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Excel

By Alexander S. Gillis

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:

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:

Advanced Excel capabilities

More advanced tools in Excel include the following:

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:

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.

15 Nov 2021

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