What are microsoft excel used for

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office Excel (2019–present).svg
Microsoft Excel.png

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
Microsoft Excel for Mac

Excel for Mac screenshot.png

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
Microsoft Excel for Android

Excel for Android.png

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 for iOS and iPadOS

Developer(s) Microsoft Corporation
Stable release

2.70.1
/ February 15, 2023; 53 days ago[6]

Operating system iOS 15 or later
iPadOS 15 or 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

Use of a user-defined function sq(x) in Microsoft Excel. The named variables x & y are identified in the Name Manager. The function sq is introduced using the Visual Basic editor supplied with Excel.

Subroutine in Excel calculates the square of named column variable x read from the spreadsheet, and writes it into the named column variable y.

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

Graph made using Microsoft Excel

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

Excel Spreadsheet

Filename extension

.xls, (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb — Excel 2007)

Internet media type

application/vnd.ms-excel

Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) com.microsoft.excel.xls
Developed by Microsoft
Type of format Spreadsheet

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.

Excel 2007 formats

Format Extension Description
Excel Workbook .xlsx The default Excel 2007 and later workbook format. In reality, a ZIP compressed archive with a directory structure of XML text documents. Functions as the primary replacement for the former binary .xls format, although it does not support Excel macros for security reasons. Saving as .xlsx offers file size reduction over .xls[33]
Excel Macro-enabled Workbook .xlsm As Excel Workbook, but with macro support.
Excel Binary Workbook .xlsb As Excel Macro-enabled Workbook, but storing information in binary form rather than XML documents for opening and saving documents more quickly and efficiently. Intended especially for very large documents with tens of thousands of rows, and/or several hundreds of columns. This format is very useful for shrinking large Excel files as is often the case when doing data analysis.
Excel Macro-enabled Template .xltm A template document that forms a basis for actual workbooks, with macro support. The replacement for the old .xlt format.
Excel Add-in .xlam Excel add-in to add extra functionality and tools. Inherent macro support because of the file purpose.

Old file extensions

Format Extension Description
Spreadsheet .xls Main spreadsheet format which holds data in worksheets, charts, and macros
Add-in (VBA) .xla Adds custom functionality; written in VBA
Toolbar .xlb The file extension where Microsoft Excel custom toolbar settings are stored.
Chart .xlc A chart created with data from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that only saves the chart. To save the chart and spreadsheet save as .XLS. XLC is not supported in Excel 2007 or in any newer versions of Excel.
Dialog .xld Used in older versions of Excel.
Archive .xlk A backup of an Excel Spreadsheet
Add-in (DLL) .xll Adds custom functionality; written in C++/C, Fortran, etc. and compiled in to a special dynamic-link library
Macro .xlm A macro is created by the user or pre-installed with Excel.
Template .xlt A pre-formatted spreadsheet created by the user or by Microsoft Excel.
Module .xlv A module is written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) for Microsoft Excel
Library .DLL Code written in VBA may access functions in a DLL, typically this is used to access the Windows API
Workspace .xlw Arrangement of the windows of multiple Workbooks

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

Excel maintains 15 figures in its numbers, but they are not always accurate: the bottom line should be the same as the top line.

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)

Microsoft Excel 2010 running on Windows 7

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

Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011

  • 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

Legend: Old version, not maintained Older version, still maintained Current stable version
Microsoft Excel for Windows release history

Year Name Version Comments
1987 Excel 2 2.0 Renumbered to 2 to correspond with contemporary Macintosh version. Supported macros (later known as Excel 4 macros).
1990 Excel 3 3.0 Added 3D graphing capabilities
1992 Excel 4 4.0 Introduced auto-fill feature
1993 Excel 5 5.0 Included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and various object-oriented options
1995 Excel 95 7.0 Renumbered for contemporary Word version. Both programs were packaged in Microsoft Office by this time.
1997 Excel 97 8.0
2000 Excel 2000 9.0 Part of Microsoft Office 2000, which was itself part of Windows Millennium (also known as «Windows ME»).
2002 Excel 2002 10.0
2003 Excel 2003 11.0 Released only 1 year later to correspond better with the rest of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, etc.).
2007 Excel 2007 12.0
2010 Excel 2010 14.0 Due to superstitions surrounding the number 13, Excel 13 was skipped in version counting.
2013 Excel 2013 15.0 Introduced 50 more mathematical functions (available as pre-packaged commands, rather than typing the formula manually).
2016 Excel 2016 16.0 Part of Microsoft Office 2016
Microsoft Excel for Macintosh release history

Year Name Version Comments
1985 Excel 1 1.0 Initial version of Excel. Supported macros (later known as Excel 4 macros).
1988 Excel 1.5 1.5
1989 Excel 2 2.2
1990 Excel 3 3.0
1992 Excel 4 4.0
1993 Excel 5 5.0 Only available on PowerPC-based Macs. First PowerPC version.
1998 Excel 98 8.0 Excel 6 and Excel 7 were skipped to correspond with the rest of Microsoft Office at the time.
2000 Excel 2000 9.0
2001 Excel 2001 10.0
2004 Excel 2004 11.0
2008 Excel 2008 12.0
2011 Excel 2011 14.0 As with the Windows version, version 13 was skipped for superstitious reasons.
2016 Excel 2016 16.0 As with the rest of Microsoft Office, so it is for Excel: Future release dates for the Macintosh version are intended to correspond better to those for the Windows version, from 2016 onward.
Microsoft Excel for OS/2 release history

Year Name Version Comments
1989 Excel 2.2 2.2 Numbered in between Windows versions at the time
1990 Excel 2.3 2.3
1991 Excel 3 3.0 Last OS/2 version. Discontinued subseries of Microsoft Excel, which is otherwise still an actively developed program.

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

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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

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Excel

  • Microsoft Excel – official site
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Excel Logo

What is Excel?

What is Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program available in the Microsoft Office Package. MS Excel is used to create Worksheets (spreadsheets) to store and organize data in a table format.

Microsoft Excel is one of the most used software application in the world. Excel have the Powerful Tools and Functions, using it for wide verity of applications across the global IT Companies. It is easy to enter the data, read and manipulate the data. Excel stores the data in a table format in Rows and Columns.

Here is a screen-shot of a Microsoft Excel File:

Microsoft Excel

  • What is Excel in Computer?
  • What is Excel Used for?
  • Where Excel is Used?
  • Features of MS Excel:
    • Key Components:
    • Usage
    • Industries
    • Interface
    • Data Analysis
    • Data Visualization
    • Templates
    • Enhancing Excel Features
    • Programming Language
    • Macros
    • Add-ins
    • Integration with Other Office Applications:
    • Security Features
    • Resource and Support Communities:
    • Limitations
    • Data security and privacy
    • Data accuracy and integrity
    • Alternative Applications
    • Conclusion
  • Excel Objects and Definitions
    • What is Excel Ribbon?
    • What is Excel Workbook?
    • What is Excel Worksheet?
    • What is Excel Range?
    • What is Excel Cell?
    • What is Excel Row?
    • What is Excel Column?
    • What are Excel Macros?
    • What is Excel VLookUp?

What is Excel in Computer?

In computer terms, Excel is a spreadsheet application in Microsoft Office Pack. It is one of the most using Applications in business industries. We can store any kind of the data in the spreadsheets in the Excel Range or Excel Cells. We can also insert Images, Shapes, Charts, Pivot Tables in the Excel Sheets to understand the data.

What is Excel Used for?

Microsoft Excel used for storing the data, processing the data, analyzing and presenting the data.

  • We can enter data in Strings, Dates or Numerical type of Data in the Excel Cells and Save the Files for future reference
  • We can use verity of formulas available in Excel to perform calculations
  • We can Develop Tools and Dashboards
  • We can Interact with Other Applications
  • We can connect to verity of Data Bases
  • We can represent data in Charts
  • We can drill down and analyze the data using Pivot Tables

Read More Uses

Where Excel is Used?

Microsoft Excel used in almost all industries. Here are the some of the real-time Excel Using industries and domains:

  • Financial sector is excessively using to perform different kind of calculations.
  • Analytical professional use Excel almost everyday for applying the basic analytical techniques and tools.
  • Banking Sector use to understand the Customer
  • Retail Associates uses for analyzing the POS data to check the change and trend in sales
  • Reporting Analysts uses for generating Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Reports.
  • Healthcare Teams uses for performing the longitudinal data analysis.
  • Market Research Analysts uses for finding the frequencies and cumulative aggregates.
  • VBA Developers uses for developing the Office Applications, Tools, Office Add-ins and Dashboards.

Features of MS Excel:

The following features of Excel made the Excel as most widely using application:

  • Graphical Features of Excel

    Excel have verity of the graphical features to represent the data in Charts and pictorial format. For Example, Charts, Shapes, Smart Arts, Clip Arts, Pictures.

  • Data Base Features of Excel

    Excel can be used as data base and perform of verity of data operations. For example, Pivot Tables, Slicers, Tables, Spark lines, Database, Sorting, Filtering, Data Validation, Grouping, etc.

  • Functional Features of Excel

    Excel Tools and Functions will help to perform powerful calculations and enhance the Excel Application Features. For example, Formulas, VBA Macros, Add-ins, Hyperlinks, Conditional Formatting, Spell Check, Protection, etc.

Key Components:

Excel is a spreadsheet software developed by Microsoft that is used to perform calculations, data analysis, and data visualization. Some of the key components of Excel include:

