Here are all the exciting new features introduced in Excel this month

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Key findings

  • Copilot now creates custom charts in Excel for Windows, Mac, and web platforms, improving data visualization capabilities.
  • Text data can now be summarized in Excel using AI software, providing new insights with configurable tone and length options.
  • Windows and Mac users can enjoy new regex modes for the XLOOKUP and XMATCH functions, while Excel for Windows now has options for filtering comments.



Microsoft regularly adds new features to Excel, and sometimes goes into detail about individual features. Towards the end of each month, the company also releases a summary of all the improvements it has made to the software over the past four weeks, and now it has done the same for August 2024. Adding these features helps retain existing customers and attract new ones.


Which features are available for all platforms?

This time, there are three features that have made their way to Windows, Mac, and the web. The first is the ability to use Copilot to create custom charts—including line, pie, stacked bar, clustered bar, and more—PivotCharts, and PivotTables. As expected, you can ask Copilot to create exactly the type of chart or visualization you want, and then configure various attributes like labels, axes, and titles.


Microsoft Excel runs on the Windows 10 desktop

Next, AI software can summarize text data to gain new insights, with various customizable configurations such as tone and length. Finally, insiders can take advantage of dynamic watermarking through sensitivity labels powered by Microsoft Purview Information Protection. This allows customers to protect sensitive information from techniques such as screenshots.


Which functions are reserved for certain platforms?

Screenshot of Excel in Windows

A feature that is only available for Windows and Mac is new regex modes for XLOOKUP And XMATCH Features. We covered this in detail earlier this month, but it's important to note that this feature is only available to Beta Channel Insiders for now.

Finally, Excel for Windows finally gets a feature that already exists on the Mac and the web. Users can now filter comments based on @Mentionsactive and resolved. Microsoft has announced this improvement as “FIA (Feedback in Action)“, which suggests that it was in high demand among customers. You can read more details in the blog post here.


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