Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Excel in July 2025

It's that time of the month again: when Microsoft recaps everything new that it introduced in Excel during the past four weeks. This roundup is useful because it allows us to see the improvements across every platform. Excel is one of the most widely used spreadsheet tools out there and Microsoft regularly enhances it to make it enticing to even more customers.

In July 2025, Microsoft added lots of new capabilities to Excel. Starting off with a feature shared between Windows, Mac, and the web, we have Compatibility Versions. These are basically multiple versions of Excel functions which exist because Microsoft does not want to break the calculations in existing workbooks but it still wants to roll out improvements to those who want them. As such, Version 1 reflects the historical calculation behavior and will be the default for all existing workbooks. Starting from January 2026, Version 2 calculations will kick in as the default for any new workbooks.

Next, we have Auto Refresh for PivotTables for Insiders on Windows and Mac, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. You don't need to manually refresh this data structure anymore, which is something that was highly requested. Insiders on Windows can also leverage the revamped Get Data dialog, which also has integration with the OneLake catalog.

Meanwhile, Excel for Mac has borrowed a productivity-focused feature from Windows where you can now open multiple sheets, workbooks, and panes side-by-side. This should facilitate comparisons since it also packs synchronous scrolling.

Similarly, Excel for the web netted the ability to refresh external data sources leveraging Power Query. This previously required downloading the file and opening it in a desktop version of Excel to trigger a refresh. And finally, enterprise customers can now easily request elevated privileges to a file, directly within Excel for the web.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Posted Wednesday 30 July 2025 at 4:26 am AEST (my time).

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