Microsoft reveals new Excel features for November like Workbook Links for Windows and more

Microsoft has once again been adding new features to the various versions of its Excel spreadsheet during the month of November. We have already reported that Microsoft 365 Insiders can export tables made in Microsoft Loop to Excel spreadsheets. We have also reported that the Updates app in Microsoft Teams can now send update submissions to be made into an Excel spreadsheet.

In a blog post this week, Microsoft revealed a few more Excel-related features that have recently been added. One is that the Workbook Links pane has been added to the Windows version:

The Workbook Links task pane improves the experience and reliability for working with linked files including the long asked for Find feature to help you figure out where the links are used

Microsoft 365 Insiders can now check out the new GROUPBY and PIVOTBY functions in Excel for Windows and Mac:

GROUPBY and PIVOTBY allow you to perform data aggregations using a single formula. All you need is just 3 arguments: i) What to group by, ii) the values to aggregate, and iii) the function you'd like to use for the aggregation

In this separate blog post from earlier this month, Microsoft goes into more detail on how the GROUPBY and PIVOTBY functions can help Excel users:

As functions, GROUPBY and PIVOTBY are lightweight, fully descriptive, automatically update and can depend on the result of other calculations. They also aggregate using lambda functions which unlock new aggregation capabilities.

Finally, the web version of Excel has added more trendline equation formatting controls, including number and font/fill/outline formatting in the chart format task pane.

We are still waiting for word on when Excel will add Copilot generative AI support for Python in the app. The public preview of this new feature is still supposed to launch by the end of 2023.

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