  • Workbook: A workbook is the main file that contains one or more worksheets where you can enter data, perform calculations, and create charts and graphs.
  • Worksheet: A worksheet is a single spreadsheet within a workbook that consists of rows, columns, and cells.
  • Cell: A cell is a rectangular box in a worksheet where you can enter data, formulas, and functions.
  • Range: A group of adjacent cells, which can be selected and formatted together.
  • Chart: A chart is a visual representation of data in a worksheet that can help you to identify patterns and trends.
  • PivotTable: A PivotTable is a powerful tool that allows you to summarize and analyze large amounts of data quickly and easily.
  • Sparklines: Sparklines are small, simple charts that are used to show trends in data over time.
  • Ribbon: The Ribbon is a graphical user interface that contains all the tools and commands you need to work with Excel. It is organized into tabs, which are further divided into groups of related commands.
  • Quick Access Toolbar: The Quick Access Toolbar is a customizable toolbar that provides quick access to frequently used commands.
  • Name box: The box located to the left of the formula bar, which displays the reference of the selected cell or range.
  • Solver: Solver is an add-in tool that allows you to find the optimal solution to a problem by changing the values of certain variables.
  • Goal Seek: Goal Seek is a tool that allows you to determine the value of a variable that will achieve a certain goal in a formula.
  • Scenario Manager: Scenario Manager is a tool that allows you to create and compare different scenarios for a worksheet by changing the input values of certain variables.
  • Power Query: Power Query is a tool that allows you to transform and analyze large amounts of data from various sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, and web pages.
  • Power Pivot: Power Pivot is an add-in tool that allows you to create advanced data models and perform complex data analysis using large amounts of data.
  • Data Tables: Data Tables are tools that allow you to calculate multiple results based on different sets of input values for one or more formulas.
  • Web Queries: Web Queries are tools that allow you to import data from a website directly into Excel, making it easier to collect and analyze data from the internet.
  • Get & Transform: Get & Transform is a feature that allows you to connect to various data sources, transform and reshape data, and load it into Excel for analysis and reporting.
  • Freeze Panes: Freeze Panes is a feature that allows you to keep certain rows or columns visible as you scroll through a worksheet, making it easier to view and analyze large amounts of data.
  • Collaboration Tools: Excel also provides various collaboration tools that allow multiple users to work on the same worksheet simultaneously, such as shared workbooks and co-authoring.
  • Protect Workbook/Worksheet: Protect Workbook/Worksheet is a feature that allows you to restrict access to certain parts of a workbook or worksheet by setting password protection, so that only authorized users can view or edit the data.
  • Error Checking: Error Checking is a feature that allows you to identify and correct errors in your formulas and functions, which can help to ensure data accuracy.
  • Templates: Excel Templates are pre-designed spreadsheets that you can use to quickly create different types of documents, such as budgets, calendars, and invoices.
  • Macro: A macro is a set of instructions that automate repetitive tasks in Excel.
  • Office Add-ins: Office Add-ins are third-party tools that you can install in Excel to extend its functionality, such as data connectors, visualization tools, and productivity apps.
  • Merge cells: A tool that allows you to combine multiple cells into a single, larger cell.
  • Autofill: A tool that allows you to quickly fill a series of cells with a pattern or sequence of data.
  • Data Validation: Data Validation is a feature that allows you to restrict the type of data that can be entered into a cell. This can help to ensure data accuracy and consistency.
  • Custom Number Formats: Custom Number Formats are tools that allow you to create your own number formats, making it easier to display numbers in a way that is more meaningful for your data.
  • Text to Columns: Text to Columns is a feature that allows you to split data in a column into multiple columns based on a delimiter, such as a comma or space.
  • Flash Fill: Flash Fill is a tool that allows you to automatically fill in data based on a pattern that you specify, making it easier to clean and transform data.
  • Print Options: Excel also provides various print options that allow you to customize the layout and formatting of your worksheet before printing, such as page orientation, margins, and scaling.
  • Page Layout View: Page Layout View is a feature that allows you to view your worksheet as it will appear when printed, making it easier to adjust the layout and formatting.
  • Filter: A tool that allows you to display only specific data in a worksheet, based on certain criteria.
  • Sort: A tool that allows you to arrange data in a worksheet in ascending or descending order, based on certain criteria.
  • Function: A function is a built-in formula that performs a specific calculation or task, such as SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, and MIN.
  • Formula: A formula is an equation that performs a calculation in a cell based on the values in other cells.
  • Formula bar: The area at the top of the Excel window where you can view and edit the contents of a selected cell.
  • Cell reference: A way to identify a cell in a worksheet, which is a combination of the column letter and row number, such as A1, B2, etc.
  • Relative reference: A cell reference that changes when you copy or move a formula to a different location in a worksheet.
  • Absolute reference: A cell reference that remains constant when you copy or move a formula to a different location in a worksheet, which is denoted by a dollar sign ($).
  • Mixed reference: A cell reference that has both absolute and relative components, which is denoted by a dollar sign ($) before the column or row reference.
  • Dynamic Arrays: Dynamic Arrays are a new feature in Excel that allow you to create formulas that automatically expand or shrink to fit the size of the data, making it easier to perform calculations on large datasets.
  • Formula auditing: A tool that allows you to trace the relationships between cells and formulas in a worksheet, which can help you identify errors and troubleshoot problems.

Usage

Excel is a widely used spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications and is used to organize, analyse, and manipulate data. Excel allows users to create, format, and manipulate tables of numerical and textual data in rows and columns.

Users can perform various mathematical and statistical calculations on the data, create charts and graphs to visualize the data, and use formulas and functions to automate calculations and analysis. Excel also provides various tools and features for data analysis, such as sorting, filtering, and pivot tables, that allow users to extract insights quickly and easily from large data sets.

Industries

Excel can be used in a variety of industries and professions, including finance, accounting, marketing, and research. It is often used for budgeting, financial forecasting, tracking expenses, inventory management, and analyzing sales data.

Interface

Excel has a user-friendly interface and is widely available on Windows and Mac OS systems. Additionally, Excel supports collaboration features, such as sharing workbooks and co-authoring, which allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet simultaneously.

Data Analysis

Another important feature of Excel is its ability to handle large amounts of data. Excel can handle millions of rows of data and thousands of columns, making it ideal for working with large datasets. Additionally, Excel provides several features for managing large datasets, such as sorting, filtering, and searching.

Excel also allows users to collaborate on workbooks in real-time using cloud-based solutions like OneDrive or SharePoint. This feature makes it easy for teams to work on the same document simultaneously and ensures that everyone is working with the most up-to-date version of the data.

Data Visualization

Excel also provides various tools for data visualization, which make it easy to create charts, graphs, and other visualizations that help to communicate data insights. With features like sparklines and conditional formatting, users can quickly identify trends and patterns in data without the need for complex analysis.

Overall, Excel is an essential tool for anyone who works with data. Its extensive feature set, customizability, and ease of use make it an ideal choice for businesses, researchers, educators, and individuals. Whether you are working with small datasets or large, Excel can help you manage and analyze your data efficiently, saving you time and improving your productivity.

Templates

Excel also provides various templates that help users get started with common tasks, such as budgeting, invoicing, and project management. These templates can be customized to meet specific needs, making it easy for users to create professional-looking spreadsheets without starting from scratch.

Enhancing Excel Features

Another way to overcome some of the limitations of Excel is to use Excel add-ins or plugins that provide additional features and capabilities. There are many add-ins available that can help users automate tasks, perform advanced analysis, and enhance visualization.

  • For example, the Analysis ToolPak add-in provides a wide range of statistical and engineering functions, while the Power Query add-in allows users to extract and transform data from a variety of sources. The Solver add-in can help users find optimal solutions for complex problems, while the Power Pivot add-in provides advanced data modeling and analysis capabilities.
  • In addition to add-ins, users can also consider using Excel templates or pre-built solutions that provide pre-configured spreadsheets and models for specific use cases. There are many templates available for financial modeling, budgeting, project management, and other applications. These templates can help users save time and avoid errors by providing pre-built formulas and templates for common tasks.

Finally, to improve collaboration and data sharing, users can consider using cloud-based collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams or SharePoint. These platforms allow users to share and collaborate on Excel spreadsheets in real-time, providing a more efficient and collaborative workflow.

Programming Language

Excel also has a programming language called VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) that allows users to automate repetitive tasks and create custom solutions. With VBA, users can create macros, which are small programs that automate common tasks, such as formatting data or generating reports.

VBA also provides access to many of Excel’s built-in features, as well as the ability to create custom functions and procedures. This allows users to create highly customized solutions that can save time and increase efficiency.

Macros

In addition to add-ins, templates, and complementary tools, users can also consider using Excel macros to automate repetitive tasks and improve productivity. Macros are small programs written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that can be used to automate tasks and add custom functionality to Excel.

  • With macros, users can automate tasks such as formatting, data entry, and data cleaning, as well as perform more advanced tasks such as data analysis and modeling. Macros can also be used to create custom functions and formulas that can be reused in other Excel spreadsheets.
  • To create macros, users need to have a basic understanding of VBA programming. Excel provides a built-in macro recorder that allows users to record their actions and convert them into VBA code. Users can also write their own code from scratch or modify existing code to create more complex macros.
  • Macros can be saved as part of the Excel spreadsheet or as a separate file, and can be easily shared with other users. However, it is important to be cautious when using macros as they can potentially contain malicious code that can harm your computer or compromise your data.
  • Excel VBA Macros can be a powerful tool for automating tasks and improving productivity in Excel. By learning how to write and use macros, users can save time and improve their workflow, and add custom functionality to Excel spreadsheets. However, it is important to be careful when using macros, and to ensure that they come from a trusted source and do not contain any malicious code.

Add-ins

In addition to its core features, Excel also supports a wide range of add-ins and third-party applications that can further extend its functionality. For example, users can install add-ins to enhance data visualization, automate data entry, or integrate Excel with other software tools.

Integration with Other Office Applications:

One of the advantages of Excel is its compatibility with other Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and PowerPoint. Excel data can easily be copied and pasted into these applications, allowing users to create professional-looking documents and presentations that include charts, tables, and graphs.

Excel also supports a wide range of file formats, including CSV, TXT, XML, and HTML, making it easy to share data with other applications or import data from external sources. Additionally, Excel can connect to external data sources such as SQL databases, SharePoint lists, and OData feeds, allowing users to work with data from a wide range of sources.

Security Features

Excel also provides various security features, such as password protection and file encryption, that help to keep data safe and secure. This is especially important when working with sensitive or confidential information.

Finally, Excel is widely supported by third-party tools and services, which can further enhance its capabilities. For example, there are many add-ins and plug-ins available that provide additional functionality, such as data analysis tools, charting software, and collaboration platforms.

In conclusion, Excel is a powerful and versatile tool that provides many features and capabilities for managing and analyzing  data. Whether you are a business owner, financial analyst, researcher, or student, Excel can help you work with data more efficiently and effectively. Its ease of use, customizability, and compatibility with other applications make it an ideal choice for anyone who works with data on a regular basis.

Resource and Support Communities:

Excel’s popularity has led to the development of many resources and support communities, which can help users learn how to use the software effectively. These resources include online tutorials, user forums, and training courses, which can help users become proficient in Excel quickly.

  • Furthermore, Excel’s features are constantly evolving, with new updates being released on a regular basis. These updates often include new tools and functionality that help users work with data more effectively.
  • In addition to its features, Excel’s versatility and wide range of applications make it an essential tool for many industries and professions. For example, Excel is commonly used in finance and accounting for budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling. It is also used in marketing and sales for data analysis, customer segmentation, and campaign tracking.
  • In research, Excel is used for data cleaning, manipulation, and analysis. Excel is also frequently used in education, where it is used to teach data analysis, statistics, and financial modeling.

In summary, Excel is a powerful and versatile tool that provides many features and capabilities for managing and analyzing data. Its ease of use, customizability, compatibility with other applications, and wide range of applications make it an essential tool for many industries and professions. With its continued development and support, Excel is likely to remain a key tool for data management and analysis for years to come.

Limitations

Despite its many advantages, Excel is not without its limitations. One limitation is its ability to handle extremely large datasets. While Excel can handle millions of rows of data, it may become slow and unwieldy with datasets that exceed this limit.

  • Additionally, Excel is not well-suited for complex data modeling and analysis. While it provides many tools and features for data analysis, it may not be the best choice for advanced statistical analysis or machine learning.
  • Another limitation of Excel is its potential for errors. Because it relies on manual data entry and manipulation, it is vulnerable to human errors such as typos and miscalculations. Additionally, its use of cell-based formulas and references can lead to errors when cells are moved or deleted.
  • Finally, Excel’s use of proprietary file formats can make it difficult to share data with users who do not have access to the software. While Excel can save files in a variety of formats, users may need to use specialized software to open or work with these files.
  • While Excel is a powerful and versatile tool for managing and analyzing data, it does have some limitations. Users should be aware of these limitations and choose the appropriate tools and software for their specific needs. Despite its limitations, Excel remains a popular and widely used tool for data management and analysis, and its continued development and support make it a valuable tool for many industries and professions.

