Microsoft today shared a list of 20 upcoming features it plans to add to its Excel Web App. The company wouldn’t give a timeframe for when to expect the new additions, but it did give quite a bit to look forward to.
Without further ado, here’s the list:
- Adding and Editing Freeze Panes (they are already viewable).
- Adding and Editing Comments (they are already viewable).
- Android Tablet Support.
- Editing Files with VBA.
- Chart Editing.
- Viewing, Moving, and Resizing Shapes.
- Loading XLS files in O365 (already works in SkyDrive).
- Print to PDF.
- WEBSERVICE Functions.
- Common Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Custom Sort a Range (sort on multiple columns).
- Insert an Image.
- Hide/Unhide Rows & Columns.
- Reorder Sheets.
- Show Aggregates for the Selected Range in the Statusbar.
- Rename a Spreadsheet from within Web Excel.
- Drag and Drop Cells in a Sheet.
- Reorder Sheets. (yep, that’s a dupe – we’ve contact Microsoft for clarification)
- Protect Sheets from Being Edited by Others.
- Insert and Modify Apps for Office.
Microsoft emphasizes that the above list isn’t in any specific order. These are items that are of higher priority, but the company says you shouldn’t expect to see any of these implemented before any other because “Each one takes a different amount of time to develop, and we work on many things in parallel.”
If you’re not seeing a feature you sorely need in Excel Web App, Microsoft is asking you to take this survey and provide feedback. The company promises it will use the result “to tweak the list of things we’re working on.”
Microsoft also revealed a formula it says is similar to the one it uses to rank what features should be added next: Feature Importance = (Competitive Standing) * (Weight X) + (SkyDrive Feedback) * (Weight Y) + (Office 365 Feedback) * (Weight Z) + (Usage Data) * (Weight P) + (Internal Factors) * (Weight R).
Without any complex formula in hand, we’d rank the top five features as follows: Android tablet support, chart editing, shapes, drag and drop, and common keyboard shortcuts.
See also – Microsoft launches GeoFlow for Excel, a tool for visualizing time-stamped 3D data built on Bing Maps and Finally. Office 365 is available for the iPhone, lets you edit any Word, Excel and PowerPoint file
Top Image Credit: Eric Piermont/Getty Images
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