New features in Excel 2013

The first thing you’ll see when you open Excel is a brand new look. It’s cleaner, but it’s also designed to help you get professional-looking results quickly. You’ll find many new features that let you get away from walls of numbers and draw more persuasive pictures of your data, guiding you to better, more informed decisions.

Top features to explore

Get started quickly

Templates do most of the set-up and design work for you, so you can focus on your data. When you open Excel 2013, you’ll see templates for budgets, calendars, forms, and reports, and more.

Instant data analysis

The new Quick Analysis tool lets you convert your data into a chart or table in two steps or less. Preview your data with conditional formatting, sparklines, or charts, and make your choice stick in just one click. To use this new feature, see Analyze your data instantly.

Fill out an entire column of data in a flash

Flash Fill is like a data assistant that finishes your work for you. As soon as it detects what you want to do, Flash Fill enters the rest of your data in one fell swoop, following the pattern it recognizes in your data. To see when this feature comes in handy, see Split a column of data based on what you type.

Create the right chart for your data

With Chart recommendations, Excel recommends the most suitable charts for your data. Get a quick peek to see how your data looks in the different charts, and then simply pick the one that shows the insights you want to present. Give this feature a try when you create your first chart.

Filter table data by using slicers

First introduced in Excel 2010 as an interactive way to filter PivotTable data, slicers can now also filter data in Excel tables, query tables, and other data tables. Simpler to set up and use, slicers show the current filter so you’ll know exactly what data you’re looking at.

One workbook, one window

In Excel 2013 each workbook has in its own window, making it easier to work on two workbooks at once. It also makes life easier when you’re working on two monitors.

New Excel functions

You’ll find several new functions in the math and trigonometry, statistical, engineering, date and time, lookup and reference, logical, and text function categories. Also new are a few Web service functions for referencing existing Representational State Transfer (REST)-compliant Web services. Look for details in Excel functions (by category).

Save and share files online

Excel makes it easier to save your workbooks to your own online location, like your free SkyDrive or your organization’s Office 365 service. It’s also simpler to share your worksheets with other people. No matter what device they’re using or where they are, everyone works with the latest version of a worksheet— and you can even work together in real time. To learn more about it, see Save a workbook to another location or Save a workbook to the Web.

Embed worksheet data in a web page

To share part of your worksheet on the web, you can simply embed it on your web page. Other people can then work with the data in Excel Web App or open the embedded data in Excel.

Share an Excel worksheet in an online meeting

No matter where you are or what device you’re on—be it your smartphone, tablet, or PC—as long as you have Lync installed, you can connect to and share a workbook in an online meeting. To learn more about it, see Present a workbook online.

Save to a new file format

Now you can save to and open files in the new Strict Open XML Spreadsheet (*.xlsx) file format. This file format lets you read and write ISO8601 dates to resolve a leap year issue for the year 1900.

source:  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/what-s-new-in-excel-2013-HA102809308.aspx

-Roger Hsu