Data security and privacy

Another important consideration when working with Excel is data security and privacy. Excel files can contain sensitive and confidential data, such as financial records, personal information, or trade secrets. As such, it is important to take appropriate measures to protect this data from unauthorized access or disclosure.

  • One way to improve data security in Excel is to use password protection. Excel allows users to password-protect their spreadsheets and workbooks, which can prevent unauthorized access or editing. Passwords should be strong and complex, and users should avoid sharing passwords with others or storing them in an insecure location.
  • Another way to improve data security is to restrict access to Excel files. Users can use file permissions to control who has access to their Excel files and what they can do with them. For example, users can set read-only permissions for certain users, or prevent users from copying or printing the file.
  • Users should also be aware of the risks associated with sharing Excel files over email or cloud storage services. Excel files can be intercepted or accessed by unauthorized parties if they are not encrypted or secured properly. To avoid these risks, users can use secure file-sharing services or encrypt their Excel files before sharing them.
  • Finally, users should be aware of privacy laws and regulations that may apply to their use of Excel. For example, certain types of data, such as personal information or medical records, may be subject to specific data protection laws. Users should ensure that they are complying with applicable privacy laws and regulations when working with Excel.

In conclusion, data security and privacy are important considerations when working with Excel. By using password protection, access restrictions, secure file-sharing, and complying with privacy laws, users can protect their sensitive data and ensure that it is not disclosed or accessed by unauthorized parties.

Data accuracy and integrity

Another important consideration when working with Excel is data accuracy and integrity. Excel spreadsheets can be prone to errors, such as data entry mistakes, formula errors, or incorrect formatting. These errors can lead to incorrect analysis, decision-making, or reporting, and can have serious consequences for businesses or organizations.

  • To ensure data accuracy and integrity, users should follow best practices for data entry and management in Excel. This includes using consistent and clear naming conventions for data and columns, validating data as it is entered, using data validation rules to restrict data entry to specific formats or ranges, and using formulas and functions to perform calculations and analysis.
  • Users should also be careful when using copy-and-paste or importing data from external sources, as these actions can introduce errors or inconsistencies in the data. Users should validate and clean data as it is imported, and ensure that data is formatted consistently with the rest of the spreadsheet.
  • Another way to improve data accuracy and integrity is to perform regular checks and audits of Excel spreadsheets. Users can use tools such as Excel’s auditing and error-checking features to identify potential errors or inconsistencies in their data, and correct them before they become serious issues. Users can also use third-party tools or add-ins that provide more advanced auditing and error-checking capabilities.

In conclusion, data accuracy and integrity are critical considerations when working with Excel. By following best practices for data entry and management, validating and cleaning data, performing regular checks and audits, and using tools and add-ins that improve data accuracy and integrity, users can ensure that their Excel spreadsheets are reliable, accurate, and trustworthy.

Alternative Applications

To mitigate some of the limitations of Excel, there are several alternatives and complementary tools that users can consider. For example, users can consider using more advanced data analysis software such as Python, R, or MATLAB, which offer more powerful statistical analysis and machine learning capabilities.

  • Users can also consider using cloud-based data management and analysis tools such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Power BI, which offer collaborative features, more powerful data visualization options, and support for larger datasets.
  • Finally, to ensure compatibility and interoperability with other software and systems, users can consider using open-source or non-proprietary file formats such as CSV or JSON, which can be read and manipulated by a wide range of software tools and platforms.
  • In summary, while Excel remains a valuable tool for data management and analysis, it is important for users to be aware of its limitations and consider using complementary tools and software to meet their specific needs. By combining Excel with other tools and techniques, users can work more efficiently, reduce errors, and extract more value from their data.

Conclusion

Excel is constantly evolving, with new features and capabilities being added with each new version. For example, recent updates have introduced new functions, new chart types, improved data analysis tools, and enhanced collaboration features.

  • Excel is also widely used in data analysis and business intelligence. With features like Power Query and Power Pivot, users can easily connect to external data sources, clean and transform data, and create interactive dashboards and reports.
  • In addition to its business applications, Excel is also used extensively in education, where it is used to teach data analysis, mathematical modeling, and financial analysis.
  • Overall, Excel is a powerful and versatile tool that can be used to perform a wide range of tasks. Whether you are a small business owner, financial analyst, researcher, or student, Excel can help you manage and analyse data more efficiently, saving you time and improving your productivity. With its user-friendly interface, extensive feature set, and customizability, Excel is a valuable tool for businesses, professionals, and individuals alike.

In conclusion, while Excel has some limitations, there are many ways to overcome these limitations and enhance its capabilities. By using add-ins, templates, and complementary tools and software, users can work more efficiently, perform advanced analysis, and share data more effectively. With its continued development and support, Excel is likely to remain a key tool for data management and analysis for years to come.

Excel Objects and Definitions

Excel Ribbon

What is Excel Ribbon?

Excel ribbon is the navigation menu in Excel, shows all the Controls and Commands in different Tabs.

Microsoft Excel Workbook

What is Excel Workbook?

Excel Workbook is the Main File which can contain at one or more worksheet or spreadsheets.

What is Excel - Worksheet?

What is Excel Worksheet?

Excel workbook can contain more than one worksheet. It is a spreadsheet with rows, columns and cells.

What is Excel - Range?

What is Excel Range?

Excel range is the worksheet object contains one or more Cells.

Excel Cell

What is Excel Cell?

Cell is an Object of Excel Sheet to enter information. It represents with Column Name followed by Row Number.

What is Excel Rows?

What is Excel Row?

Rows are the Records in Excel Spreadsheet. Excel Rows are represented by row numbers (1,2,3,…).

What is Excel Columns?

What is Excel Column?

Columns are Fields in Excel Spreadsheet. Each Column in a sheet represented with a unique Column Name, starts with Column name A.

What is Excel Macro?

What are Excel Macros?

A Macro is a re usable tiny program which we can save and run to repeat the same action or tasks in Excel.

What is VLOOKUP Function in Excel

What is Excel VLookUp?

VLOOKUP Function in Excel helps to lookup the corresponding values of a Range, Table and Arrays.

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Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that is used for storing, organizing, and manipulating data.

The information we’ve prepared refers to Microsoft Excel in general and is not limited to any specific version of the program.

What Excel Is Used For

Electronic spreadsheet programs were originally based on paper spreadsheets used for accounting. As such, the basic layout of computerized spreadsheets is the same as the paper ones. Related data is stored in tables — which are a collection of small rectangular boxes or cells organized into rows and columns.

All versions of Excel and other spreadsheet programs can store several spreadsheet pages in a single computer file. The saved computer file is often referred to as a workbook and each page in the workbook is a separate worksheet.

Spreadsheet Cells and Cell References

When you look at the Excel screen — or any other spreadsheet screen — you see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns.

In newer versions of Excel, each worksheet contains roughly a million rows and more than 16,000 columns, which necessitates an addressing scheme in order to keep track of where data is located.

The horizontal rows are identified by numbers (1, 2, 3) and the vertical columns by letters of the alphabet (A, B, C). For columns beyond 26, columns are identified by two or more letters such as AA, AB, AC or AAA, AAB, etc.

The intersection point between a column and a row is the small rectangular box known as a cell. The cell is the basic unit for storing data in the worksheet, and because each worksheet contains millions of these cells, each one is identified by its cell reference.

A cell reference is a combination of the column letter and the row number such as A3, B6, and AA345. In these cell references, the column letter is always listed first.

Data Types, Formulas, and Functions

The types of data that a cell can hold include:

  • Numbers
  • Text
  • Dates and times
  • Boolean values
  • Formulas

Formulas are used for calculations — usually incorporating data contained in other cells. These cells, however, may be located on different worksheets or in different workbooks.

Creating a formula starts by entering the equal sign in the cell where you want the answer displayed. Formulas can also include cell references to the location of data and one or more spreadsheet functions.

Functions in Excel and other electronic spreadsheets are built-in formulas that are designed to simplify carrying out a wide range of calculations – from common operations such as entering the date or time to more complex ones such as finding specific information located in large tables of data.

Excel and Financial Data

Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include:

  • Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns or rows of numbers
  • Finding values such as profit or loss
  • Calculating repayment plans for loans or mortgages
  • Finding the average, maximum, minimum and other statistical values in a specified range of data
  • Carrying out What-If analysis on data, where variables are modified one at a time to see how the change affects other data, such as expenses and profits

Excel’s Other Uses

Other common operations that Excel can be used for include:

  • Graphing or charting data to assist users in identifying data trends
  • Formatting data to make important data easy to find and understand
  • Printing data and charts for use in reports
  • Sorting and filtering data to find specific information
  • Linking worksheet data and charts for use in other programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Word
  • Importing data from database programs for analysis

Spreadsheets were the original «killer apps» for personal computers because of their ability to compile and make sense of information. Early spreadsheet programs such as VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 were largely responsible for the growth in popularity of computers like the Apple II and the IBM PC as a business tool.

Excel Alternatives

Other current spreadsheet programs that are available for use include:

  • Google Sheets: A free, web-based spreadsheet program
  • Excel Online: A free, scaled-down, web-based version of Excel
  • Open Office Calc: A free, downloadable spreadsheet program.

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What is Excel?

Excel is a spreadsheet program from Microsoft and a component of its Office product group for business applications. Microsoft Excel enables users to format, organize and calculate data in a spreadsheet.

By organizing data using software like Excel, data analysts and other users can make information easier to view as data is added or changed. Excel contains a large number of boxes called cells that are ordered in rows and columns. Data is placed in these cells.  

Excel is a part of the Microsoft Office and Office 365 suites and is compatible with other applications in the Office suite. The spreadsheet software is available for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS platforms.

Common Excel use cases

Excel is most commonly used in business settings. For example, it is used in business analysis, human resource management, operations management and performance reporting. Excel uses a large collection of cells formatted to organize and manipulate data and solve mathematical functions. Users can arrange data in the spreadsheet using graphing tools, pivot tables and formulas. The spreadsheet application also has a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.

Organizations use Microsoft Excel for the following:

  • collection and verification of business data;
  • business analysis;
  • data entry and storage;
  • data analysis;
  • performance reporting;
  • strategic analysis;
  • accounting and budgeting;
  • administrative and managerial management;
  • account management;
  • project management; and
  • office administration.

Excel terminology and components

Excel has its own terminology for its components, which new users may not immediately find understandable. Some of these terms and components include the following:

  • Cell. A user enters data into a cell, which is the intersection of a column and row.  
  • Cell reference. This is the set of coordinates where a cell is located. Rows are horizontal and numbered whereas columns are vertical and assigned a letter.
  • Active cell. This is the currently selected cell, outlined by a green box.
  • Workbook. This is an Excel file that contains one or more worksheets.
  • Worksheet. These are the different documents nested within a Workbook.
  • Worksheet tab. These are the tabs at the bottom left of the spreadsheet.
  • Column and row headings. These are the numbered and lettered cells located just outside of the columns and rows. Selecting a header highlights the entire row or column.
  • Formula. Formulas are mathematical equations, cell references or functions that can be placed inside a cell to produce a value. Formulas must start with an equal «=» sign.
  • Formula bar. This is the long input bar that is used to enter values or formulas in cells. It is located at the top of the worksheet, next to the «fx» label.
  • Address bar. This bar located to the left of the formula bar shows the number and letter coordinates of an active cell. 
  • Filter. These are rules a user can employ to select what rows in a worksheet to display. This option is located on the top right of the home bar under «Sort & Filter.» An auto filter option can be selected to show rows that match specific values.
  • AutoFill. This feature enables users to copy data to more than one cell automatically. With two or more cells in a series, a user can select both cells and drag the bottom right corner down to autofill the rest of the cells.
  • AutoSum. This feature enables users to add multiple values. Users can select the cells they want to add and press the Alt and Equal keys. There is also a button to enable this feature on the top right of the home page, above «Fill» and to the left of «Sort & Filter.»
  • PivotTable. This data summarization tool sorts and calculates data automatically. This is located under the insert tab on the far left.
  • PivotChart. This chart acts as a visual aid to the PivotTable, providing graph representations of the data. It is located under the middle of the insert page, next to maps.
  • Source data. This is the information that is used to create a PivotTable.

