What's New in Microsoft 365 in 2026

Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based version of Excel, which means new features appear on an ongoing basis. In this presentation, author and Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA brings you up to speed on the latest improvements in Excel for Microsoft 365. David will explain how Microsoft 365 users are subdivided into channels, which means certain users may not see some new features until months after others do. The topics below show a typical assortment of what will be covered — David always updates the presentation right before presenting the material so that you can be up to date on the latest changes and improvements in Excel for Microsoft 365.

David H. Ringstrom, CPA, has more than 30 years of experience as a spreadsheet and accounting software consultant and speaker. He has presented over 2,500 live webinars and is the author or co-author of ten books, including “Microsoft 365 Excel All-in-One for Dummies”, “Microsoft 365 Excel for Dummies”, “Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures”, and “QuickBooks Online for Dummies”.

In his webinars, David encourages questions throughout the presentation and demonstrates every technique twice: first on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps and then live in Excel for Microsoft 365 for Windows. He highlights any differences in Excel 2024, 2021, or 2019 during the session and in his detailed handouts. Attendees also receive an Excel workbook containing most of the examples he uses, making it easy to follow along and apply the techniques later. David additionally supports Excel for Mac users by answering their follow-up questions via email.

Who Should Attend
Professionals seeking to stay up to date on new features and functions in Excel for Microsoft 365.

Topics Covered

• Automating data analysis with the COPILOT worksheet function
• Formalizing a LAMBDA function by assigning a name
• Extracting text before or after a delimiter with the TEXTBEFORE and TEXTAFTER functions
• Installing the free Excel Labs Add-In which enables access to the Advanced Formula Environment
• Avoiding lookup failures caused by sneaky spaces and subtle typos
• Transform an array of data into a single row or column with the TOROW and TOCOL functions.
• Exploring the requirements and constraints of Microsoft Copilot in Excel
• Exploring how Python is implemented in Excel for Microsoft 365
• Exploring the risks and benefits of participating in the Beta Channel program in Excel for Microsoft 365
• Expand an array to a specified set of rows and columns with the EXPAND function while filling blank cells with a default value of your choice
• Linking charts to dynamic array results to create self-updating charts without using programming code
• Transforming single rows or columns into 2D arrays with WRAPROWS and WRAPCOLS
• Create your own custom worksheet functions without writing any code in Microsoft 365

Learning Objectives

• Identify the section on Excel's Home menu where the Microsoft Insider command appears, if available
• Recognize the necessity and appropriateness of using cloud storage services, specifically OneDrive or SharePoint Online, for storing workbooks to be used with Microsoft Copilot Pro
• Define how the GROUPBY function aggregates data based on a grouping column and an aggregation function

Level
Intermediate

Instructional Method
Group: Internet-based

NASBA Field of Study
Computer Software & Applications (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Prior working knowledge of Microsoft Excel is recommended.

Advance Preparation
None