The Top 5 Excel 2019 Features

With the new release of Microsoft 2019, Microsoft Excel 2019 just got updated with new features and upgrades. But which features of Excel 2019 matter to you? Which ones will actually help you do your job better?

There are 5 key new features that just jump off the edge. However, for those that use Microsoft 365, all these features exist in Excel 365. The top 5 excel 2019 features are as follows.

1. Improved Data Visualization with Insights
   While this is a simplified generalization, there are two kinds of Excel users: those who are well aware of the kind of data they are looking at and the best charts to visualize it with; and the rest of us, who know what they’d want to see but don’t know too well how to get there.

With Excel Insights, a new feature on the Ribbon, you get lots of suggestions on great visual charts to see your data. Some of these charts you’ve come across or seen before, and some are totally new ideas. To use the Insights features, you have to click on a cell in an existing range of data, and then click on Insert, then Insights.

This will open a task pane on the right part of the window with some new visual presentation ideas for your data. You can click the plus sign “+” that appears on each suggestion to use on your Excel file.

1. 2D and Funnel Map Charts
   A funnel chart is often used to illustrate the different states in a process. For instance, if you want to see the amount of closed sales compared to the amount of subsequent leads, you can use a funnel chart to visualize this.

A process with a 100% value with some potential drop-off points along the process can work great with funnel charts. With the 2019 update, Excel can now support funnel chart type natively, along with map charts for geographical data.

To use funnel charts, the data used should be arranged in such a way that you have at least one column listing the likely stages in the process, and a separate column for the values. The click on Insert, Waterfall, Stock, Funnel, Radar, or Surface Chart, and the choose Funnel. If you’re using a map chart, ensure that the geographical data is filled and then click on Insert, then Filled Map.

1. Automatic Data Analysis with New Ideas
   The all new Ideas feature in Excel 2019 highlights the power of artificial intelligence. With it, you can select a range of data and then click Insert, then Ideas and have Excel analyze your data automatically for any trends and patterns. When the analysis is complete, Excel will provide you with several pre-built PivotCharts to incorporate in your workbook.
2. External Data Navigator
   Excel 2019 allows for a much easier way to work with any external data that you’d like to import to one of your worksheets with the addition of the all new Navigator dialogue box. When you import data or perform queries with external data sources, the Navigator box will let you preview the data and specify how and where to download them.
3. New Functions
   The new version of Excel introduces six new functions that many users will find useful. These include:

• CONCAT

• TEXTJOIN

• MAXIFS

• SWITCH

• IFS

• MINIFS

For instance, the new IFS function lets you write sophisticated formulas that would previously require multiple IF functions nested in each other. This leads to simpler, shorter formulas that helps you work more efficiently with fewer errors.