Features

What's New

Error Checking Smart Tag
This feature alerts users via a Smart Tag of a possible error in a cell. Users can select a command to resolve the error, ignore it, or access further Error Checking options.

Function Argument Tooltips
Excel displays information about function arguments as users build a new formula. The Tooltips also provide a quick path to Help. Users simply click any function or argument name within the tooltip.

Watch Window
Users can easily track results of multiple cells even when they are working on a different sheet or workbook. This prevents users from having to switch back and forth or scroll between sheets to keep track of important data.

Speech
Users can easily dictate, navigate, and provide other commands using a microphone while working on their spreadsheets. Furthermore, Excel also supports text-to-speech, which enables Excel to read back values as part of checking a spreadsheet's contents. Note: Speech is currently available for U.S. English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.

Formula Evaluator
Users can easily evaluate the calculations that make up their formula. This function allows users to step through each calculation to understand how Excel is calculating the result.

Formula Auditing Toolbar
This toolbar provides users with a set of tools to link to auditing features such as the Formula Evaluator and the Watch Window.

It also exposes other functionality such as toggling to display all formulas in the worksheet.

Excel Border Drawing
Using the border-drawing pencil, users can easily draw cell borders in their spreadsheet. Options include changing the line color, weight, and style or even adding a border grid to their sheet.

Excel Alerts
Excel has improved the most common, frustrating, and confusing alerts. This includes rewording alerts to be more understandable, eliminating unnecessary alerts altogether, and adding functionality to make it easier to address the underlying problem.

Tab Colors
Users can keep their workbooks organized by color-coding their worksheet tabs. They can choose from a wide variety of colors with which to organize sections of a workbook.

Narrow Column Tooltip
Excel now displays a tooltip that identifies the contents of a cell that contains "###" because the column is too narrow to display the number.

Sort Text as Numbers
This feature prevents unexpected sorting results by detecting mixed lists of numbers and text and enabling sorting text as numbers.

Stock Quote Smart Tag
In previous versions, Excel recognized URLs and assigned links associated with these items. Users could activate the links by clicking them. Excel version 2002 extends this functionality by recognizing stock symbols as they are entered and providing users a Smart Tag icon. The Smart Tag allows users to access additional information on that stock from the Web or even insert into Excel a refreshable Web query of that stock information.

Auto Republish
Saving Excel data to a Web page can occur automatically each time you save your Excel file. For example, if your file contains a range of data or a chart that you share with others on a Web page, each time you save your Excel file the Web page can be updated automatically.

Data Connection Wizard
The Data Connection Wizard takes the user through the process of connecting to an OLE DB data source and persisting the connection information in a Data Connection File. The Wizard can also edit the connection information in existing Data Connection files.

Office Data Connection Files
Data Connection Files, which are stored in a users My Data Sources folder, enable users to easily restore a connection to a data source without having to spend time searching for the connection.

Connection Directly to ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)
The Spreadsheet Web Component can now directly connect to ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), enabling users to analyze data from data sources such as SQL Server.

Real-Time Data (RTD)
A new Real-Time Data function brings real-time data into Excel for analysis.

Document Recovery
Microsoft Excel gives users the option of saving their current files at the time an error occurs in an application. As a result, users spend less time recreating their spreadsheets.

Application Error Reporting
Excel allows users to automatically report any errors that occur directly to Microsoft or their corporate IT department. This gives Microsoft (or organizations) the data needed to further diagnose and correct these errors as well as to provide users with direct access to workarounds or other information on the error.

Application and Document Recovery
This provides a safer method for shutting down Excel if it is not responding. Users can choose to shut it down while initiating recovery of the document. They can also report the problem to Microsoft or their corporate IT department at the same time.

Repair and Extract
Microsoft Excel has a corrupt document repair and recovery feature that is automatically invoked in the event of an error or a failure to load a file. Users can also invoke this functionality by choosing Open and Repair from the File Open dialog box (the drop-down menu to the right of Open).

Auto Recover
Automatic recovery has been added to Microsoft Excel. Users can choose how often files are automatically saved. If an error occurs, the recovered file is opened, and users have the option of discarding the file, saving it over the original, or saving it as a separate file.

Send for Review
Excel understands each user’s specific role in the review cycle and gives each user the tools needed to successfully collaborate on spreadsheets. When a spreadsheet is sent for review (from the File > Send To menu), the correct reviewing tools are automatically turned on for others to review. Furthermore, when the spreadsheet is sent back, users can merge the changes back into the original document.

Exporting Team Lists to Excel
Team members can easily export a variety of lists from their Team Web Site back into Excel for further analysis. These lists include Contacts, Announcements, Events, Links, Tasks, and Surveys.

Save/Open Spreadsheets to Microsoft SharePoint Team Services
Saving to and opening documents from Document Libraries is made simple by enabling users to navigate to their Microsoft SharePoint Team Services Web Site from the File Open/File Save dialog box. Office enhances the user experience by displaying document libraries via an HTML interface right in the File Open/File Save dialog boxes.

Uploading of Spreadsheets to Document Libraries
Team members can easily upload a spreadsheet or any other Office file directly into a document library. Once the spreadsheet is in the document library, users can filter through the various files and even subscribe to or have discussions on a spreadsheet.

Import Excel File as a List
Team members can import any Excel spreadsheet or range of cells as a list into their Microsoft SharePoint Team Services Web Site.

XML Support
Excel now supports the loading and saving of XML data. Users can load and save generic, well formed, and spreadsheet XML into Excel. And because XML is an open format, others can easily access and extract that information.

