Looking at Microsoft's list of Excel updates for August, the only things they mention relate to AI features:

• Copilot in Excel: change history skill #FIA
• Copilot in Excel: chat history #FIA
• Copilot in Excel: chart and PivotTable skills
• Copilot in Excel: Python skill (Insiders)

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/excelblog/whats-new-in-excel-august-2026/4527283

But, they also made an update to the creation of Tables. That is, when creating a Table, you can now give it a name in the same dialog.

I don't particularly care about the AI features, but the small change to the Table creation dialog makes me happy.

Using the remove duplicates button did not work. I want to keep the text cells.

This a example of a report that I have to work on every quarter and I want to use conditional formatting to highlight the cells in columns C, D, and E if the information fits the criteria on the right side. I set up formulas in I-K for personal reference to identify which items meet the criteria and should be highlighted. I used the following to do the True/False and updated it based on the relevant criteria =OR(AND($G2="C",C2>100),AND($G2="V",C2=0),AND($G2="SP",C2>40),AND($G2="SL",C2>50))

I've tried using using that formula to get the conditional formatting to work and it didn't so I broke it down into one formula per criteria but none of them were working correctly. This is where I'm at right now. Before I left work I had eight random results highlighted that were either the wrong type or outside the parameters.

This report typically has around 200 lines with 2 additional categories but they are grouped with SP, SL, or V in the formula for Type. I'm using some version of Excel 365 but can't find the exact version until tomorrow morning.

What do I need to change to get my conditional formatting to work correctly?

Hi! I have an Excel (Microsoft 365) document in SharePoint which is shared across multiple colleagues, and often used by 5-8 people at the same time (via Excel web version usually). There I have some PowerQuery queries which create tables and those tables feed into a PowerBI reports elsewhere.

Now in PowerBI settings I have data refresh enabled 10x a day, however I noticed that Excel itself does not refresh PowerQueries automatically, so often those tables which feed into PowerBI are outdated.

What would be a solid method to refresh all Excel data at least several times a day, or ideally 10x a day (without using VBA)? From what I've seen I can't simply enable a setting in Excel itself for that.

I'm trying to bulk update an item log for a website I'm managing, using a csv file, but I don't know how to change the description for each item/cell.

The text in the cell is

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;" data-rte-preserve-empty="true">Meet the Creator: <a href="/meet-the-creators">**Name**</a></p><p style="white-space:pre-wrap;" data-rte-preserve-empty="true"><span>D**escription**</span></p><p style="white-space:pre-wrap;" data-rte-preserve-empty="true"><a href="/products?tag=\*\*Name\*\*"><span>Shop the **Name** Collection!</span></a></p>

I just want to change the bolded Name and Description parts but each description is differnt and i have like...almost 100 descriptions to change.

Is it possible to do what I'm trying to do, or am I just lazy and delusional lol

Edit: Im in a class right now, but i should update in like 15 min to see if it worked

As the title said: I would like to link two sheets together. I have a common data point: order numbers. however I am not sure if I can do what I want to do.

I have two sheets, one with data like order number, d.o.b., and a specification regarding the products people bought. The other sheet has data like order number and country.

I would like to create a table that shows which products are popular in which country and which age group in that country likes to buy that product. What is the best way to do this and is this even possible in excel?

I just started a new job and the previous shop manager used a downloaded free invoice template that I would like to modify. As it works now, the first sheet is a blank invoice and the third sheet has all of the data.

So, if a student wants to buy three 16 oz bottles of glue, I would use a drop down menu on the blank invoice item list to find "Glue:16 oz Bottle" then enter "3" in the quantity column, then for price I need to go to sheet 3 and scroll through all of the data to find the bottle of glue entry, then look 6 columns over for the unit price, then copy that and paste it back for the unit price value on sheet 1.

My thinking is to use a formula to lookup the referenced string and then return a value for the item cost which would be $column+6$row as "Glue:16 oz Bottle" on sheet 3.

Is this possible?

Thanks,

Andy

I have started using Excel to track job applications and downloaded a template in which the application due date column changes colour based on how close the application due date is. I want to add a rule where dates that move into the past get greyed out, but when I try the =F3<Today() formula i found, it does not grey out correctly. Please see the attached picture for reference! Thank you for any advice/help in advance!

I’m trying to find or build a formula that will return the text from column C if a match is found in the text of cells A2, A3, A4, etc. The example below might make more sense:

A B C
Text Return Range
The Apple is red Red Green
Jill likes green apples Green Blue
The pear is green Green Red

Note: there is no standardization in the source text, so limiting the characters searched is not feasible.

EDIT: it seems my original post was unclear so I’ll try to be more specific.

Column B should have the formula. I want to search the text in the column A cells for any of the words listed in all of Column C, then return that word in column B

The first line in A has the word “red”, I want the formula in B to return “red”.