Key aspects of Excel.

This image shows key features of Excel.

Advanced Excel capabilities

More advanced tools in Excel include the following:

  • TREND function. This tool is used to calculate linear trend lines through a set of Y or X values. It can be used for time series trend analysis or projecting future trends. Trendlines can be used on charts.
  • VLOOKUP. The Vertical Lookup, or VLOOKUP function, can be used to search for values in a larger data set and pull that data into a new table. VLOOKUP is a cell input command that looks like =VLOOKUP(). The parentheses include the data the user wants to look up, where to look for it, the column number with the value to return; or optionally, the user can specify an Approximate or Exact match indicated by True or False.
  • Table Array. This is a combination of two or more tables with data and values linked and related to one another. This is part of VLOOKUP.
  • Col_index_num. Another value when creating a table array that specifies the column from where data is being pulled.
  • Range_lookup. This value in VLOOKUP provides information closest to what a user wants to find when nothing matches other variables. This is represented by a true or false label. False gives the exact value a user is looking for and True gives results from a variable data range.
  • MAX and MIN functions. These functions provide the maximum and minimum values from selected data sets. MAX is used to find the maximum value in a function tab and MIN is used to find the minimum value.
  • AND function. This function has more than one criteria set when searching variables. If a variable matches the criteria, the value will be returned as true; if not, it will be returned as false. The input for the function should look like this: =AND (logical1, [logical2], …).

Additional functions for use in Excel include subtract, multiply, divide, count, median, concatenate and other logical functions similar to AND, such as OR.

Excel and XLS files

An XLS file is a spreadsheet file that can be created by Excel or other spreadsheet programs. The file type represents an Excel Binary File format. An XLS file stores data as binary streams — a compound file. Streams and substreams in the file contain information about the content and structure of an Excel workbook.

Versions of Excel after Excel 2007 use XLSX files by default, since it is a more open and structured format. Later versions of Excel still support the creation and reading of XLS files, however. Workbook data can also be exported in formats including PDF, TXT, Hypertext markup language, XPS and XLSX.

Macro-enabled Excel files use the XLSM file extension. In this case, macros are sets of instructions that automate Excel processes. XLSM files are similar to XLM files but are based on the Open XML format found in later Microsoft Office software.

Excel competitors

Even though Excel might be one of the most recognizable spreadsheet programs, other vendors offer competing products. Examples include the following:

  • Google Sheets. Google Sheets is a free competitor to Excel, with similar layouts and features. Users with a Gmail account can access Google Sheets. Google Sheets are saved in the cloud, meaning users can access their spreadsheets from anywhere and on numerous devices. Multiple users can also collaborate on the same spreadsheet.
  • Numbers. Apple’s spreadsheet program comes free with every Mac and provides prebuilt templates, charts and graphs. Numbers excels at graphics and charts, but it does not handle large data sets as well as Microsoft Excel. Numbers is also exclusive for Apple’s devices. But it does enable users to save spreadsheets as Excel files, so a Windows user can still open a Numbers spreadsheet in Excel.
  • Apache OpenOffice Calc. This free open source spreadsheet software features multiple user collaboration; natural language formulas that enable users to create formulas using words; DataPilot, which pulls data from corporate databases; and style and formatting features that enable different cell formatting options. The software uses a different macro programming language than Excel and has fewer chart options. OpenOffice Calc works on Windows and macOS platforms. OpenOffice Calc also uses the Open Document Format as its default, with only limited support for Microsoft’s XLSX format.

Microsoft Excel vs. Google Sheets.

This image compares Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

History and future of Excel

Microsoft released Excel in 1985 under the name Microsoft Multiplan. Microsoft’s spreadsheet program competed with similar products at the time, including Lotus 1-2-3 from the Lotus Development Corp. Although Lotus 1-2-3 was reportedly the first spreadsheet to introduce cell names and macros, Multiplan used a graphical user interface and enabled users to point and click using a mouse. Multiplan made it easier to manipulate, process and view spreadsheet data.

Initially, Multiplan lost popularity on Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) systems when competing with Lotus 1-2-3. Two years after its initial release, in 1987, Microsoft introduced Excel version 2.0. By 1988, this new version, now on Windows platforms, began to outsell Lotus 1-2-3 and other similar spreadsheet programs.

In 1990, Microsoft released version 3 of Excel, with features such as toolbars, 3D charts, and drawing and outlining capabilities. Version 4 came along two years later and added the auto-fill function. In 1993, version 5 of Excel was released. This version included Visual Basic for Applications macros, which enabled regular tasks to be automated.

One of the next big updates to Excel was version 12, which was released in 2007. This update used a new Ribbon menu system. Improved functions included a SmartArt set of diagrams, better management of named variables and more flexibility for formatting graphs. Excel moved to using the more structured and open XLSX files as well. Version 15 released in 2013 included new tools such as Power View, Power Pivot and Flash Fill. This version also improved multithreading capabilities.

The current version of Excel, version 16, was released in 2019. Since its conception, Microsoft Excel has become one of the most widely used business applications and is often paired with other Microsoft apps such as Word, Outlook and PowerPoint. Although Microsoft no longer updates Excel as different versions, it rolls out new features and updates automatically over time.

Microsoft Excel is arguably one of the most popular spreadsheet applications and has long since played a role in businesses. However, with the popularity of other current spreadsheet software, Excel now has increased competition. The website askwonder.com claims that the collection of apps in Google Suite, which includes Google Sheets, is used by 2 billion users every month, whereas Microsoft Excel has an estimated 750 million to 1.2 billion monthly global users. Google and Microsoft do not publish monthly usage for either spreadsheet program, so it is difficult to estimate values.

Learn more about the different benefits of using Excel for HR in this article.

This was last updated in November 2021


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Well, you must be wondering what are the uses of excel and how Microsoft Excel can help you in your daily life. MS Excel is extensively used nowadays by almost everyone because it is very helpful and saves a lot of time. It is being utilized for the past several years, and it gets updated every year with advanced features.

The most compelling thing about MS Excel is that it can be utilized everywhere. For example, it is used for data management, billing, analysis, finance, inventory, complex calculations, business tasks, etc. This software is perfect for Android, Windows, Mac OS, and cloud computing users.

Below we have given some of the uses of MS excel that will help you learn how MS Excel can help you. Before we move on to the uses of Excel let us know what exactly MS excel is.

So, it is a software program in which there are spreadsheets to organize numbers. And data formulas or any type of function, which means you can organize any kind of data with the help of spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. Of course, the data which are disorganized will be of no use that is why MS excel was created. However, now you must be thinking why we have called it Microsoft Excel. Well, the reason is that Microsoft created it.

Microsoft Excel organizes data in rows and columns, and these rows and columns intersect at a pace called a cell. And using these, you can organize any kind of data. Whether it is of personal use or it may be for any type of business use. Also, you can use this jpg to excel converter that uses OCR feature to convert image to excel spreadsheet for free while keeping the quality high. 

Features of Microsoft Excel

Features of excel are the reason that made Excel the most widely used application. Excel is a very common application because of its extensive range of features and great tools. Microsoft added several features in each release. Here are the principal features of Microsoft Excel:

  • Add Header and Footer
  • Find and Replace Command
  • Password Protection
  • Data Filtering
  • Data Sorting
  • Built-in formulae
  • Create different charts (Pivot Table Report)
  • Automatically edits the result
  • Formula Auditing

But before that lets know, why do people use Excel?

So, there are many reasons for people to use Microsoft excel. And as you already know the basic reason behind using excel is that you can manage and organize different types of data with the help of Excel.

For example, let’s suppose that someone is using excel for personal use and that can be anything like they can use it for managing their monthly expenses and other things like that. Or for business use, a company can use it for managing its data whether it may be of any type. So, there can be many things that can be done with the help of excel. 

So, you already know what it is used for and why people use excel. Now it’s time for you to know about,

How can excel be formatted?

As we have discussed in Excel we have rows, columns, and cells, and these rules are columns. And cells can be modified in many ways to make data look efficient or to organize in the best way possible. We can modify the background color number or date format size text font layout ETC of these rows columns and cells.

Or we can also do mathematical problems, we can solve them by applying mathematical formulas. And many things are there in excel to make our work easier and to make it efficient. So that we can use our data wherever we want.

So, this was all about Excel why do people use it, and how it can be formatted.

Now it’s time for you to learn about what excel is used for. So, as we have discussed above, there are so many things in which we can use excel. And as we know by now it’s basic and the main feature or use is to manage and organize data in the best way possible. Whether it may be of personal or business use. 

Top Uses of Microsoft Excel

So, as we have discussed above, there are so many places for what excel is used for. But below we have discussed some of the important areas where this software is implemented:

  1. Calculating 
  2. Accounting 
  3. Charting 
  4. Calendars and Schedules
  5. Seating Charts
  6. Goal Planning WorkSheets 
  7. Task List 
  8. Project management 

So, these are some of the areas for what excel is used for. You should know that there are many things which you can do with excel. But it is not possible for us to specify everything here in this blog. So these are some of the few things which you can get done with the uses of Excel. 

1)Calculating

So the best uses of Excel is that you can calculate anything. Or you can use any formulae you want to get your calculations done. You can apply those formulae or calculations you want on any row or columns or any cell on the spreadsheet. 

It is the best thing about excel. You can always build yourself a customized calculator in excel by programming your commonly used mathematical formulas. So that whenever you need, all you need to do is to put in those values on which you want to get your calculations. And you will get the answers. So overall you can get your calculations done within your spreadsheet and that is one of the best uses of MS Excel.

2)Accounting 

You can always do your accounting with the help of MS Excel. You can make your budget, plan your expense, track, or make your financial reports, but you need to put in the data. Microsoft has designed MS Excel to meet financial and accounting requirements. This includes loan calculators, budgeting, expenses tracking, and financial reports.

Accounting relates to the method of recording large financial transactions for a business. The availability of many Calculating tools for calculation makes it a valuable tool for accounting purposes in the office. It also has templates which makes the accounting methods much easier.

3)Charting 

What you can do is that you can always make charts with the use of MS Excel. You can manage your data like your expenses and financial reports and with the help of those you can make charts.

Is by making charts you can visually understand what is going on with your expenses. Or financial reports so these charts like pie charts, scatter charts, bar charts, area charts, etc. Will help you find a way to represent your data in the best way possible.

