Although Microsoft Excel gets new features on a regular basis, additional capabilities are occasionally integrated through add-ins. Microsoft offers its first-party Excel Labs add-in, which can be used to perform relatively complex tasks, such as leveraging a python editor inside the spreadsheet software. Now, the Excel Labs development team has announced the availability of an advanced formula debugger for Excel.

A blog post by Microsoft has detailed the features present in the new formula debugger in the Excel Labs add-in. The capability can be accessed through the Advanced Formula Environment (AFE), and it will allow users to debug difficult formulas in order to identify the source of an error or unexpected behavior.

The Excel debugger offers functionalities very similar to those present in the debuggers of full-fledged integrated development environments (IDEs). Some features include live debugging, evaluation steps to see how the data is being transformed, a preview of the range, and the ability to debug LAMBDA formulas through expandable cards. That said, the Excel Labs team has highlighted that not all functions are supported in terms of debugging yet, and that it is looking forward to customer feedback in order to prioritize development.

The Excel Labs team recently released another experimental feature in the form of sheet-defined functions, which enables users to convert multi-cell calculations into a single formula. You can find out more details about the AFE capability in the blog post.

For those unaware, Excel Labs is a Microsoft Garage initiative and is an add-in developed by some members of the Excel team. Microsoft Garage encourages Redmond employees to build experimental and new solutions that can eventually be integrated into existing software or released as dedicated products. Employees under this initiative are not restricted to their own domain expertise and are free to delve into any area of their interest.