the original authors of the 2016 paper placed the blame with the researchers misusing Excel.^[86][89]

In August 2020 the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) published new guidelines in the journal Nature regarding gene naming in order to avoid issues with «symbols that affect data handling and retrieval.» So far 27 genes have been renamed, including changing MARCH1 to MARCHF1 and SEPT1 to SEPTIN1 in order to avoid accidental conversion of the gene names into dates.^[90]

Errors with large strings

The following functions return incorrect results when passed a string longer than 255 characters:^[91]

• type() incorrectly returns 16, meaning «Error value»
• IsText(), when called as a method of the VBA object WorksheetFunction (i.e., WorksheetFunction.IsText() in VBA), incorrectly returns «false».

Filenames

Microsoft Excel will not open two documents with the same name and instead will display the following error:

A document with the name ‘%s’ is already open. You cannot open two documents with the same name, even if the documents are in different folders. To open the second document, either close the document that is currently open, or rename one of the documents.^[92]

The reason is for calculation ambiguity with linked cells. If there is a cell ='[Book1.xlsx]Sheet1'!$G$33, and there are two books named «Book1» open, there is no way to tell which one the user means.^[93]

Versions

Early history

Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982. Multiplan became very popular on CP/M systems, but on MS-DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Macintosh on September 30, 1985, and the first Windows version was 2.05 (to synchronize with the Macintosh version 2.2) on November 19, 1987.^[94][95] Lotus was slow to bring 1-2-3 to Windows and by the early 1990s, Excel had started to outsell 1-2-3 and helped Microsoft achieve its position as a leading PC software developer. This accomplishment solidified Microsoft as a valid competitor and showed its future of developing GUI software. Microsoft maintained its advantage with regular new releases, every two years or so.

Microsoft Windows

Excel 2.0 is the first version of Excel for the Intel platform. Versions prior to 2.0 were only available on the Apple Macintosh.

Excel 2.0 (1987)

The first Windows version was labeled «2» to correspond to the Mac version. It was announced on October 6, 1987, and released on November 19.^[96] This included a run-time version of Windows.^[97]

BYTE in 1989 listed Excel for Windows as among the «Distinction» winners of the BYTE Awards. The magazine stated that the port of the «extraordinary» Macintosh version «shines», with a user interface as good as or better than the original.

Excel 3.0 (1990)

Included toolbars, drawing capabilities, outlining, add-in support, 3D charts, and many more new features.^[97]

Excel 4.0 (1992)

Introduced auto-fill.^[98]

Also, an easter egg in Excel 4.0 reveals a hidden animation of a dancing set of numbers 1 through 3, representing Lotus 1-2-3, which is then crushed by an Excel logo.^[99]

Excel 5.0 (1993)

With version 5.0, Excel has included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language based on Visual Basic which adds the ability to automate tasks in Excel and to provide user-defined functions (UDF) for use in worksheets. VBA includes a fully featured integrated development environment (IDE). Macro recording can produce VBA code replicating user actions, thus allowing simple automation of regular tasks. VBA allows the creation of forms and in‑worksheet controls to communicate with the user. The language supports use (but not creation) of ActiveX (COM) DLL’s; later versions add support for class modules allowing the use of basic object-oriented programming techniques.

The automation functionality provided by VBA made Excel a target for macro viruses. This caused serious problems until antivirus products began to detect these viruses. Microsoft belatedly took steps to prevent the misuse by adding the ability to disable macros completely, to enable macros when opening a workbook or to trust all macros signed using a trusted certificate.

Versions 5.0 to 9.0 of Excel contain various Easter eggs, including a «Hall of Tortured Souls», a Doom-like minigame, although since version 10 Microsoft has taken measures to eliminate such undocumented features from their products.^[100]

5.0 was released in a 16-bit x86 version for Windows 3.1 and later in a 32-bit version for NT 3.51 (x86/Alpha/PowerPC)

Excel 95 (v7.0)

Released in 1995 with Microsoft Office for Windows 95, this is the first major version after Excel 5.0, as there is no Excel 6.0 with all of the Office applications standardizing on the same major version number.

