Do you use Excel 365?
We are all very accustom to Microsoft releasing a new version of Excel every 3 years. Excel 2010, Excel 2013, Excel 2016 and now we are onto Excel 2019. These versions of Excel are a one-time purchase and each new release comes with a bundle of new features, functions and improvements. You can buy Excel Standalone, or you can buy the Office package. The next version is due for release would be Office 2022, however Microsoft have given no indication of an actual release date.
But why wait for a new release every 3 years? When Excel 365, part of Office 365 rolls out changes on a regular basis. You could be working with the latest version today, instead of waiting. All the mod cons. All the new features, functions and improvements. For a subscription fee, you can sign up to Office 365 and get all the benefits in Excel that I am going to list below.
5 Reasons Spreadsheet Users should be using Excel 365
- Excel 365 gives you access to new Excel features immediately when they become available. With Excel 365 and Office 365 in general, Microsoft are continuously improving things. When something is ready to be released, you will automatically get access as soon as it’s rolled out. New builds are more frequent than every 3 years putting the latest productivity tools into your hands. That means when XLOOKUP and Dynamic Arrays are rolled out, you will get then automatically.
- OneDrive Storage and Auto-save. Utilizing the power of the cloud, with Office 365 comes cloud storage on OneDrive. Excel files saved on OneDrive can use the Auto-save feature, which is not available in standalone Excel.
- Improved Collaboration also come with cloud storage and OneDrive. Traditionally, collaborating and co authoring an Excel workbook was a bit of a headache. But not anymore.
- Live chat with mentions – again a feature of the cloud. You can quickly mention or tag someone from your organisation in an Excel workbook and they will receive an email notifying them. Using the improved comments feature, when collaborating, you can also text chat live right from inside Excel.
- Insiders Edition. We mentioned above that Excel 365 gives you access to new releases as soon as they go live. However, you can also sign up to the Insiders Edition. This gives you access to test features that have not yet been rolled out. Features such as XLOOKUP and Dynamic Arrays.
Do you use Excel 365?
Drop a comment below and let me know what version of Excel you are using. It would be interesting to see where we are all at.
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- includes XLOOKUP and will soon include Dynamic Arrays
I pay a yearly subscription to Microsoft which gives me 365 as part of the package (I think) but for some reason, I use Google Spreadsheets more for personal and Excel for my job at my company... No logic there haha.
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I think Google were first to optimise the use of the cloud. So for personal, it's free and a good alternative
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Yes since I started using it it's been really handy and pretty smooth for on the go. I do find Microsoft's 365 cloud version pretty clunky. Don't know if it's just me though?
I'm bias. Microsoft Excel all the ways. Even better Excel 365 😁
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Hahaha! Well don't get me wrong, I've definitely got a fondness of Excel.
In my previous company, I managed to build it into a tool where Sales would hand over to Service for installation of machines, sending emails, pdfs and whatnot at the click of a button with all information filled out.
Then the installation engineer could get the installation documents signed on their tablet using the Excel file and send it to customer on site there and then with all relevant parties at the click of a button...
Not just UK, all of Europe as well so had to do this in different languages too... Wowser.
It was one of the hardest things I've had to do with Excel and there's still so much I don't know!
Brilliant tool!
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now that is way cool
Yea VBA was a tough one to get my head around and had to summon outside help... The file itself was 5MB in the end haha!
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hi Paula, thanks for sharing the link for the free month of Excel 365. It does not seem to be an affiliate link, how come? you do so much for Microsoft you should at least get commission.
I am using Excel 2016 in work and at home I have 2019. Now I want 365. I have not see the live chat in action.
I never signed up to be an affiliate. I don't even know if they do affiliates. Thanks for mentioning it, I will look into it :-)
The live chat is a cool feature, but it is text chat.
I use Excel 365. The improved collaboration and the mentions/chat feature are really fantastic and they make a real difference in work. How do I get the insiders edition?
Hi @daniel94, to get the insiders edition, go to file, then account. Under the product information, there should be an option to select insiders edition
how much are we talking for 365 @paulag . And what are the benefits. Love the cloud saving so always a back up and online collab but is there more benefits?
its a tenner a month @blanchy.sports for the home office edition. for that you get the entire office package, word, excel outlook and what ever else is in the package. you also get the cloud storage, and you get the latest releases as soon as they are rolled out. having the latest releases is way cool, better than waiting every 3 years and having to buy a new one.
Open office is free and work great also.
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Interesting, I never used open office.