MS Excel is the most widely used application in the MS office suite. The proverbial statement “Love it or hate it but you cannot ignore it” holds true for Excel the most. The seemingly innocent grid of columns and boxes is present across all industries.

No report is really complete without a few Excel based graphs or charts. That’s how omnipresent it is. An Excel certification can help you deliver better than expected results and increase efficiency.

Naturally, when this boon to humanity comes up with new features, it is a delight for everyone. In this blogpost, we will look at these new features of MS Excel 2016.

Ink Equations

According to me the Ink Equations feature of MS Excel 2016 is the coolest of them all. This cool feature allows you to convert math equations to text. You can easily insert them into the document. You can write using the mouse, keyboard, a light or a digital pen or even your fingers. How cool is that!

Once you have your math equation written, get ready to convert it. All you have to do is select Insert > Symbols > Equation. A drop down menu appears on your screen with the option ‘Ink Equation’. Click that. A preview chalkboard appears with options of the writing tools. This is where you write and convert. It is this simple and easy.

Smart Lookup

The Smart Lookup feature is yet another cool and informative feature of MS Excel 2016. This feature enables you to pick all relevant information regarding a word or a phrase from the internet. This information is called insights.

What you got to do is this. Place your cursor a word in the spreadsheet and right click it. You can even highlight it and right click it. What follows is a drop down list. Select Smart Lookup in it. The insights panel opens up. It shows you all relevant information and even images about the word you chose. This is like having a speed dial option on the internet. Way to go Microsoft!

Tell Me What You Want to Do

The “Tell Me What You Want to Do” feature is your personal genie. It will obey every one of your commands. It is basically a search function. It lists all the function or operations that match your search query. On top of it, it also allows you to look up on insights using Smart Lookup.

3D Maps

The 3D/Power Maps feature allows you to use data to create clear and compelling video tours. With the help of this tool you can map millions of rows and columns worth data on Bing maps. This will help you compare data visually in three dimensional images that can be converted to a video too. You can compare data like variations in temperature or amount of rainfall or the density of population in a particular area.

New Templates

Standardized templates make life easy. Excel 2016 has new templates like My Cash Flow, My Calendar and Stock Analysis. These templates come with sample data. You can use the sample data to get a feel of the template. Once you get good at it, you can replace the sample with real data. Excel does the rest of the functions needed to fulfil the tasks for which the templates are designed.

New Charts

I personally like charts a lot! Charts make understanding and comparing data easy. Plus they are easy on the eye. The Excel 2016 has six new types of charts. The fundamental way of feeding data into the charts remain same. You got to select data and identify the chart type you want.

All the new charts from MS Excel 2016 are brilliant. They all have specific uses and will best serve their purpose when used that way. Here’s a quick list of the charts and the specific use they can be put to.

Super- Fast Analysis Tools

Excel is for brilliant analysis. This only got better with a lot more options in Excel 2016. You feed the excel sheet with all the data you have. Once this is done, select the entire data range. A lightning worksheet icon appears on the right hand bottom corner. Click this to find multiple options and sub options to analyze your data.

Real Time Collaboration

Gone are the days of sharing an excel worksheet on Google Drive and sending invitations to people who need to see it. Excel 2016 makes real time collaboration easy. The share option in the new Excel allows you to update all your data, queries, worksheets on the cloud. You have the option to invite people. With this new tool, you do not have to wait for inputs from your team members even if they are on the other side of the globe!

The Excel2016 is full of good surprises. Most of the features help you do your work effectively and efficiently. Learn MS Excel 2016 to be better at what you do!