Microsoft Excel

Excel 2013 is a piece of data organization and processing software that comes in the Microsoft Office 2013 software suite. The software is powerful, and it can easily keep track of your workbooks, spreadsheets, recorded information, statistics, and more.

While it's true that Excel has a reputation for exceptional processing power, you can only take full advantage of it if you know the subtleties of the software. When Microsoft was creating Excel 2013, they decided to focus on making the app easier for those with little experience to pick up. When you first add data to a spreadsheet, the app will automatically analyze the information and offer ideas for how to showcase the information in the optimal way. In some cases, the data will have enough comprehension that Excel could generate an automatic PivotTable, if you so choose.

If your data isn't formatted exceptionally well, the new Flash Fill feature will reorganize it so it makes more logical sense. Once the data is organized, it will be automatically placed in rows and columns so you can start to manipulate it, if required. If you hate having to input data, Excel 2013 could be the answer thanks to the new Flash Fill function. Such a feature could easily be the deciding factor for those considering an upgrade.

Perhaps the biggest issue that Microsoft productivity apps have had over their life is that they feel too clinical and rigid. Excel 2013 forgoes this tradition for something with a bit more organic functionality. If you've ever seen or used a Windows Phone 8, you're probably aware of the small, fast animations that help the software feel almost alive. These sorts of animations and transitions have been reproduced in Excel 2013. While some might assume these animations would be distracting, the opposite is actually true. These animations aren't designed to entertain or distract, but to focus your attention on Excel's processes.

Microsoft has kept the controversial Ribbon interface that so many of their users despised when it was first released, but the UI has been enhanced so that it's easier to use. The layout of the icons feels natural, and each icon is a different color to help draw the eye to specific functions faster. If you have a Microsoft account, you can link it with online services that deal with photos, and Excel 2013 can download any photos to which you have access. It takes no time to do this since you only have to log in. The software will do the rest.

Beginners might still feel a bit intimidated by the tremendous range of functions and features found in Excel 2013, but the software is easier to use and smarter than ever. If you already take advantage of an older version of Excel, this update represents a significant step forward if for no other reason than the Flash Fill function.

Microsoft Excel 2013 is an updated version of Excel from earlier versions of Microsoft Office, and it provides powerful spreadsheet utility and database processing tools.

Microsoft Excel 2013 might be the most robust application in the Office 2013 suite, and Excel has famously been one of the primary reasons for businesses to invest in the software set. Those that understand the full breadth of the app can use it to its full potential, and there is a lot of potential hiding deep in the program. Excel 2013 is a big step forward from older versions that were wildly unintuitive and difficult to manage. The goal for Excel 2013 was to make the software easier to use without sacrificing any of the powerful utility, and while there is still room for advancement on the ease-of-use front, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

As a user enters data into the app, Excel 2013 instantly starts to detect what sort of data is being given. By focusing on the type of data, the app can then make suggestions for ways to showcase the information in a comprehensive and understandable way. In many cases, the information collected by the app is enough to allow for an automatically generated PivotTable, if the user so chooses.

Another new feature that is meant to help with the overall complexity of the app is Flash Fill, which is a tool for reformatting data into a more understandable format. Using Flash Fill, all entered data will be sorted into columns automatically. This makes it dramatically easier to organize data, and it may very well be the feature that draws new users from older versions of Excel.

Something else that users with experience using older versions of Excel will notice is that Excel 2013 is much more smooth and organic than traditional Microsoft programs. The software takes advantage of tiny animations to make tools feel more relatable, and the idea seems to have sprung from the Windows Phone 8, which uses similar animations. These tiny transitions might not seem like a huge difference, but they have the ability to make the app feel more accessible and less structured. None of the animations are distracting in any way, but instead they help the user focus on the task at hand.

Unfortunately for users who don't like the Ribbon Interface introduced in 2008, it is still present in Excel 2013, but it has been updated tremendously and is now much more usable. Every icon has been given an aesthetic upgrade so they are easier to differentiate, and they have been regrouped into more intuitive bunches. Excel 2013 can even use web services linked to a Microsoft account to fetch photos from the internet. There is little hassle in setting up Excel to do this, and it will automatically populate the app with data from a Microsoft account selected by the user.

Excel 2013 is a powerful spreadsheet program designed for professional use across a range of industries. The program is part of the larger Microsoft Office package. That means it is easy to import and export data between other Microsoft programs such as Word or PowerPoint. Excel 2013 allows you to enter rows and columns of data on a large grid. You can record nearly any type of data from numbers to text strings and images. You can arrange the data in nearly any format and color. The spreadsheet can be used to track lists or to generate complicated reports.

