Top New Features in Excel 2007

If you are looking for a quick rundown on what is new and what is cool in Excel 2007, look no further! Here it is some official Top Features list.

1. Live Preview:
   You simply can not say enough about Live Preview and how much easier it makes formatting the worksheet. Live Preview works with all the style galleries (see Number 3 in the list) as well as Font and Font Size pull-down menus in the Font group on the Home tab. It enables you to see how the data in the current cell selection would look with a particular formatting, font, or font size before you actually apply the formatting to the range. All you have to do is mouse over the thumbnails in the drop-down menu or gallery to see how each of its styles will look on your actual data. As an extra nice feature, many of the larger style galleries sport spinner buttons that enable you to bring new rows of thumbnails in the gallery into view so that you can preview their styles without obscuring any part of the cell selection (as would be the case if you actually open the gallery by clicking its More drop-down button). And when you finally do see the formatting that fits your data to a tee, all you have to do is click its thumbnail to immediately apply it to the selected cell range.
   
   
2. The Ribbon:
   The Ribbon is the heart of the new Excel 2007 user interface. Based on a core of standard tabs to which various so-called contextual tabs are added as needed in formatting and editing of specific elements (such as data tables, charts, pivot tables, and graphic objects), the Ribbon brings together most every command you are going to need when performing particular tasks in Excel.
   
   
3. Style Galleries:
   Excel 2007 is full of different style galleries that make it a snap to apply new sophisticated (and, in many cases, very colorful) formatting to tables and lists of data, charts, and various and sundry graphics you add to your worksheets. Coupled with the Live Preview feature, Excel’s style galleries go a long way toward encouraging you to create better-looking, more colorful, and interesting spreadsheets.
   
   
4. Page Layout View:
   Page Layout View in the Excel worksheet is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to visualizing the paging of printed reports. When you turn on this view by clicking the Page Layout View button on the Status bar, Excel does not just show the page breaks as measly dotted lines as in earlier versions but as actual separations. In addition, the program shows the margins for each page including headers and footers defined for the report (which you can both define and edit directly in the margin areas while the program is in this view) and as an extra nice touch throws in a pair of horizontal and vertical rulers to accompany the standard column and row headers. Couple this great feature with the Zoom slider (see Number 5 in list) and the Page Break Preview feature and you are going to actually enjoy getting the spreadsheet ready to print.
   
   
5. The Zoom Slider:
   So, how’d we ever get along without the new Zoom slider that is now always there to use on the Excel 2007 Status bar? Instead of having to select a new magnification percentage for the worksheet from a drop-down menu on some obscure Zoom tool (something you can still do with the Zoom button on the View tab, if you really want to), you can zoom in and out on the spreadsheet in the blink of eye (actually faster) simply by dragging the Zoom slider right or left.
   
   
6. Format As Table:
   This brand new feature is a real keeper. By formatting a table of data with one of the many table styles available on the Table Styles drop-down gallery, you are assured that all new entries made to the table are going to be formatted in the same manner as others in similar positions in the table. Better yet, all new entries to the table are automatically considered as part of the table when it comes to formatting, sorting, and filtering. By the way, filtering the table’s data is made real easy by the automatic addition of filter buttons to the top row of column headings.
   
   
7. Charts right from the Insert tab:
   Charts have been a part of Excel since in 1993 but it feels like not until Excel 2007 did they come into their own. Excel 2007 retires the Chart Wizard and in its place offers you direct access to all the major types of charts on the Ribbon’s Insert tab. Simply select the data to be charted, click the command button for the chart type on the Insert tab and then select the style you want for that chart type. And with a little help from the many command buttons and galleries on the Design, Layout, and Format tabs on its Chart Tools contextual tab, you have a really professional-looking chart ready for printing.
   
   
8. Formatting and Editing from the Home tab:
   The Home tab of the new Excel Ribbon (see Number 2 that follows) literally brings home all the commonly-used formatting and editing features. Gone are the days when you have to fish for the right button on some long, drawn-out toolbar or on some partially-deployed pull-down menu. Now all you have to do is find the group that holds the command button you need and click it - what could be easier.
   
   
9. Cell Styles:
   Comparing the six measly and bland cell styles offered in previous versions of Excel to the more than 40 colorful readymade styles offered in Excel 2007, we are here to tell you that in Excel 2007 you finally have cell styles. Moreover, these are styles you can preview in the worksheet with Live Preview (see Number 1 that follows) to see how they look on the data before you apply them and which you apply to the cell selection by quickly and easily clicking its thumbnail in Cells Styles gallery (see Number 3 in the list). Take a gander at Color Plate 12 to see the Cell Styles gallery.
   
   
10. Conditional Formatting:
    We know conditional formatting is technically not a new Excel feature, having existed in many of the previous versions. However, the conditional formatting in Excel 2007 is definitely not your mother’s conditional formatting. For, in addition to giving you the ability to define formatting when the values in cells meet certain conditions, you can now instantly apply one of many different Data Bars, Color Scales, and Icon Sets to the cell selection merely by clicking the set’s thumbnail in their respective pop-up palettes. When you apply a set of Data Bars to a cell range, the length of each bar in the cell represents its value relative to the others. When you apply a set of Color Scales, each shade of color in the cell represents its value relative to the others. And when you apply one of the Icon Sets, each icon in the cell represents its value relative to the others.