Internal rewrite to 32-bits. Almost no external changes, but faster and more stable.

Excel 95 contained a hidden Doom-like mini-game called «The Hall of Tortured Souls», a series of rooms featuring the names and faces of the developers as an easter egg.^[101]

Excel 97 (v8.0)

Included in Office 97 (for x86 and Alpha). This was a major upgrade that introduced the paper clip office assistant and featured standard VBA used instead of internal Excel Basic. It introduced the now-removed Natural Language labels.

This version of Excel includes a flight simulator as an Easter Egg.

Excel 2000 (v9.0)

Included in Office 2000. This was a minor upgrade but introduced an upgrade to the clipboard where it can hold multiple objects at once. The Office Assistant, whose frequent unsolicited appearance in Excel 97 had annoyed many users, became less intrusive.

A small 3-D game called «Dev Hunter» (inspired by Spy Hunter) was included as an easter egg.^[102][103]

Excel 2002 (v10.0)

Included in Office XP. Very minor enhancements.

Excel 2003 (v11.0)

Included in Office 2003. Minor enhancements.

Excel 2007 (v12.0)

Included in Office 2007. This release was a major upgrade from the previous version. Similar to other updated Office products, Excel in 2007 used the new Ribbon menu system. This was different from what users were used to, and was met with mixed reactions. One study reported fairly good acceptance by users except highly experienced users and users of word processing applications with a classical WIMP interface, but was less convinced in terms of efficiency and organization.^[104] However, an online survey reported that a majority of respondents had a negative opinion of the change, with advanced users being «somewhat more negative» than intermediate users, and users reporting a self-estimated reduction in productivity.

Added functionality included Tables,^[105] and the SmartArt set of editable business diagrams. Also added was an improved management of named variables through the Name Manager, and much-improved flexibility in formatting graphs, which allow (x, y) coordinate labeling and lines of arbitrary weight. Several improvements to pivot tables were introduced.

Also like other office products, the Office Open XML file formats were introduced, including .xlsm for a workbook with macros and .xlsx for a workbook without macros.^[106]

Specifically, many of the size limitations of previous versions were greatly increased. To illustrate, the number of rows was now 1,048,576 (2²⁰) and columns was 16,384 (2¹⁴; the far-right column is XFD). This changes what is a valid A1 reference versus a named range. This version made more extensive use of multiple cores for the calculation of spreadsheets; however, VBA macros are not handled in parallel and XLL add‑ins were only executed in parallel if they were thread-safe and this was indicated at registration.

Excel 2010 (v14.0)

Included in Office 2010, this is the next major version after v12.0, as version number 13 was skipped.

Minor enhancements and 64-bit support,^[107] including the following:

• Multi-threading recalculation (MTR) for commonly used functions
• Improved pivot tables
• More conditional formatting options
• Additional image editing capabilities
• In-cell charts called sparklines
• Ability to preview before pasting
• Office 2010 backstage feature for document-related tasks
• Ability to customize the Ribbon
• Many new formulas, most highly specialized to improve accuracy^[108]

Excel 2013 (v15.0)

Included in Office 2013, along with a lot of new tools included in this release:

• Improved Multi-threading and Memory Contention
• FlashFill^[109]
• Power View^[110]
• Power Pivot^[111]
• Timeline Slicer
• Windows App
• Inquire^[112]
• 50 new functions^[113]

Excel 2016 (v16.0)

Included in Office 2016, along with a lot of new tools included in this release:

• Power Query integration
• Read-only mode for Excel
• Keyboard access for Pivot Tables and Slicers in Excel
• New Chart Types
• Quick data linking in Visio
• Excel forecasting functions
• Support for multiselection of Slicer items using touch
• Time grouping and Pivot Chart Drill Down
• Excel data cards^[114]

Excel 2019, Excel 2021, Office 365 and subsequent (v16.0)

Microsoft no longer releases Office or Excel in discrete versions. Instead, features are introduced automatically over time using Windows Update. The version number remains 16.0. Thereafter only the approximate dates when features appear can now be given.

