Happy 2024! I hope you've had some rest and are ready to crush your Excel goals in the New Year. We're back with your weekly dose of productivity and insights.

This edition includes a handpicked selection of 2023 highlights. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free weekly email here.

In today's Between the Sheets:

• we cover AI features in Excel Web,
• we talk about XelPlus plans for 2024,
• can't-miss event for all Excel enthusiasts!

Let's kick things off with our tip of the week:

🤖 AI features in Excel for the Web

If you don't have Copilot in Excel, there are other ways you can leverage built-in AI.

There's Analyze in Excel in the desktop app, and 2 cool new features in Excel for the Web (that we hope will come to desktop as well):

💡 Formula Suggestions

​Formula Suggestions looks at the context of the neighboring cells and based on that is able to suggest the right formula for your needs.

It can help with aggregations such as SUM, MIN, MAX, AVERAGE, COUNT & COUNTA.

This will be particularly useful for Excel beginners, who are not yet familiar with the available functions or formula syntax, but can also be a time-saver for experienced Excel users. All you need to do is type "=" to start a formula, and then simply select the suggestion based on your data.

🧩 Formula By Example

If you've ever used Flash Fill in Excel, you know it can be a great time-saver.

You provide Excel with a pattern (e.g. splitting a full name into first and last name in separate cells), and it applies it to all rows of data below.

Its downside? It's not dynamic. Once the data changes, you have to start from scratch. 😠

​Formula by Example does the same, but better. It suggests a formula that achieves the result you provide with your example. And since it's a formula, it will be dynamic.

So nothing changes for you, you don't have to know how to write the complex formula. Just store your data in an official Excel table, provide the desired end result and Excel's AI figures out the rest.

The results may vary - you should always double-check AI suggestions against your data.

​

🎀 Excel 2023 Wrapped

As we prepare for a new year of excelling 😉, let's look back at the exciting developments in our favorite spreadsheet application.

It was an interesting year with a lot of big updates and major new features, with the business world adjusting to the new reality of generative AI.

✈️ Copilot

Microsoft joined the AI game with Bing Chat/Copilot (available to everyone) and Copilot for Microsoft 365 currently aimed at big companies.

Although XelPlus does not quite qualify as big, Microsoft recently opened up a testing environment exclusively for MVPs. I've had a first look but honestly there was nothing earth-shattering that needed immediate sharing.

Some of the things I wished were possible, can't be done yet. Obviously Copilot is brand new and much like a baby who rapidly grows in the early years, I anticipate significant developments in its capabilities. I'll be sure to share more info once I gather more details.

🐍 Python

Another big game changer in Excel was the introduction of the Python programming language directly in your workbook.

Still in the trial phase (available to beta insiders only), it really expands Excel's analytical capabilities. I'm hoping it will remain free - but somehow I doubt it.

Over the holidays I did some reading on machine learning. My goal was to use Python to create a model in Excel, trained on our customer feedback, for classifying new responses.

Initially, I tried using ChatGPT without knowing much about machine learning and I didn't get far - except waste many hours going back and forth and nothing worked like I expected - which also proved to me that when you know nothing about a topic, ChatGPT will only waste your time.

So during the holidays I read up on machine learning and understood it enough to be able to ask the right questions and get a functioning model which I'm super excited about.

The problem I came across was that many Python libraries can't be used in Excel. Since Python in Excel runs on the Microsoft Cloud with enterprise-level security, access to some advanced libraries is restricted. This means that for some tasks, like advanced web-scraping, sentiment analysis, complex machine learning, it would be more practical to install Python directly on your PC - plus it's free!

This leads me to wonder, what's the real use of Python in Excel? Is it mainly for statistical analysis or creating unique charts? I'm curious about your views: Why would you use Python in Excel, and what would you do with it? Please share your thoughts.

Anyhow, it's been an honor to get my Python video featured in the official Excel blog.

In case you missed the other great features mentioned in that post, we covered them in these videos (files included!):

✅ Checkboxes - easy to insert in cell and use the checked/unchecked status for more calculations.

🖼️ Insert pictures into cells - and filter or look up images in your Excel report.

These features are still limited to Office Insiders, but hopefully they will be entering general availability this year. 🤞

By reading Between the Sheets, you stay on top of Excel news like this. We do our best to keep you ahead of the curve. 😁

​

🌍 Global Excel Summit 2024

Another way to stay on top of Excel buzz is to attend the Global Excel Summit.

It's happening in a month's time (February 6-8) but there are still some tickets available. I'm excited to deliver the keynote speech there. It would be wonderful to meet some of you in person.

Plus it's a great opportunity to connect with Excel pros and MVPs, pick up tips and tricks from masters like Bob Umlas or Oz du Soleil, and have geeky fun along the way. With speakers like these, it's guaranteed. 😁

If you live in London and you work with Excel, it's an event you don't want to miss.

And if one of your New Year's resolutions included visiting London, why not do it in February.😉

I hope to meet you there!

If you can't join in person, the entire event will be streamed online; The live sessions are happening on 6th and 7th of February, with the final day (8th Feb) exclusively online.

You'll find all the details, including the location, speakers and detailed agenda, under this link - use code LEILA at checkout to get 20% off.

📒 Our 2024 Agenda

Finally, a little sneak peek of what you can expect from XelPlus in 2024. We're still early in the planning process and you can actually help us with that.

Before the holidays, I sent out a survey asking about your wishes and preferences. If you haven't had a chance to fill it out yet, you can still do it.

Click on this link to the questionnaire and share your thoughts. It should take you no longer than a minute.

So far, the top voted courses are:

• Excel Charting & Visualization Techniques
• Advanced Data Analysis
• New Excel 365 Functions & Features
• Excel Dashboards
• Generative AI

On the YouTube front, you may have noticed that I've recently slowed down uploading videos.

As much as I love sharing content on YouTube, I've realized that I need to balance it with other projects I'd like to focus on - such as creating structured tutorials that truly make a difference.

You see, YouTube is fantastic for quick tips and tricks for a wide audience, but it's not ideal for in-depth, complex topics.

This year, I'm concentrating more on our courses, where we tackle more detailed real-life examples.

But don't worry, I'll continue to post YouTube videos so please do subscribe to my channel (if you're not subscribed yet) to get notified whenever I do. 🙂

Between the Sheets will continue to land in your inbox every Sunday, with our weekly tips and updates.

​

👏 Power Stories

Thank you, Norgelio, for this amazing review. Black Belt combines our Excel courses from Essentials to Power Excel and VBA. It's quite a journey but guaranteed to make you an Excel Master 🥋. Congrats on taking the first step.

Got a success story about using your XelPlus skills? I’d love to hear it! Hit reply to share the details, and inspire other students. 😇

See you next week,

Leila

Want more?

▶️ Subscribe on YouTube​

🖇️ Follow us on LinkedIn​

🥇 Join 400,000+ students in our courses​

📣 Want to sponsor Between the Sheets? Get in touch here.

This newsletter contains affiliate links, which give us a small commission on any purchase made at no cost to you. This helps us run Between the Sheets and bring you updates like this. Thank you for your support!