Background:

My team uses a file to record test results. My lead asked somebody to make alterations to the file and couldn't figure out what to do. I made an excel script to do what she wants. Macros are locked down, and you have to jump through hoops to get approval, but scripts seem to be fine.

I named my script with camel case and abbreviations. When I select add to workbook, I get a button with the name. Changing the text to something friendly to my team seems to break the button. Telling people to go to automations, find the name, click it, then click run, may get unfavorable reaction from the team.

My question: Is there a way to trigger my script without naming it "Click here to save and create the report"?

I have a spreadsheet where I need to highlight cells in several columns if the same data appears in a table on a different sheet. The conditional formatting works perfectly if I put the table on the same sheet using the following:

=ISNUMBER(MATCH(A1,$R$82:$R$103,0))

But, if I try to insert a range of cells from the same table, but located on a different sheet using the same formula

=ISNUMBER(MATCH(A1,Sheet2!$A$82:$A$103,0))

it doesn't work.

What am I missing? It is driving me bonkers!

Not sure if anyone can help with this but I have a table similar to the image:

(sorry I can't put a photo in the post body as on mobile but here's a link to it)

Every month new data gets loaded in via Power Query.

I want to set up a formula where it will check if data from columns b to d are duplicates (shown in the image in yellow), if yes, it then checks column e to see if this data is unique to that row (ie. row 2 and 6 contain the same B-D data, but column E is different). If it is unique, it changes a revision/status in column a to "Yes" for any old instances.

Is this possible?

Thank you.

I am attempting to make a tracking system for personnel in my company. Every employee has a unique employee number that I would like to use as a common value to link the rows of various tables.

My first sheet has a table containing all of the employees with a column for their employee number, Grade, Surname, Given name, department and then various other miscellaneous information.

I then have a separate table to track their qualifications they need to hold. I would like this to pull the employee number, Surname and given name from the first sheet and then allow me to add qualifications in the various other columns.

I would like to do a similar thing for various other information in separate tables. It is important that the tables share data as there will be other managers using this system and I want to avoid people being removed from one table but remaining on the others, or new employees having to be manually added to multiple tables.

Is this actually possible on Excel or would I need some sort of actual database?

I have a worksheet that contains several tables next to each other. One is a help table that is conditionally filled to populate a dropdown list. The rows in this help table get deleted and re-populated frequently without issues. Command used is: Sheets("SHEET6").Range("TABLE3").Rows.Delete

However, when a filter is applied to one of the other tables Excel deletes not only the designated table rows, but also the corresponding worksheet rows, deleting data from all other tables. My work around is to remove all filters.

Is there a better way to ensure only the designated table's rows are deleted? Windoes 7, Office 2010 Std.

Edit: typo

Hi,

My Spreadsheet is a tool where someone can choose how often different services are being chosen and calculates a price based on these.

At the end I would like to create a list of all services chosen including how often and the prices of each.

Is there any function that counts up those options and creates a list of all these.

Thanks for all the help

Hi everyone!
I’m working on collecting data on bird populations over the course of several months, so I have a huge data sheet that houses all of my collective info. I was wondering if there’s a way to keep the column with bird species visible when scrolling horizontally through the entire sheet so I don’t have to go back and forth constantly.
Thank you guys so much!

I have several large datasets which come in a few different formats. Because of those formatting differences, I need similar but structurally different formula setups to parse the data. What I want to do is store the various formula setups as on an independent reference sheet, and use a dropdown on each data sheet to select which formula set to use. The relevant formulas would then be filled from the reference sheet.

I've tried using named ranges, but calling the named range pulls the results of the formulas as they are executed on the reference sheet, not the formulas themselves.

I'd rather not have to use several thousand if/thens if I can avoid it, but I fear this might be too much for excel.

I am working on KPI charts. I have a single chart that I can use a spin button to move through different time frames (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly). I have individual tables for each time frame, then have a helper table to uses the CHOOSE function to change between data sets based on the spin button.

All the info shows up, the issue is the daily chart is 31 data points, and the weekly is at most 5. But because each cell always has that function in it weather it is showing data or not, the table always things something is there, so the daily chart looks great, but the weekly/monthly/yearly charts all look compressed.

Is there a way to change the formula's to properly size the charts for the different sized data sets. I have tried adding in #NA functions for blank cells, but did not solve the issue. Thanks!

I am a before and after school program teacher. I have recently come up with a reward/behavior system for all of my students. I am wanting to be their "bank" and keep track of their daily points, and "expenses," however I don't know what equation to use. I have a spreadsheet of all of their names currently in a row, not columns. What I am needing is a way to add points up each day, and subtract if needed. I tried to use SUM, but the points will change each day. An example of what I need:

Jimmy earned 3 points on Monday, his total now is 3. On Tuesday he earned 5 points, his total is now 8. On Wednesday he lost 2 points, so his total is now 6.