Or you can also be able to get a better idea of what is going on with your things which means you can get a greater visual approach in a very digestible way. So you can help you in making a different type of chart from your data this is a great thing and is the great use of MS Excel.

4)Calendars and Schedules

The best thing that we like about Excel is that we can make Calendars with the uses of MS Excel. Likewise, put those values or dates we can say in those rows and columns of excel and we can further use it as a calendar. 

Or you can make different calendars as per your need like when you need to make out of the content calendar for your blog. Or website then you can make that customized calendar as per your need. Whenever you need to plan lessons for your classroom you can do that as well with the help of their personalized.

However, customized calendar Excel can be surprisingly robust you can make any kind of customized things with the uses of MS Excel like this calendar. As we’re talking about so this calendar making or shift schedule making with the help of Excel is one of the best uses of Excel.

5)Seating charts 

By now you already know many of the best uses of MS Excel but here is one more greatest use of MS Excel.

That is the seating chart, so what you can do with the uses of Excel is that you can make seating charts with the help of it. Like when there is a large corporate luncheon or wedding or if there is a meeting with you you have to manage.

And you have to make a seating plan for your guest then you can do it with the uses of Excel. Excel can make it a total breeze. So whenever you need to make a seating chart for yourself or any meeting you must be conducting or any other thing then you should make it with the use of MS Excel

6)Goal planning worksheet

So you must have some goals in your mind that you want to accomplish in your life or there may be any short-term goals for you.

In order to make it possible that you can do it, you can make a goal planning worksheet with the uses of Excel. You can make a daily planner for yourself with the use of Microsoft Excel. In which what you can do is you can make a task list for an easy day in a week.

By making this you will surely achieve your goal and this can be made with the uses of Excel. you can also create various types of worksheets logs planning documents that might help you with tracking down your progress with something.

So yeah you can make a goal planning worksheet with the help of it. And you will surely achieve your goal.

7)Task list

Not as we have already talked about goal planning with the uses of Excel. Now it’s time for you to learn about making a task placed with the uses of Excel. So you can make a different task list for yourself with the use of Excel.

It’s time for you to say goodbye to your standard pen and paper to make a to-do list. You should always make a to-do list or a task list with the uses of Microsoft Excel. You can make a far good just left with the uses of Excel.

Like you can check out your progress and note down in your sheet in terms of percentage. Or in terms of bar or in terms of anything. You can make a greater task list with the uses of Excel rather than making it by standard pen or paper. So it is also one of the best uses of MS Excel. You should take good advantage of it.

8)Project management 

So as you have already read about different uses of Microsoft Excel now it’s time for you to learn about project management charts so you can get them with the uses of MS Excel.

Yeah, we have already read about breaking things down with the uses of Excel. But in project management you will need is that you will have to to make make use of all the things you have learned in this blog. And make a project management charge for yourself and you can also make use of different things in this project management.

Like you can track down your team’s progress are you can always keep the things organized so that you won’t forget anything. Whenever you are working on a project you can make use of checklists to get your things done and you can check.

But you have already done you can make use of pie charts to track down the percentage of work you have done. You can get your different stuff done with it you can make seating charts with the uses of Excel to help you in your project management. So overall you can do a lot of things with the help of excel. And make your project work go crazy with the uses of Microsoft excel.

Conclusion

So, these were some of the uses of Excel.

The more a person learns about Excel’s various features, the more they can develop better ways to use Microsoft Excel in their everyday lives. It is preferable to devote more resources to studying and practicing Excel rather than performing stuff in inefficient and ineffective ways. Aside from the importance mentioned above, a variety of other uses of Excel are created based on the user’s needs.

If you need Excel Assignment Help, you can ask our experts at any time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Excel useful in our life?

Uses of  Excel in daily life perform the analysis, calculation, and data and information visualization. In the excel spreadsheet, users can perform all types of analytical, financial, data manipulation, logical calculation,  data analysis, and visualization of information quickly using formula and function.

Why is Excel so popular?

The main reason why excel is so popular among researchers is that charts are more straightforward to maintain and control in Excel. Accounting and Finance are the business sectors where Excel spreadsheets are the most used tools to get budgetary reports or estimates.

Is Excel hard to learn?

Excel is a complex software with so many functionalities under its surface, and it can seem not easy to learn. However, Excel is not as complicated to learn as several people think. With the right practice and training, you can develop your Excel abilities and open yourself up to wider job opportunities.

What is Excel used for? Excel is typically used to organize data and perform financial analysis. It is used across all business functions and at companies from small to large.

Contents

  • 1 What are uses of MS Excel?
  • 2 What are the 10 uses of Microsoft Excel?
  • 3 Why do we use MS Word?
  • 4 What is MS Office and uses?
  • 5 What are the 7 common uses for Excel?
  • 6 What is difference between MS Word and MS Excel?
  • 7 What is Microsoft Excel Introduction?
  • 8 Why Microsoft is important?
  • 9 How does excel help students?
  • 10 How many types of work in MS Excel?
  • 11 What is MS Excel in simple words?
  • 12 What are advantages and disadvantages of MS Excel?
  • 13 What are the 5 functions in Excel?
  • 14 Why should I learn MS Office?
  • 15 How do excel interpret data?
  • 16 What is MS suite?
  • 17 How can you use Excel in your everyday life?
  • 18 Who uses Excel?
  • 19 What is Excel written in?

What are uses of MS Excel?

Uses of MS Excel

  • Data Entry and Storage.
  • Performing Calculations.
  • Data Analysis and Interpretation.
  • Reporting and Visualizations.
  • Accounting and Budgeting.
  • Collection and Verification of Business Data.
  • Calendars and Schedules.
  • Administrative and Managerial Duties.

What are the 10 uses of Microsoft Excel?

Top 10 Uses of Microsoft Excel in Business

  • Business Analysis. The number 1 use of MS Excel in the workplace is to do business analysis.
  • People Management.
  • Managing Operations.
  • Performance Reporting.
  • Office Administration.
  • Strategic Analysis.
  • Project Management.
  • Managing Programs.

Why do we use MS Word?

The purpose of the MS Word is to allow the users to type and save documents. Similar to other word processors, it has helpful tools to make documents. Microsoft word, often called as word, carries with it a lot of benefits.

What is MS Office and uses?

Microsoft Office is a suite of applications designed to help with productivity and completing common tasks on a computer. You can create and edit documents containing text and images, work with data in spreadsheets and databases, and create presentations and posters.

What are the 7 common uses for Excel?

The 7 Most Popular Uses Of Excel For Your Business

  • Data Entry and Storage. At its most basic level, Excel is an excellent tool for both data entry and storage.
  • Collection and Verification of Business Data.
  • Administrative and Managerial Duties.
  • Accounting and Budgeting.
  • Data Analysis.
  • Reporting + Visualizations.
  • Forecasting.

What is difference between MS Word and MS Excel?

MS Word is a processing software which is used for writing letters, essay, notes, etc. Whereas, MS Excel is a spreadsheet software where a large amount of data or information can be saved in a systematic tabular manner in numerical and alphabetical values.

What is Microsoft Excel Introduction?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program used to record and analyze numerical and statistical data. Microsoft Excel provides multiple features to perform various operations like calculations, pivot tables, graph tools, macro programming, etc. It is compatible with multiple OS like Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.

Why Microsoft is important?

Microsoft Office products are the most widely-used business productivity software worldwide.Microsoft Office is extremely popular. It’s ease-of-use, accessibility, interactivity, and adaptability across operating systems have made its programs the most commonly used tools within companies around the world.

How does excel help students?

Excel reduces the difficulty of plotting data and allows students a means for interpreting the data.This goes a long way toward helping them understand the relationship between the data and the chart. Excel can easily convert any chart or data set into a web page, making it very easy to share information among groups.

How many types of work in MS Excel?

Functions. Excel 2016 has 484 functions. Of these, 360 existed prior to Excel 2010. Microsoft classifies these functions in 14 categories.

What is MS Excel in simple words?

By definition, “Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program created by Microsoft that uses tables to record and analyze numerical and statistical data with formulas and functions”. In simple words, MS Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program included with Microsoft Office and is mainly used to record data in tables.

What are advantages and disadvantages of MS Excel?

The Advantages & Disadvantages of Spreadsheets

  • Advantage: Organizing Data.
  • Disadvantage: User Bias.
  • Advantage: Streamlines Calculations.
  • Disadvantage: Learning the Syntax Takes Skill.
  • Advantage: Multiple User Access.
  • Disadvantage: Lack of Security.

What are the 5 functions in Excel?

5 Functions of Excel/Sheets That Every Professional Should Know

  • VLookup Formula.
  • Concatenate Formula.
  • Text to Columns.
  • Remove Duplicates.
  • Pivot Tables.

Why should I learn MS Office?

Microsoft Office training can give you the confidence to use the tools you are provided. Having your MS Office skills professionally trained with significantly increases your work efficiency and confidence, which will also bring you with a sense of job satisfaction at work.

How do excel interpret data?

Excel stores data sets in systems of cells organized into rows and columns.The worksheet layout and formatting allows spreadsheet administrators to see their data sets in a structured, organized format, enhancing clarity on the data when compared with non-digital data storage formats.

What is MS suite?

The Microsoft Office suite is a set of programs for common productivity tasks, including a word processing program, a spreadsheet tool, presentation software, an email program and others.Parts of the Microsoft suite of programs are available both for use in a web browser and local use on a computer.

How can you use Excel in your everyday life?

Whether it is family-based planning for a weekly, monthly or yearly calendar or a personal appointment daily planner or a schedule for managing bill payments, homework, favorite sports team’s games, and many more, excel can make it easy to compile, filter, search, organize and simplify large amounts of data.

Who uses Excel?

Excel is used extensively in finance and accounting functions. In fact, many organizations run their entire budgeting, forecasting, and accounting functions entirely out of Excel spreadsheets. While Excel is defined as a “data” management tool, the data that is most commonly managed is financial.

What is Excel written in?

Excel itself is written in Visual C++. But if you want to become good at Excel then you need to learn Visual Basic. The macros and other things you want to write in Excel use Visual Basic (not Visual C++).

List of Top 12 Important Uses of Microsoft Excel

There are plenty of uses of excel, and the list goes on, but here we have listed some of the important uses of Microsoft excel to start the things for a beginner.

  1. Get Quick Totals
  2. Data Analysis and Interpretation
  3. Plenty of Formulas to Work with Data
  4. Data Organising and Restructuring
  5. Data Filtering
  6. Goal Seek AnalysisThe Goal Seek in excel is a “what-if-analysis” tool that calculates the value of the input cell (variable) with respect to the desired outcome. In other words, the tool helps answer the question, “what should be the value of the input in order to attain the given output?”
    read more
  7. Flexible and User-Friendly
  8. Online Access
  9. Building Dashboards
  10. Interactive ChartsCharts visuals are better in data depiction, but interactivity gets it better. Interactivity is when the user sees specific values in the excel chart in a more effective, efficient and crystal clear way.read more and Graphs
  11. Dynamic Formulas
  12. Automation Through Excel

Uses-of-MS-Excel

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Now let us discuss each of them in detail along with an Example  –

#1 – Get Quick Totals

Getting total or subtotalThe SUBTOTAL excel function performs different arithmetic operations like average, product, sum, standard deviation, variance etc., on a defined range.read more is common, so Excel provides a quick sum of numbers with its AutoSum option. For example, look at the below data in Excel.

