Microsoft Excel beta supports multiple values in one cell
Microsoft has begun beta testing a major Excel change that lets a single cell hold multiple values, according to TechRadar. Lists, arrays, nested arrays and four new functions are included, but the features are limited to Windows and Mac Beta Channels and have known issues.
Previously, Excel cells could not hold multiple values; comma-separated text such as a list was read as one text string. With the update, Excel not only treats the entry as text but also understands that each item in the list is a separate value. Microsoft Senior Product Manager Jake Armstrong explained: "You can keep those values in one cell, while also keeping them separate for filtering, calculation and more."
Microsoft is introducing lists, arrays in cells and nested arrays as new features. Users will still need to perform basic setup to create a list by inserting it from the menu; commas and semicolons will then denote a list within a single cell. According to TechRadar, other core Excel functions such as filtering will continue to work.
Alongside the new cell behavior, Microsoft is adding array and nested array support to single cells and four new functions — FLATTEN, HAS, HASANY and HASALL — to interact with them. These functions are part of the beta release, TechRadar reported.
Because the update is rolling out only to Microsoft Excel for Windows and Mac Beta Channels, it is not yet broadly available. TechRadar reported known issues involving conditional formatting, charts, find and replace and other areas.
More broadly, TechRadar reported that Microsoft’s Excel roadmap contains other upgrades as the spreadsheet software continues to move beyond a basic number-handling tool. The report said Microsoft knows more users are using Excel for complex text entries and for AI and coding interactions, and the roadmap shows Excel adapting to that use.