In recent weeks, Microsoft has focused on improving Excel’s end-to-end efficiency. Whether you’re looking to create complex files more efficiently, import data via formulas and clean it in the cloud, get help to fix errors, or send your analysis as PDF reports, these updates are set to transform your February workflow.
1
Clean and transform data in your browser
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Prerequisites |
You must have a paid Microsoft 365 subscription to access the Power Query tools in Excel for the web. |
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Availability |
Viewing and refreshing existing queries in Excel for the web is generally available to all Microsoft 365 subscribers. However, the ability to create and edit queries is currently restricted to Microsoft 365 subscribers on Business or Enterprise plans, though Microsoft is considering making these capabilities available to all subscribers in the future. |
Power Query has long been the heavy-lifting tool of Excel that kept many people tethered to the desktop app—if you wanted to extract, transform, and load data, the web version simply wouldn’t cut it. However, thanks to this update, you can now use the online Get Data wizard to import figures directly into your spreadsheet in your browser, before transforming the data using the Power Query Editor.
5 everyday actions that Power Query does better than regular Excel tools
Replace manual Excel tasks with conditional columns, smart merging, the unpivot tool, and more.
Open a workbook in your browser, and in the Data tab on the ribbon, click “Get Data” to choose your source. Once connected, click “Transform Data” to open the Power Query Editor, and when you’ve finished tweaking the data, click “Close & Load” to return the cleaned version to your sheet.
One of the most practical upgrades is the support for cloud-based handshakes (OAuth2). This means you can refresh data from sources like SharePoint lists, OData feeds, and SQL servers directly in the browser, without needing a local gateway or the desktop client.
Read More: Microsoft
2
Build workbooks autonomously with Agent Mode
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Prerequisites |
You must have a Copilot license—which comes as standard with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscriptions—to use Agent Mode in the desktop app. You can also use the feature if you have a commercial Microsoft 365 Copilot license. |
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Availability |
Agent Mode is generally available on Windows and in Excel for the web and is currently rolling out to Mac. Due to local regulations and data privacy frameworks, this feature is currently unavailable in the EU and UK. |
Previously only accessible in Excel for the web, Agent Mode—a powerful, AI-driven, autonomous tool that can create tables, generate charts, fix formulas and messy data, and more—is now available on Windows and Mac. Once it gets to work, the end result is a complex workbook built in the grid in front of your eyes.
While the Copilot toolbar requires you to use conversational language to tell it what to do step by step, Agent Mode is different: you tell it the destination, and it maps out and drives the route, creating the necessary roads in your file to get there. What’s more, it lets you toggle between OpenAI (GPT-5.2) and Anthropic (Claude Opus 4.5), so if one model struggles to do exactly what you want, you can simply swap to the other.
To get started, open Excel on your desktop or in your browser, click “Copilot,” select “Agent Mode” in the Tools menu, and enter a prompt. Here’s an example from Microsoft of what you could type:
“Build a loan calculator that computes monthly payments based on user inputs for loan amount, annual interest rate, and term in years. Generate a schedule showing month, payment, principal, interest, and remaining balance. Present the results in a clear, formatted table.”
Read More: Microsoft
3
Load external data using the IMPORTTEXT and IMPORTCSV functions
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Prerequisites |
You must have a Microsoft 365 subscription and be using Excel for Windows to use these new functions. |
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Availability |
IMPORTTEXT and IMPORTCSV are currently only available to Microsoft Insiders running Version 2502 (Build 18604.20002) or later on Windows. Once Microsoft has ironed out any creases, they’re expected to be rolled out for general use. |
When you want to pull a simple list into your Excel grid, Power Query can feel like overkill. That’s why Microsoft has added two new functions—IMPORTTEXT and IMPORTCSV—which can load external data into a dynamic array using a single formula. If the source file changes, just click Data > Refresh All to pull in the latest numbers.
IMPORTCSV is designed for standard comma-separated files and uses smart defaults (like UTF-8 encoding), so you can just type the file path:
=IMPORTCSV("C:\Path\To\Your\File.csv")
IMPORTTEXT gives you more control. It supports various delimiters like tabs, semicolons, or even custom characters, and it also lets you specify exactly which rows to skip or how many rows to take:
=IMPORTTEXT("C:\Path\To\Your\File.txt", [delimiter], [skip_rows], [take_rows])
Since these functions return dynamic arrays, you can nest them inside other functions, like SORTBY or FILTER.
Read More: Microsoft
4
Fix broken formulas with descriptive error cards
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Prerequisites |
You must have a Microsoft 365 subscription and be using Excel for Windows to see this new feature. |
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Availability |
This new experience is currently only available to Microsoft Insiders running Version 2512 (Build 19502.20000) or later on Windows. Microsoft says, “A similar update is coming to Excel for Mac soon.” |
We’ve all been there: you spend five minutes crafting the perfect formula, only to be greeted by a cryptic #VALUE!, #NUM!, or the dreaded #SPILL!.
Tired of Excel’s #SPILL! error? Here are 5 easy fixes
Quickly resolve this frustrating error by tweaking your spreadsheet’s structure.
Historically, Excel for Windows hasn’t been very helpful in explaining why your data just broke. Now, when you hover over the small green triangle in the corner of a cell with an error, a descriptive error card appears with details on how the error occurred and actionable steps to fix it. You can also click “Show Calculation Steps” to see exactly where the logic fell apart.
Read More: Microsoft
5
Send automated PDF reports via Office Scripts
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Prerequisites |
You must have a Microsoft 365 Business, Enterprise, or Education subscription to use this feature. |
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Availability |
This process is generally available across Excel for Windows, Mac, and the web. |
If you spend your Friday afternoons manually saving and emailing reports, this update is for you. Office Scripts—Excel’s modern, cloud-friendly answer to VBA—now lets you save and email worksheets as PDFs.
VBA is dying, and Microsoft is building Excel’s future without it
Cloud collaboration, macro security, and new tools like Office Scripts, Power Query, and Python are pushing VBA to the margins.
Before the update, the only way to do this automatically was by setting up a multistep workflow in Power Automate. While this works, you have to leave Excel altogether and follow a complex workflow for what should be a simple task. This new method allows Excel to handle the conversion and delivery natively using:
workbook.getAsPdf()
and
workbook.emailAsPdf()
This means you can write a script that converts a specific sheet or the entire workbook and fires it off to your team or your own inbox with a single click.
Read More: Microsoft
While these updates make creating, importing, cleaning, fixing, and reporting data much easier, there are still many outstanding Excel problems Microsoft should finally fix in 2026. If you have a specific tool or improvement in mind, you can submit your request directly to the Excel Feedback Portal.
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