Is there a way to do this without having to add it myself? If I change a number in the SUM, it doesn't add the way I need it to and I'm not smart in Excel. I need the total to change as I add something.

Example again:

Monday: Jimmy| 3|3|

Tuesday: Jimmy |5|8 (I changed the 3 to a 5)

Wednesday: Jimmy|-2|6| (I changed the 5 to a -2)

Think of it as "financial tracking" but the sum carries over the points from the previous input without having a huge spread sheet, while in the same row and cell

I am so sorry if this does not make sense, I can explain further if needed but I am just awful at using Excel or any spreadsheets, and just want to make this school year fun! Thanks in advance!

I have a basic goal/habit tracker. Some habits/goals are daily but some of my goals aren't daily habits but weekly numeric targets – for example, my goal is to submit two job applications per week.

how can I have both in an excel tracker while keeping the overview and graph so that if I complete 2 applications a week, I get 100% goal achieved?

Hello all,

I have come seeking guidance/answers....

I have several Columns of data and would like to group it by one of it's columns, as a copied filter/sort or whatever.

Essentially this is for programming a Pick and Place machine, the number refer to Nozzles (Machine has 8, but the data is already set for Nozzle sizes to be applicable to parts and reachable by Nozzle, hence some not have all 8 numbers)

The column I wish to sort by will have the numbers 1-8 in, (I.e. "1" or "12345678" or "3567")

I wish to select ONE of these numbers to be kept in the cell and then group the whole column into 'sets' of 1 to 8. This allow as many components picked as possible per picking.

I'd like to group the column into as few 'sets' as possible containing as many of the 1 to 8's within each group. Thus minimising time spent going to and fro with 1 component per pick/placement.

Have bodged a table below of data that will suffice, and added a possible outcome to the right of it.

I just can't get my head into the game for this part of my large project at work at the moment, Health issues and related brain fog keep me from getting to grips with it.

Set# is to help visually identify a group/set PICKED, to be placed at a time... (I.E. it will pick all of set 1, and place it, then move to the next set)
Row # Nozzles Guesstimate of results (Row#, Nozzle and SET#)

Hopefully I have explained myself satisfactorily, But I wouldn't be surprised if you have MANY questions, such is the state of my head at the moment.

Thanks in advance :D

A column used to contain hyperlinks. I cleared the contents of these cells. But the cells still have this black down-pointing triangles in the upper left corner ?

If I hover over one triangle, the old hyperlink shows as a tool tip. If I click on the arrow, that link opens.

If I right click that cell, I expect to see "Remove hyperlink" on the context menu. It is not there.

If I apply a default format from another cell, no effect.

If I delete the column, the triangles stay there ??

What's going on ??? How do I get rid of this left over hyperlinks ?
________________________________________________
SOLUTION:
Ctrl + G to open the Goto dialog

Click the "Special" button.

Select the "Objects" radio button, Click OK

The dialogue closes and the triangle images are all selected.

Press delete key and they are gone !

Hello, I'm not the most excel-savvy person. I was in need of a to-do list to track my work tasks and chose the Track My Tasks template that shows when you open Excel. When you open the template, there are 3 lines to fill in with your tasks. I have more than 3 tasks, so I copy and pasted one task line to make more tasks. When I do this, column F breaks. Column F's purpose is to add a mark once the completion bar in column E reaches 100%.

Column F is defined as:
=--([@COMPLETION]>=1)

When I copy and paste this line into additional line items, it changes to this:
=--(Tasks[@COMPLETION]>=1)
And has an error marker

If I delete the word "Tasks" to have it mimic the original task line items, it breaks and says:
"The syntax of this name isn't correct." Which confuses me as that is exactly how it is written for lines 3-4.

It's a dumb thing, just an icon to mark a finished task, but it's really frustrating me. What is the intended way to create more tasks without it breaking? I feel like it should be pretty easy to figure out how to add tasks to a template task list, but I'm at a loss.

Thank you in advance

I was trying to copy the values in column E into column D and I found out that no matter what I copy, whenever I paste Excel will only paste into each cell the value on the cell below it. So if I copy J4 and paste it on D3 it will paste D4 value, if I paste in E7 it will paste E8. If I copy D3:D10 and paste in E3:E10 it will paste the values of E4:E11. If the cell below the one I'm pasting is empty it won't paste anything.

I’m starting college this September and I want to start building some useful skills alongside my degree a biomedical Design course

I was thinking about learning Excel, but I’m wondering if it’s actually worth investing time into learning it properly and if so wht should I particularly focus at

For those who have experience with Excel, would you say it’s a good skill to have for college, internships and future jobs? And are there any other skills you’d recommend learning that could be useful in general?

I’d appreciate any suggestions! :)