• Dynamic Arrays. These are essentially Array Formulas but they «Spill» automatically into neighboring cells and does not need the ctrl-shift-enter to create them. Further, dynamic arrays are the default format, with new «@» and «#» operators to provide compatibility with previous versions. This is perhaps the biggest structural change since 2007, and is in response to a similar feature in Google Sheets. Dynamic arrays started appearing in pre-releases about 2018, and as of March 2020 are available in published versions of Office 365 provided a user selected «Office Insiders».

Apple Macintosh

• 1985 Excel 1.0
• 1988 Excel 1.5
• 1989 Excel 2.2
• 1990 Excel 3.0
• 1992 Excel 4.0
• 1993 Excel 5.0 (part of Office 4.x—Final Motorola 680×0 version^[115] and first PowerPC version)
• 1998 Excel 8.0 (part of Office 98)
• 2000 Excel 9.0 (part of Office 2001)
• 2001 Excel 10.0 (part of Office v. X)
• 2004 Excel 11.0 (part of Office 2004)
• 2008 Excel 12.0 (part of Office 2008)
• 2010 Excel 14.0 (part of Office 2011)
• 2015 Excel 15.0 (part of Office 2016—Office 2016 for Mac brings the Mac version much closer to parity with its Windows cousin, harmonizing many of the reporting and high-level developer functions, while bringing the ribbon and styling into line with its PC counterpart.)^[116]

OS/2

• 1989 Excel 2.2
• 1990 Excel 2.3
• 1991 Excel 3.0

Summary

Impact

Excel offers many user interface tweaks over the earliest electronic spreadsheets; however, the essence remains the same as in the original spreadsheet software, VisiCalc: the program displays cells organized in rows and columns, and each cell may contain data or a formula, with relative or absolute references to other cells.

Excel 2.0 for Windows, which was modeled after its Mac GUI-based counterpart, indirectly expanded the installed base of the then-nascent Windows environment. Excel 2.0 was released a month before Windows 2.0, and the installed base of Windows was so low at that point in 1987 that Microsoft had to bundle a runtime version of Windows 1.0 with Excel 2.0.^[117] Unlike Microsoft Word, there never was a DOS version of Excel.

Excel became the first spreadsheet to allow the user to define the appearance of spreadsheets (fonts, character attributes, and cell appearance). It also introduced intelligent cell re-computation, where only cells dependent on the cell being modified are updated (previous spreadsheet programs recomputed everything all the time or waited for a specific user command). Excel introduced auto-fill, the ability to drag and expand the selection box to automatically copy a cell or row contents to adjacent cells or rows, adjusting the copies intelligently by automatically incrementing cell references or contents. Excel also introduced extensive graphing capabilities.

Security

Because Excel is widely used, it has been attacked by hackers. While Excel is not directly exposed to the Internet, if an attacker can get a victim to open a file in Excel, and there is an appropriate security bug in Excel, then the attacker can gain control of the victim’s computer.^[118] UK’s GCHQ has a tool named TORNADO ALLEY with this purpose.^[119][120]

Games

Besides the easter eggs, numerous games have been created or recreated in Excel, such as Tetris, 2048, Scrabble, Yahtzee, Angry Birds, Pac-Man, Civilization, Monopoly, Battleship, Blackjack, Space Invaders, and others.^{[121][122][123][124][125]}

In 2020, Excel became an esport with the advent of the Financial Modeling World Cup.^[126]

See also

• Comparison of spreadsheet software
• Numbers (spreadsheet)—the iWork equivalent
• Spreadmart
• Financial Modeling World Cup, online esport financial modelling competition using Excel

References

References

• Bullen, Stephen; Bovey, Rob; Green, John (2009). Professional Excel Development: The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel and VBA (2nd ed.). Boston: Addison Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-50879-9.
• Dodge, Mark; Stinson, Craig (2007). Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Inside Out. Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-0-7356-2321-7.
• Billo, E. Joseph (2011). Excel for Chemists: A Comprehensive Guide (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-38123-6.
• Gordon, Andy (January 25, 2021). «LAMBDA: The ultimate Excel worksheet function». microsoft.com. Microsoft. Retrieved April 23, 2021.

External links

• Microsoft Excel – official site