What I would like to see in Excel 2016

[bbott]

Intellisense for UDFs.

 

[petertenthije]

Change the workday formula so that it does not require full days. For instance WORKDAY(startdate;1,5;holidays).

 

[Worf]

Don't know if this was already mentioned: a resizable dialog box for conditional formatting rules.

 

[Worf]

Cells that do not loose conditional formatting when something is pasted over them.

 

[JVBEaupre]

I'm trying to keep alive code for 2010 (Windows), 2011(Mac) and 2016(Mac) versions of Excel, so my interest is mainly VBA stuff:

1. Bring back fully functional DIR functions
2. Ungray PlotArea sizes so that changes can be accomplished by VBA and recorded!
3. Use the MacOS path syntax. Preview copy uses "/" and not ":" and other changes.
4. Bring back Dialogs or otherwise improve file handling. It's ridiculous to use Applescript to open files or find paths to folders & files
5. Improve VBA documentation over the existing for 2011 and 2013. Method examples are very helpful and should be included.
6. The VBA editor (I know, I know, is not final) but does not bode well. I hope MS does something useful with that. Needs better tabbing, object browser, help, and multi-module window capability.
7. Most recent "bomb" caused by Applicationworkbookfunction.Percentile(.5).
8. Something has also changed in intepreting the content of variants: val() is now lowercase and often bombs.

I guess the Office 2007 VBA was the last fully functional VBA--It's been all downhill since then.
Jim

 

[RoryA]

This thread was actually started in relation to the Windows version of Excel - it is extremely unfortunate that MS has chosen to use the same version number for both Mac and Windows!
I think almost all of your comments relate to the Mac version, though I completely disagree with your last comment. Office 2007 was appalling and its VBA (macro recorder aside) was no better or worse than subsequent versions - I'd be intrigued to know why you think it was better than say 2010?

 

[JVBEaupre]

This thread was actually started in relation to the Windows version of Excel - it is extremely unfortunate that MS has chosen to use the same version number for both Mac and Windows!
I think almost all of your comments relate to the Mac version, though I completely disagree with your last comment. Office 2007 was appalling and its VBA (macro recorder aside) was no better or worse than subsequent versions - I'd be intrigued to know why you think it was better than say 2010?

Rory,
Yes, my comments were about the Mac 2016 Excel.
In 2010 the examples dropped out of the Help info. As for the rest, the functionality (in memory) was about the same, except for "grayed out" controls. I think 2010 was the 1st one where (if memory serves) that ".PlotArea.Width = ..." didn't work.
Anyway, it was so long ago, I'm not going to the wall with my impressions.
Thanks for the comments.
jim

 

[Terp1]

The ability to undo after running a macro. I generally avoid macros because I can't undo afterwards. (If I can do this already, please let me know).

 

[DocAElstein]

The ability to undo after running a macro. ..... (If I can do this already, please let me know).

. Like many people I guess, It has become an instinct with me to save the file just before running a macro, at least when I am developing a macro and testing it. ( Then, of course, if something goes wrong after a macro, you just close the file without saving changes and open it again, and the wrong doings of the macro are gone! ). (Also I mostly run in debug ( F8 ) mode while developing a macro, that minimises the damage a macro can do - you stop then as soon as anything goes wrong, and often damage is small enough to repair manually before going further. )

Alan

P.s. While I am here: Wot I would most like to see in XL 2016. - I would like it not to come out. I would rather they update, consolidate and get compatibility between existing versions better.

 

[Smitty]

The ability to undo after running a macro. I generally avoid macros because I can't undo afterwards. (If I can do this already, please let me know).

You can, but's it's not necessarily all that efficient. See: http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/tip/undoing_a_vba_subroutine/

But like Doc said, the best bet is to work on a copy of your wb until you get your code doing what you want (not what you tell it to do...) Avoiding VBA because of the lack of undo is a silly excuse to not avail yourself of such an awesome resource!

I would rather they update, consolidate and get compatibility between existing versions better.

Yeah, that's gonna' happen...