Uses of Excel Example 1

We have monthly numbers above, so to get the quick total in cell B7, press the Auto Sum shortcutThe Excel SUM Shortcut is a function that is used to add up multiple values by simultaneously pressing the “Alt” and “=” buttons in the desired cell. However, the data must be present in a continuous range for this function to function.read more key ALT + = sign.

 Example 1.1

As you can see, it has inserted the SUM function in excel.  Press the “Enter” key to get the result.

Uses of Excel Example 1.2

We have a quick total of the numbers above.

#2 – Data Analysis & Interpretation

The spreadsheet contains data, so telling the story behind the data is what the decision-makers need to make vital decisions in the business world. So, when the data is available with Excel, we can use MS Excel features like pivot tableA Pivot Table is an Excel tool that allows you to extract data in a preferred format (dashboard/reports) from large data sets contained within a worksheet. It can summarize, sort, group, and reorganize data, as well as execute other complex calculations on it.read more and formulas to analyze the data and interpret the numbers quickly and efficiently.

Example 1.4

#3 – Plenty of Formulas to Work with Data

MS Excel comes with plenty of built-in functions to work with data. There are 450+ functions in excel,Excel functions help the users to save time and maintain extensive worksheets. There are 100+ excel functions categorized as financial, logical, text, date and time, Lookup & Reference, Math, Statistical and Information functions.read more, so these functions are categorized as “Financial,” “Logical,” “Text,” “Date & Time,” “Lookup & Reference,” “Math & Trig,” “Statistical,” “Engineering,” “Cube,” “Information,” and “Web.”

Uses of Excel Example 1.9

#4 – Data Organizing & Restructuring

You cannot get the data ready to use, so we can organize the data using Excel tools. We can reorganize the data according to the users’ needs.

#5 – Data Filtering

Using the option of “Filter” in Excel, we can filter the particular data from the number of rows of data. For example, we can apply a single-column filter and the filter to multiple columns to match multiple criteriaCriteria based calculations in excel are performed by logical functions. To match single criteria, we can use IF logical condition, having to perform multiple tests, we can use nested IF conditions. But for matching multiple criteria to arrive at a single result is a complex criterion-based calculation.read more to filter the data.

Example 1.6

#6 – Goal Seek Analysis

When the target is set, and at a certain project stage, we may need to review that target achievement. So, using Excel, we can track all those things and identify what needs to be done in the remaining steps to achieve the desired goals.

Uses of Excel Example 1.7

#7 – Flexible and User-Friendly

When you compare MS Excel with other spreadsheets, you will find MS Excel as relatively friendly and flexible enough to fit the needs of the users. First, however, one needs the proper training to start things in Excel.

#8 – Online Access

Not all the time, we get the done offline, so some of the data needs to be fetched from online websites. We can import data from “MS Access File,” “Text File,” “From Web,” “From SQL Servers,” “From XML Data Import,” etc. So, getting the data to Excel is not a constraint.

 Example 1.8

#9 – Building Dashboards

When the story behind the data is read to tell, end users may want to see those summary results in a single page view. So using MS Excel, we can build dashboards that can tell the stories in a single page view. So, not only can we build a dashboard, but it also makes the dashboard interactive.

Uses of Excel Example 1.10

#10 – Interactive ChartsCharts visuals are better in data depiction, but interactivity gets it better. Interactivity is when the user sees specific values in the excel chart in a more effective, efficient and crystal clear way.read more and Graphs

When the Excel formulas are applied, we can make them dynamic so that when the data range gets an addition or deletion, our formula shows the updated results instantly.

Uses of Excel Example 1.11

#11 – Dynamic Formulas

When the excel formulasThe term «basic excel formula» refers to the general functions used in Microsoft Excel to do simple calculations such as addition, average, and comparison. SUM, COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTBLANK, AVERAGE, MIN Excel, MAX Excel, LEN Excel, TRIM Excel, IF Excel are the top ten excel formulas and functions.read more are applied, we can make them dynamic so that when the data range gets an addition or deletion, our formula shows the updated results instantly.

Example 1.13

#12 – Automation Through Excel

At last, when you move to the advanced level of MS Excel, you may get bored with daily work in Excel. In that case, we can automate the reports in Excel by using the VBA codingVBA code refers to a set of instructions written by the user in the Visual Basic Applications programming language on a Visual Basic Editor (VBE) to perform a specific task.read more language.

Uses of Excel Example 1.12

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to the Uses of Excel. Here, we discuss the top 12 important uses of Microsoft Excel, including getting quick totals, data analysis and interpretation, plenty of formulas to work with data, data filtering, etc., and examples and downloadable Excel templates. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

  • Divide Cell in Excel
  • Excel Count Colored Cells
  • Excel Negative Numbers
  • Scroll Bars in Excel

What are the uses of MS Excel in daily life? And also in businesses too. Well, there are a lot. Nowadays, people are in a hurry. They need to perform various operations in their daily life. But to perform these operations, they need to do some calculations. So how can they perform calculations easily? The most effective answer to this question is the use of excel.

Excel helps individuals and businesses to perform difficult calculations in no time. MS Excel is the most famous spreadsheet software in the world. In this blog, we will discuss various uses of excel in our life. But before we get started with the uses of Excel, let’s have a look at what MS Excel is.

However, if you are looking for Excel assignment help, then don’t worry. At statanalytica.com, we provide the best Excel assignment help at an affordable price. So, don’t waste your time get the help now!

MS Excel

MS Excel is one of the major parts of the MS office suite.

It is one of the most powerful spreadsheet software in the world.

The spreadsheet contains a table with various numbers of rows and columns.

These rows and columns are used to put the values.

You can easily manipulate these values using some complex arithmetic operations with the help of excel formulas.

Apart from that, MS Excel also offers programming support, which makes it better than other spreadsheet software.

You can do the programming with excel via Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications. On the other hand, there are many excel project ideas that you can use to improve your skills.

It also has the ability to get data from external sources via Microsoft’s Dynamic Data Exchange.

Apart from that, it also offers extensive graphic support to the users.

The most common uses of MS excel are performing basic calculations, creating pivot tables, and creating macros.

What Are the Uses of Microsoft Excel in Companies

Importance Of MS Excel In Our Daily Life And Business Life

Following are some importance of Excel that are related to our daily life and business lives.

1. Easy Computation Solutions

MS Excel has the ability to do several numbers of arithmetic calculations. With the help of different formulas, it can add, multiply, subtract, and divide lots of numbers simultaneously. Moreover, it can easily be re-do if the value is changed or added. 

2. Options Of Formatting

Excel has various formatting options, like highlighting, italics, colors, etc., that enable businesses to show and bring out the essential data differently.

3. Availability Of Online Access

MS Excel is part of the Office 365 productivity Suite. It means businesses’ employers and employees can easily access their files over the cloud network. 

4. Analysis Charts

MS Excel enables its users to create analysis charts easily. You can create Pie charts or Clustered Columns by filtering and correctly inputting data in just a few clicks. Even Excel allows you to customize the colors and boundaries of the diagrams.

5. All Data At One Place

Excel contains over 10 lakh rows and 16 thousand columns in the spreadsheet. You can also import data, add pictures and other objects through the insert tab. Excel enables you to put all the data you collected from different files in one place easily.

Now let’s move on to the uses of Excel in our daily life. Here we go:-

USES OF EXCEL: 8 Important Uses Of Microsoft Excel

1. Education

There are various uses of MS Excel in education. Even Excel is making teaching a lot easier for teachers.

The teachers use tables, shapes, charts, and other tools in excel to present the topics to the students.

Moreover, the teachers are also using formulas to teach the students about mathematical computations.

In education, the data visualization of MS excel is the key to the teachers.

Now the students can easily understand the topic because of the visualization, especially when the teachers are going to represent the stats, then they use bars and charts. 

Apart from that, the use of MS Excel in schools and colleges to create timetables.

There are various pre-built templates in MS excel.

You can use these templates to create the timetable.

Besides, excel also offers formulas that are useful for multiple education purposes.

It is one of the best uses of Excel.

You can use these templates to create the timetable.

Besides, excel also offers formulas that are useful for multiple education purposes.

2. Business

Excel plays a crucial role in business. Even every business owner is using excel.

The use of excel in business varies from organization to organization.

The business can use MS Excel to perform goal setting, budgeting process, and planning, etc.

Now the business can easily manage their daily operations because of excel.

Apart from that, they are also able to predict their performance.

The excel financial formulas are doing a tremendous job for the business. 

MS Excel is offering the IF formula, which is quite helpful in creating hundreds of logic in the business calculations.

MS Excel is quite handy for business operations.

All you need to do is visit the template menu to take full advantage of it.

The best part of the pre-built template is, you need not create anything from scratch.

3. Goal Setting and Planning

We all have daily goals or weekly goals.

Therefore to manage our daily tasks for the goals. We can use MS excel.

In MS Excel, all we need to do is accomplish the daily task along with the remark column.

Whenever we complete our daily tasks, we write on the remark columns that we are done with the task.

It is also helpful for planning purposes.

With the help of excel, we can calculate everything in advance as part of our planning.

4. Business Owners

The previous point highlighted the use of MS Excel for business.

But at this point, we will share with you the uses of MS Excel for business owners.

We know that business owners also need to perform various tasks from their end.

Some of these tasks are work progress, team management, and payouts details, etc.

One of the significant tasks for the business owner is to track the marketing campaign progress. However, if you have any pending marketing homework help then you can get our marketing help at a very affordable price.

Excel makes it simple and easy for business owners.

All they need to do is select the prebuilt template to start creating the sheet.

5. Housewives

It helps housewives to manage their daily expenses as well as grocery.

With the use of excel, they can create the report for weekly and monthly expenses.

It also helps them to track their expenses.

Most housewives are also helping their children to learn the basic skills of MS Excel.

In this way, the statistics students also get ready from the beginning of the academics.

Apart from that, Excel knowledge also emerges from housewives to earn a possessive income.

There are lots of part-time jobs available for housewives. 

It is one of the best uses of Excel.

Also, Read

  • Excel vs Quickbooks; Best Points You Need To Know
  • How to Find Z Score in Excel | Best Ways to Find it Like A Pro
  • A Guide On Frequency Distribution Excel For Beginners

6. Data Analysis And Data Science

Data analysis is one of the most emerging fields in the business perspective.

The business needs to perform various operations on the data.

The reason is companies are not using a single source.

They use multiple sources such as their blog, eCommerce sites, social media, offline data, and more.

All these jobs need time and energy. Sometimes it becomes overwhelming for the business to manage the data. In this case, excel plays a crucial role in the business.

Excel offers the filter function, which is quite handy for the data analyst to understand the data. Nowadays, excel is also used in the field of data science.

There are lots of functions that are helping in Big Data technologies.

The programming features of Excel with VBA make it one of the best options for data science technologies.

There are lots of operations that can be performed with the use of excel.

7. Daily Progress Report

Excel is also helpful in creating a daily progress report. Most of the companies track their daily progress with the help of excel.

Especially in project-based companies where the clients need a weekly report from the company.

For this, the company uses the daily progress report to showcase the daily work progress to the client.

Excel offers the table with the date and time.

You can also add the manual columns such as client, tasks, duration, and status as per the business requirements.