The real power of comes from the ability to dynamically analyze, change or calculate data in a spreadsheet. Users are able to create very complicated equations within the program. Those equations can do things such as sort lists, add numbers together and perform basic logical functions. The equations can be applied to a single cell, an entire row or the whole spreadsheet depending on the needs of the user. Multiple equations can be stacked in order to do sophisticated accounting or scientific tasks. There are very few limits to what can be done with the equations in Excel 2013.

Another incredibly useful feature in Excel 2013 is the ability to generate a wide range of reports from the data in the spreadsheet. There are dozens of different report options from creating a pivot table to making a simple pie chart. You are able to define exactly what data to use in the report and how to arrange it. You can customize nearly every part of a report to meet your needs. You could even potentially generate a full report by hand instead of relying on the automated wizard in the program.

Excel 2013 introduced a new feature known as flash fill. This feature attempts to intelligently sort data in a way that makes sense to people. You can import or paste in a large amount of unsorted data. Excel will go through looking for patterns or similarities between various data fields. It will then sort the data into rows and columns. This feature can make organizing data from many different disparate programs simpler and faster. The flash fill feature does not always work correctly although it can really save a large amount of time when it does.

The basic interface for Excel 2013 has been upgraded from previous versions to be easier to use. The often complicated menu bars at the top of the application have been replaced with a ribbon. The ribbon allows you to see all of the functions available grouped by various categories. The visual representation of the different functions makes it much easier to identify what you are looking for instead of having to sort through endless nested menus. This can actually improve productivity.

One drawback of Excel 2013 is that it can be very intimidating to anyone who is just learning to use the program. The sheer number of specialized features and options can be overwhelming at first. That sometimes drives people away from learning how to use all of the functions within the spreadsheet. Excel 2013 is widely recognized as the best spreadsheet application available today. It is commonly used in businesses of all sizes to do anything from creating invoices to managing employee schedules.

Microsoft's 2013 Excel electronic spreadsheet tool is available for those interested in organizing and analyzing data. The program manipulates formulas and functions to generate information in the form of presentations, Internet pages and print-offs, depending on the user's interests.

The 2013 version of Excel, as compared to previous versions, displays a more simple and navigational display. For instance, the startup screen shows recently worked projects, templates for starting new projects, and options to find valuable information regarding the program’s features. If the startup page appears to be cumbersome to users, as many may not be accustomed to it from performances on previous versions, it may be readably disabled.

A newly added feature to the program is the “Flash Fill.” Convenient in its functions, the Flash Fill detects patterns and finishes your work for you by entering in the data automatically. To this extent, troublesome workarounds are prevented, and work can be completed in a more efficient manner.

To make the program easier on beginning users, choices are simplified with recommended charts. The program takes the data users have inserted and displays a selection of appropriate charts. These charts can be viewed to show what the chart would look like, and then users can easily choose the preferred chart pertaining to their specific interests.

Data is quicker to analyze. The “Quick Analysis” tool is used to find options for observing selected data. The options include formatting, charts, tables, and other organizational tools used to make the data more user-friendly.

For those interested in analyzing an abundant amount of data, the “Power View” is incorporated inside the program, as opposed to previous versions. The Power View tool is ideal for large businesses, and now that it is installed within the program, users can easily use the feature to filter and organize large amounts of data.

The program may also be shared with and edited by other people. While it may be troublesome to have two or more people working on the same project at once, in Excel 2013, the original data on one’s computer may not be conflicted by multiple people. Instead, people may collectively work on a project by using the Excel WebApp, while keeping the original intact.

Furthermore, the program is social-network-friendly. If one is interested in sharing a to-do list or event planner, the program shares workbooks with Facebook and other social networks. Once a social network is selected, viewers can then view and edit the data.

Although there exists many additions to Excel 2013, there are also many depreciations. New users will also have to deal with features that have been rerouted.

There have been changes in the split control, chart type navigation, chart template navigation, fax template navigation, as well as changes to the taskbar, clip organizer, picture manager, and other new amenities that users will have to become acclimated to.

Pros:

Faster spreadsheet creation

Simplified editing

Simplified chart creation

More advanced features

Social networking friendly

Collaboration made easy

Cons:

Confusing for beginning users

Tools may be difficult to find

Pricey upon purchase

New features may not be worth the upgrade of a previous version