Microsoft doesn't release Windows Insider builds every week, nor do we get new features with every build. However, in the case of Microsoft 365 apps, the company appears more committed to adding and highlighting new features every month. And now that we're approaching the end of September, the software giant has come up with all the changes it added to one of its widely popular Microsoft 365 apps: Microsoft Excel.

What's new for Excel for Windows, Mac, and web

In the middle of the month, Microsoft announced that Copilot is generally available for Excel, Mac, and web clients, allowing prompt as you work and be more productive. For example, one of the things you can do is ask the AI tool to "highlight marketing spend if it is higher than revenue." For Mac and Excel web users, Microsoft hasn't added anything other than the general availability of the Copilot chatbot, unfortunately.

What's new for Excel for Windows

If you've a Windows PC and are a Microsoft 365 Insider, you can now use Copilot in Excel with Python to conduct advanced analysis. To put this into perspective, you'll be able to use plain English to describe the kind of analysis you want to perform, and Copilot will generate and insert the appropriate Python code into your Excel spreadsheet. If you're a Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise user, you can also reap the benefits of the Python integration into Excel, too.

In addition to Copilot in Excel with Python, Microsoft has also introduced a new function, namely TRIMRANGE, and Trim references. As described by Microsoft, the new function "removes empty rows and columns from the edges of a range." On the other hand, the new set of Trim references will make sure that you can execute those TRIMRANGE functions efficiently. Again, this is available only for Microsoft 365 Insiders.

Another major feature Microsoft added to Excel is Accessibility Assistant. As the name suggests, it helps you make content that's accessible to everyone. It does so by identifying and fixing problems that could make documents inaccessible to people with disabilities. As per Microsoft, this is one of the highly requested features.

More handy Microsoft 365 features coming soon

Unlike in the case of Windows 11, we know well in advance the Microsoft 365 capabilities that the company is working on. If you're an Excel user, keep an eye out for our Microsoft Roadmap Weekly post next Monday to learn about what new features the company is planning to introduce next.