Apart from the companies, the daily progress report is also helpful in academics.

The teachers and the students can track their daily progress with the help of excel.

It is one of the best uses of Excel.

8. Career Development

When we talk about career development.

MS Excel is also playing a crucial role in this sector. Excel teaches you the most prominent skills of management.

With the help of excel, we try to calculate everything in advance.

Because in our life, we need to perform various calculations to run our daily life.

If you get good command over MS Excel, you are also eligible to get the best job in data analytics or data science.

Excel helps you in career management, time management, learning management, life management, and so on.If you are a student, then you can manage all your expenses with the help of excel.

5 Uses Of MS Excel In Businesses

At a very basic level, MS Excel is used for storing, analyzing, sorting, and reporting. However, it is extremely popular in businesses because it is fairly easy to use.

1. Business Analysis

Excel is used to do business analysis. Through this, businesses make decisions with collected data. Generally, companies gather data on a daily basis that is related to product sales, website traffic, insurance claim, etc.

2. People Management

It is one of the top uses of Excel in businesses. MS Excel is a powerful way to collect information about people. Through excel, personal information of employees, customers, supporters, etc., can be stored and recovered efficiently. 

3. Managing Operations

Excel is heavily dependent on the daily operations of numerous businesses. Business activities generally involve complex logistics. Inventory flows require to be managed, so that company’s operations run smoothly. In simple words, keeping track of supplier and client transactions, listing critical dates, and managing times and schedules. It is only possible through MS Excel.

4. Report Of Performance

MS Excel can do monitoring and reporting of performance effectively. A simple way to transform data into a performance report in Excel is to build a pivot table. By creating a pivot table and linking it to data, you can get extra useful information from the dataset. If you need to analyze huge volumes of data then will probably be easier to connect this dataset with a reporting tool.

5. Office Administration

MS Excel stores and enters the administrative data. Then this data is used for accounting and financial reporting and business analysis, and performance reporting. Moreover, Excel supports office administration in daily tasks such as invoicing, paying bills, etc.

Top 5 Cool Things You Can Try Right Now Using Excel

You can’t ignore Excel’s important role in daily work because it deals with big data. However, many useful tips and tricks for beginners and advanced users are still inevitably overlooked. Here are five cool things you can try right now using Excel.

1. Play with numbers

Excel’s main function is to work with numbers. Excel makes sorting, retrieving, and analyzing a huge (or even small!) quantity of data a breeze.

When it comes to using Excel for anything numbers-related, there are a few general categories to keep in mind.

Calculation:

Do you ever find yourself repeating the same calculations? You may create a completely personalized calculator by programming your frequently used formulae in Excel. That way, all you have to do is type in your numbers, and Excel will calculate the result for you—no effort necessary. Isn’t it cool?

Charts:

The number of pie charts, line charts, scatter charts, bar charts, area charts, and column charts is endless. Excel can turn rows and columns of figures into attractive charts. And it is sure to become one of your favorite features if you need to convey data in a more visual and consumable way.

2. Making Plans

Let’s get away from the numbers for a moment —Excel can help you plan and organise a lot of things that don’t require multiple rows of figures.

Worksheet for goal setting:

Excel always helps to have something to keep you focused and on track. And it would either it’s career objectives, fitness goals, or money goals. You may use excel to build a variety of spreadsheets, logs, and planning papers to track your progress and, ideally, cross the finish line.

Schedules and calendars:

Do you need to create a content schedule for your blog or website? Are you looking for lesson plans for your classroom? Do you or your family have a daily schedule? Excel may be surprisingly powerful when it comes to multiple calendars. Try this today to schedule your work.

3. Involving Others

Do you need to get information from others? One method is to use survey tools and forms. But, don’t worry, you can make them all in your own Excel.

Quizzes:

Are you trying to assess someone else’s — or even your own — for the understanding of a topic? You may create a bank of questions and answers in one worksheet and then have Excel quiz you in another.

Forms:

Excel is an excellent tool for designing forms. And it starts from basic to complex. You may even create numerous drop-down menus so that users can choose from a predefined list of options.

4. Getting things done

Do you want to increase your productivity? Excel can easily come to your rescue with various functions that can help you manage your tasks and to-dos with simplicity.

Timesheets:

You already know that keeping track of your time may help you be more productive. There are many attractive applications and tools to help you in meeting these demands. Consider Excel as the actual time-tracking tool. It continues to be a possible alternative to time sheets today.

Checklist:

Similarly, you may make a basic checklist to cross off the items you’ve bought or completed. And it can be related to a shopping list to a list of to-dos for planned marketing tasks.

5. Excel just for fun.

With the help of excel, you can do a variety of other interesting things for fun.

Cloud of words:

Word clouds are not the most scientific way to describe facts. However, they are a fun (not to mention attractive) method to determine which words are used the most. You guessed it—Excel can be used to make one. 

Logbooks from the past:

Whether you want to keep track of the different tasks you have completed, the exercises you have done, or something else completely, Excel is what you have for sorting and logging those things.

3 Powerful Excel Functions That Make Work 

The following are the most useful functions that we can use in our daily life. 

1. The SUM Function

This function is the most used function when it comes to computing data on Excel. This function is used to sum a group of numbers in a specific set of cells. 

It means you do not need to type a long cumbrous formula to calculate the sum of the data. 

The SUM function is performed by typing the formula on the function bar, highlighting the cells you want to add, and pressing “ENTER”.

  • The Syntax formula for SUM function is “=SUM(Cell numbers)”.
  • You can also use the Σ symbol to add the data you need.
  • Moreover, “ALT+” also helps to add the numbers.

2. The TEXT Function

The TEXT function is a useful tool that helps in converting the date or numbers into a text string in a particular format. Keep in mind the text formula only works to convert numeric values to text.

The TEXT function’ formula is =”Text” (Value, format_text).

Value refers to the particular number you want to convert to text.

Format_text refers to the format of the conversion.

3. The AVERAGE Function

The AVERAGE function is used for getting the average of the data. As the function of SUM, it is commonly used in computing and analyzing the data on the spreadsheet.

The syntax formula for the AVERAGE function is “=AVERAGE(Cell number).

Some Of The Documents That You Can Create in Excel

Microsoft Excel is a versatile software that allows users to create various documents. Here is the list of some of the documents that you can create in excel, which are as follows:

1. Spreadsheets

Excel is primarily used for creating spreadsheets, which are documents that organize and analyze data in rows and columns. Spreadsheets can be used for budgeting, financial analysis, inventory management, and more.

2. Charts and graphs 

Excel allows users to create charts and graphs to visualize data, such as bar charts, line charts, pie charts, and scatter plots.

3. Calendars

Excel can create calendars for scheduling appointments, meetings, or events.

4. Invoices

Excel can create invoices with item descriptions, prices, taxes, and totals.

5. Budgets

Excel is useful for creating personal or business budgets, where users can track their expenses and income.

6. Forms

Excel can be used to create forms for data collection, such as surveys or questionnaires.

7. Project plans

Excel can create project plans, including timelines, budgets, and resource allocation.

8. Gantt charts

Excel allows users to create Gantt charts and visual representations of project schedules that help track progress and identify potential issues.

9. Data entry forms

Excel can create forms that make it easier to input and organize data.

10. Contact lists

Excel can create lists that include names, addresses, phone numbers, and other relevant information.

Well, these are some of the documents you can try and make in excel.

Conclusion

The more you learn, the more you can earn with excel. The same philosophy applies to MS excel.

If you develop your excel skills to the peak level, you are eligible to get reputed jobs in analytics.

As we have seen, there are lots of uses for excel. But here, we have mentioned a few.

There are many more uses to excel in the world. Excel makes life easier for us.

Now we can perform a complete calculation without having a strong command of math and statistics.

All this becomes possible only because of MS excel. So don’t be the one who is not aware of MS excel.

Start learning excel today from the experts.

Also, get the best excel assignment help from MS excel experts at nominal charges.

FAQs

Q1. What is Excel used for?

Excel is generally used to manage data and perform financial analysis. On the other hand, it is used in every business and company of all sizes. The main uses of Excel include:

1. Customer relationship management (CRM)
2. Time management
3. Task management
4. Data entry
5. Data management
6. Financial modeling
7. Accounting
8. Financial analysis
9. Charting and graphing
10. Programming
11. You can do almost anything that needs to be organized!

Q2. What are the benefits of MS Excel in your life as a student?

The benefits of Excel in student’s lives are as follows:
1. The Best way to store data.
2. Able to perform calculations
3. Every tool for data analysis
4. Print report easily
5. Transform and clear data

Q3. What are the three most common uses for Excel?

The three most common uses for MS Excel are creating budgets, producing graphs and charts, and storing and sorting the data.

Содержание

  1. What is Microsoft Excel and What Does It Do?
  2. What Excel Is Used For
  3. Spreadsheet Cells and Cell References
  4. Data Types, Formulas, and Functions
  5. Excel and Financial Data
  6. Excel’s Other Uses
  7. Excel Alternatives
  8. What is Spreadsheet Used For?
  9. What is Spreadsheet?
  10. Examples of spreadsheet packages
  11. What is Spreadsheet used for?
  12. What is Spreadsheet Excel
  13. Features and terminologies
  14. Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet?
  15. Loading and Exiting Excel
  16. Working with Excel Spreadsheet
  17. Entering and Editing Data
  18. To enter the same data into several cells at once:
  19. Saving Data
  20. Opening Existing Workbook
  21. Conclusion

What is Microsoft Excel and What Does It Do?

This versatile program helps you make sense of your data

Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that is used for storing, organizing, and manipulating data.

The information we’ve prepared refers to Microsoft Excel in general and is not limited to any specific version of the program.

What Excel Is Used For

Electronic spreadsheet programs were originally based on paper spreadsheets used for accounting. As such, the basic layout of computerized spreadsheets is the same as the paper ones. Related data is stored in tables — which are a collection of small rectangular boxes or cells organized into rows and columns.

All versions of Excel and other spreadsheet programs can store several spreadsheet pages in a single computer file. The saved computer file is often referred to as a workbook and each page in the workbook is a separate worksheet.

Spreadsheet Cells and Cell References

When you look at the Excel screen — or any other spreadsheet screen — you see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns.

In newer versions of Excel, each worksheet contains roughly a million rows and more than 16,000 columns, which necessitates an addressing scheme in order to keep track of where data is located.

The horizontal rows are identified by numbers (1, 2, 3) and the vertical columns by letters of the alphabet (A, B, C). For columns beyond 26, columns are identified by two or more letters such as AA, AB, AC or AAA, AAB, etc.

The intersection point between a column and a row is the small rectangular box known as a cell. The cell is the basic unit for storing data in the worksheet, and because each worksheet contains millions of these cells, each one is identified by its cell reference.

A cell reference is a combination of the column letter and the row number such as A3, B6, and AA345. In these cell references, the column letter is always listed first.

Data Types, Formulas, and Functions

The types of data that a cell can hold include:

  • Numbers
  • Text
  • Dates and times
  • Boolean values
  • Formulas

Formulas are used for calculations — usually incorporating data contained in other cells. These cells, however, may be located on different worksheets or in different workbooks.

Creating a formula starts by entering the equal sign in the cell where you want the answer displayed. Formulas can also include cell references to the location of data and one or more spreadsheet functions.