Improved Features

Link Management
Excel now provides richer feedback on links to other Excel workbooks. Users can check the status, fix, update, or even break the links easily and without having to sit through a lengthy updating process.

Range Finder
The Range Finder feature is enabled when a user creates a new formula or edits an existing formula. The Range Finder gives users better visual feedback for moving and resizing the Range Finder range.

Extended AutoSum
The Extended AutoSum has more common functions added to the AutoSum tool. These include Average, Count, CountA, Max, and Min. It also has other enhancements such as providing a path to create any function from the AutoSum user interface (UI).

Chart Data Labels
Improved Excel charting allows users more control over the content and formatting of their chart data labels.

Function Wizard
Users can easily search for the function they need by choosing from the list of available functions. The Function Wizard also provides users with a way to access Help on any specific function.

Find and Replace
Users are provided with an enhanced user interface and functionality for the Find and Replace feature. Users can execute a single Find/Replace across all sheets in a workbook, reuse past searches, view a modeless UI, and find new elements such as formatting.

Printing
Improved printing functionality automatically performs functions such as switching between Letter and A4 paper, autoscaling, and suppressing the printing of trailing blank pages and error values so that they don’t contain "#REF".

Header/Footer
Pictures or drawings can now be inserted directly as headers or footers.

Cell Merging
With the Merge and Center button on the Formatting toolbar, users can unmerge a group of cells just as easily as they can merge a group of cells. It is possible to unmerge even if the Undo option is no longer available.

Prevent Single-Column Sorting
This feature provides the same level of detection and feedback as the Sort tools on the toolbar to help prevent users from accidentally "breaking" a list by sorting a single column.

Web Queries
Users can easily access, analyze, and refresh data from the Web right from within Excel. When information from the Web is copied into Excel, a Smart Tag appears, giving users the option to create a refreshable query. Once the data is brought into Excel from the Web, users can manually refresh the data or even identify how often Excel should automatically refresh the data. Users can also create these Web Queries by simply dragging and dropping a Web page into Excel.

OLAP Pivot Tables
A variety of improvements have been made to OLAP PivotTable views, including the ability to create custom ad-hoc groups and get visual totals.

Excel Web Editing
Regardless of whether users save their Excel files to the Web with or without interactivity, more Excel features can be brought back into Excel from the Web. For example, more formatting such as colors and fonts and more features such as filtering, protection, and data validation are functional when users edit a Web page in Excel. This means exporting data from Excel Web components to Excel gives users a richer experience.

Worksheet Protection
Password protection is made available at a much more granular level by enabling users to protect specified ranges within a sheet. Password protection can also be applied to more features than ever before (Cell Formatting, for example). Users can now use domain-level security to map protection to a particular user or group of users.

Recalculation Improvements
Excel makes the calculation engine more reliable and robust with improvements such as globally recalculating (calculation order is no longer reliant on worksheet names) and allowing for uninterruptible recalculations.

Compare and Merge
Excel gives users the ability to merge together comments and revisions from multiple reviewers. The author (spreadsheet owner) can then accept and reject one or all revisions.

Reviewing Toolbar
As a part of the Send For Review functionality described above, the Reviewing Toolbar gives users the ability to reply to the owner of a document with their changes or end the review process.

Send This Selection
The Send To functionality in Excel has robust support for sending portions of a workbook to others. For example, users can send any range of data, chart, or PivotTable from their Excel file. They can also choose to add interactivity to what they are sending so that the recipient can use the appropriate Office Web Components within the e-mail message they receive.

Office Web Components (Spreadsheet, Chart, and PivotTable)
The Office Web Components (the Spreadsheet, Charting, and PivotTable Web Components) now have customizable menus and toolbars in which buttons and menus can be added and removed. New buttons and menus can also be added using script. See below for new functionality and improvements in each of the individual Web Components.

Spreadsheet Web Component
The Spreadsheet Web Component has more support for Excel workbook features, including loading spreadsheet XML files, supporting named ranges, array formulas, multiple worksheets, wrapped text, and the ability to publish entire workbooks with interactivity to the Web. Furthermore, the Spreadsheet Web Component now supports all of the built-in functions in Excel.

Chart Web Components
The Chart Web Component now supports 3-D charts using the DirectX application programming interface and Office Art Fill Effects. The Chart Web Component has also added full support of the Excel PivotChart dynamic views features, plus new capabilities such as graphing multiple charts within the same Web Component, and data-driven conditional formatting. Finally, fully customizable drawing and layout controls enable users to create completely new chart types and custom annotations within their chart.

PivotTable Web Component
The PivotTable Web Component now supports creating and displaying custom member properties and custom groups. It also provides improved filtering capabilities, allowing users to more effectively analyze their important data at a granular level. In addition, the PivotTable Web Component enables users to make edits directly to the data. The edits can be committed directly back to the database.

Extensibility of Office Web Components
The Web Component object model has been extended to expose the entire built-in keyboard and user interface commands through the programming model. Developers can now use script to create sophisticated macros within the Web Components using only built-in commands in Excel.

Excel PivotTables
An improved PivotTable user interface makes it easier for users to work with PivotTable fields, solving issues such as truncated field names and the inability to see both hierarchy and levels. Also, PivotTables now enable immediate view of PivotTable fields even before the data field is populated.

System Requirements:

Computer/Processor
The recommended system is Windows 2000 Professional on a computer with a Pentium III processor and 128MB of RAM. Pentium 133 MHz or higher processor required.