Functions in Excel and other electronic spreadsheets are built-in formulas that are designed to simplify carrying out a wide range of calculations – from common operations such as entering the date or time to more complex ones such as finding specific information located in large tables of data.

Excel and Financial Data

Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include:

  • Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns or rows of numbers
  • Finding values such as profit or loss
  • Calculating repayment plans for loans or mortgages
  • Finding the average, maximum, minimum and other statistical values in a specified range of data
  • Carrying out What-If analysis on data, where variables are modified one at a time to see how the change affects other data, such as expenses and profits

Excel’s Other Uses

Other common operations that Excel can be used for include:

  • Graphing or charting data to assist users in identifying data trends
  • Formatting data to make important data easy to find and understand
  • Printing data and charts for use in reports
  • Sorting and filtering data to find specific information
  • Linking worksheet data and charts for use in other programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Word
  • Importing data from database programs for analysis

Spreadsheets were the original «killer apps» for personal computers because of their ability to compile and make sense of information. Early spreadsheet programs such as VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 were largely responsible for the growth in popularity of computers like the Apple II and the IBM PC as a business tool.

Excel Alternatives

Other current spreadsheet programs that are available for use include:

  • Google Sheets: A free, web-based spreadsheet program
  • Excel Online: A free, scaled-down, web-based version of Excel
  • Open Office Calc: A free, downloadable spreadsheet program.

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What is Spreadsheet Used For?

One question often asked by computer students in secondary schools is, what is spreadsheet? A spreadsheet is a computer application program that is used to manipulate data arranged in columns and rows.

It is a multipurpose program that can be used to enter data, sort data, perform calculations, data, and financial analysis. Most times a spreadsheet is complex to use due to its numerous formulas.

Due to its importance in organizational productivity, it is a requirement for anyone learning computer operation.

What is Spreadsheet?

Word Processor is the most used computer program because of its ease of use. A Spreadsheet is usually difficult for beginners and requires proper tutelage to be mastered. To understand what is spreadsheet, we illustrate with a paper.

A spreadsheet can be viewed as a sheet of paper arranged in columns and rows. These columns and rows are designed to store data that can be used for analysis.

Therefore, a spreadsheet is a computer program with the following features that ease the job of a data analyst:

  • Spreadsheets contain cells with addresses used as a reference point during data manipulation
  • They have worsheets which provide a workspace for users
  • They contain formulas and functions used to ease computation and analysis
  • They contain graphs and other illustration tools used for data summary and presentation
  • They can be used to store numeric data and text.

Spreadsheets contain features and tools that make data presentation and analysis easy.

Examples of spreadsheet packages

There are many spreadsheet applications in the market, including proprietary, commercial and free. Some of them include:

  • Microsoft Excel
  • Open Office Calc,
  • lotus 1-2-3 (has been discontinued)
  • StatView,
  • Gnumeric
  • WordPerfect Office Quattro Pro,
  • PlanMaker,
  • Corel Calculate,
  • Ability office,
  • Apache Office,
  • Microsoft Power Business Intelligence, etc.
  • Google Sheet

What is Spreadsheet used for?

The following are some of the uses of a spreadsheet application. To track more uses, check our Microsoft Excel tutorial.

  1. It can be used in budget preparation and perform pivot table analysis.
  2. It can be used in the tracking of daily sales and computation of totals and averages.
  3. It can also be used in the computation of school results.
  4. You can use a spreadsheet to perform graphical analysis of data.
  5. Spreadsheets are useful in sorting of data in ascending or descending order.
  6. It can be used to perform basic statistical analysis such as regression, ANOVA, correlations, etc.
  7. It can be used to create and manage simple databases using flat-file model.
  8. It can be used to compute profits and losses of a business transaction.

What is Spreadsheet Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft. It is a popular spreadsheet program mostly used for personal, business, and organizational purposes. Excel contains most of the features of all spreadsheet programs.

Features and terminologies

Cell – A cell is a rectangular area formed by the intersection of a column and a row in a spreadsheet. A cell has a cell reference or name or cell address, which is the combination of the column header and row label, e.g. cell A1, G3, etc.

Active Cell – The active cell is the cell in the spreadsheet that is currently selected for data entry.

Cell Name – This is by default the cell reference or address. However, one may define a particular cell or range of cells with an alternative name. This alternative name can then be used in formulas and functions. It can also provide a quick way to jump to a particular area of the spreadsheet.

Cell Reference – This is the name of the cell that is found by combining the Column Letter with the Row Number. For example, the cell in Column “A” in Row “5” would be cell A5.

Column – This refers to the vertical bars on the spreadsheet screen. In Excel 2013, it is labeled with alphabet A – XFD. Excel 2013 can handle up to 2 14 labels giving a total of 16384 columns.

Chart – This is a pictorial representation that is used to summarize categorized data. There are different types of charts used in the excel spreadsheet, ranging from the bar chart, line graph, pie chart, etc.

Data – This refers to the type of information that can be stored in the cells of a spreadsheet. Spreadsheet data types include values (numbers), labels, formulas, and functions.

Formula – This is a spreadsheet data type that will perform calculation and display the result in the active cell. A formula is written using cell references and must always begin with an equal sign “=” to distinguish it from a label. E.g. “=G5/H5”.

Formula Bar – It appears directly above the column headings of a spreadsheet and will display what has been typed into the active cell.

Function – Functions are built-in formulas in a spreadsheet. It can be simple or complex formulas. Like formulas, functions begin with an equal sign “=” and use cell references in their format. E.g. (=sum A1: A5) will calculate the total sum of values in cells A1 to A5.

Gridlines – These are the horizontal and vertical lines on the screen that separate cells in a spreadsheet. Gridlines do not print by default unless the option is set in the layout options of the spreadsheet.

Name Box – Also called the address bar. It appears to the left of the formula bar and displays the name of the current cell unless you define a cell or range of cells with a specific name.

Range – A range is a group of cells in a spreadsheet that has been selected. E.g. a selection from cells B1 through F5 will be represented as B1:F5 and is shown below:

Rows – Rows are horizontal bars on the spreadsheet screen. Excel 2013 spreadsheet contains 2 20 = 1048576 rows which are labeled from 1 to 1048576.

Values – These are numeric data entered into a cell. Numbers are aligned to the right by default in an excel spreadsheet.

Workbook – Excel spreadsheet files are called a workbook. A workbook is a collection of worksheets that are saved together in one file.

Worksheet – A worksheet is the grid of columns and rows that information is inputted into. In Excel, one workbook can contain several worksheets. Worksheets can be named using the worksheet tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet window.

The sheet tabs can also be used to switch from one worksheet to another within a workbook. Previous versions of Excel display 3 worksheets by default when it is loaded, but the 2013 and 2016 versions display only one worksheet. The user has the option of adding more worksheets as required.

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet?

Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application is the most popularly used and one of the industry-leading spreadsheet applications. It has powerful visualization and analytical tools for recording and analyzing a wide range of data.

Different industry data ranging from oil & gas, telecommunications, manufacturing, banking, etc, can be recorded, organized, and analyzed using MS Excel tools.

The range of intelligent tools in Excel can help you perform calculations using formulas, display data using tables and a wide range of charts and graphs, and share & collaborate with colleagues in real-time.

Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application happens to be one of the most important applications that anyone who wants to work in Oil & gas must learn. This is because, no matter your role, you will have to use it at some point in your work schedule.

Some skills are really important to learn in Excel, especially for those who want a career in oil & gas. Some of these skills include understanding and applying filters to data, working with Vlookup and Hlookup, understanding and reporting data with Pivot tables and Charts, etc.

In as much as one can dive into learning the above-listed tools and work with them. At some point in your career, you may encounter problems depending on your job role. This is why it is important for us to learn and understand the basics of Excel and how to use simple functions.

Also, a basic understanding of MS Excel spreadsheet application will enable you to work with other spreadsheet applications and add-ins, especially, Power BI and Petroleum office add-in.

This article introduces you to the knowledge of the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet program. You can acquire more knowledge by following our series of tutorials in Excel. The knowledge will help you and anyone who wants to work in any sector, including oil & gas, banking, or any other.

Feel free to ask questions by using the comment section, and be sure that your questions will be answered, no matter how trivial. You will never be lost at all. Let’s get started!

Note: We are working with Excel 2013/2016

Loading and Exiting Excel

To load a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application, do the following:

  1. Open Run command by holding the Windows logo key and press R key on the keyboard (Windows logo + R)
  2. On the dialog box that appears (see above), type excel and click OK, MS Excel opens.

  • On the window that is displayed (see above), select Blank workbook to open excel workbook and begin entering data.
  • You can also choose any of the available templates. E.g. Personal Monthly budget, Family budget, etc.
  • The left pane in the above window shows existing documents, especially, recent ones. You can choose the workbook you want to open here.

To exit the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application, do the following:

  1. From the MS Excel window shown below, select Xin the top right corner of the window.
  2. Your MS Excel application terminates. But if you have not saved your work, it will ask you to save changes made to your workbook.

Working with Excel Spreadsheet

Entering and Editing Data

You can enter and edit text, numbers, dates, or times in one cell, or several cells at once, or on more than one worksheet. To enter and edit data in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application:

  1. On the worksheet, select a cell.
  2. Type the number(s) or text that you want, and then press ENTER on the keyboard to continue in another cell downwards or press TAB on the keyboard to continue in another cell rightwards.
  3. When entering or editing data, a cell may display ##### when it contains data that has a number format that is wider than the column width. To see all text, you must increase the width of the column.

To edit or correct data in a cell, do the following:

  • Double-click the cell that contains the data, OR
  • Select the cell that contains the data and then click anywhere in the formula bar.
  • Use the left or right arrow key to move to your point of correction and correct appropriately. You can use BACKSPACE on the keyboard to delete unwanted data.

To enter the same data into several cells at once:

  1. Select the cells into which you want to enter the same data. The cells do not necessarily have to be adjacent.
  2. In the active cell, type the data, and then press CTRL+ENTER.
  3. You can also enter the same data into several cells by using the autofill handle to automatically fill data in adjacent worksheet cells. You may also double-click the autofill handle to fill the relevant cells.

Saving Data

  1. Hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard and press S on the keyboard (CTRL + S). OR
  1. On the File Menu, click Save or Save As. The following window will appear. In the middle pane, choose where you want to save (This PC or OneDrive – Personal). OneDrive – personal requires an internet connection. In the right pane, choose the folder (say, My Documents).
  2. The Save As dialog box appears.

  1. Type the name you want to use to save the workbook in the File Name Box, and choose the location you want to save your workbook from the Save in Combo Box. (Note: if you did not choose a location, the workbook will be saved by default in Documents folder)
  2. Click the Save button to save your workbook.

Opening Existing Workbook

  1. Open the Run command by pressing (Windows logo + R)
  2. On the dialog box that appears, type excel and click OK, MS Excel spreadsheet application opens.
  3. To open an existing workbook, on the left pane, under Recent, select a Workbook to open.

  1. If the workbook you want to open is not displayed, click on Open Other Workbooks. Then choose the file you want from the folder location.

Conclusion

We looked at what is spreadsheet, what is spreadsheet Excel and what is excel used for. Also, we introduced the features of a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel.

We further illustrated how to open a spreadsheet program, enter data, and exit the program.

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