The History and Progression of Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that can be used for storing, organising and manipulating data.
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Microsoft first launched Excel for Mac in 1985. Excel, however, was not the first spreadsheet program created by Microsoft. In 1982, Microsoft had released an application known as Multiplan, however Multiplan did not last long before being replaced by Excel as Multiplan lost popularity against Lotus 1-2-3.
In 1987, Microsoft continued to move forward with Excel as they released Excel version “2” for Windows to keep up with the corresponding Mac version. The forward movement continued when in 1990 Microsoft added toolbars, 3D charts, drawing capabilities, add-in support and outlining, among other features, to Excel.
The excitement continued as Microsoft continued to bring out new versions every year or two until 2003, after which four years passed before Microsoft brought out version 12, known as Excel 2007. It is largely accepted that this version boasts the biggest step forward in ten years.
The most noticeable change to Excel in version 12 is the look and operation of it, as the toolbars have been replaced with a single toolbar and a dashboard known as the "Ribbon".
Other new features in Excel 2007 include a more robust SmartArt feature and a new "Page-Layout View" which is like the old Print Preview feature, except you can work with the document whilst in Page-Layout View, it boasts rulers and full editing capability, it's a lot of fun.
Excel 2007 also boasts improved tables, PivotTables, PivotCharts, database connectivity and security features, amongst other things.
However, not to be overlooked are the features that have been retired in Excel 2007, such as the Office Assistant.
The Office Assistant feature was not as popular as Microsoft had hoped and some will be glad it's gone, some will be sad, some will be indifferent - but it's gone nonetheless (In my opinion, the dog was very cute).
Also, certain formats are no longer available in the Files Of Type list, such as: WK1, WK4, WJ3, WKS, WK3, WK1 FMT, WJ3 FJ3, WK3 FM3, WK1 ALL, WJ2, WQ1, WJ1, WKS, DBF 2, and Microsoft Excel Chart (.XLC).
Back to the general history of Excel, here is a breakdown of the versions of Excel through the years.
| Date | Details |
| 1982 | Excel’s predecessor was released, known as “Multiplan”. |
| 1985 | Excel version 1 - The first version of Excel was released to replace Multiplan. |
| 1987 | Excel version 2 - The first Windows compatible version of Excel. This was labeled "2" to correspond to the Mac equivalent. |
| 1990 | Excel version 3 - Microsoft now added features to Excel such as toolbars, drawing capabilities, outlining, add-in support and 3D charts with the new release. |
| 1992 | Excel version 4 - This version was the first to become largely popular |
| 1993 | Excel version 5 – With this version came a major upgrade which included multi-sheet workbooks and support for VBA. |
| 1995 | Excel version 7 - also known as Excel 95. The first major 32-bit version of Excel. |
| 1997 | Version 8 - known as Excel 97. This upgrade included a new interface for VBA developers, data validation, and UserForms. |
| 1999 | Version 9 - known as Excel 2000. With this version came the ability to use HTML as a native file format, "self-repair" capability, enhanced clipboard, pivot charts and modeless user forms. |
| 2001 | Version 10 - known as Excel 2002. This version boasted a long list of new features. Perhaps the most significant feature was the ability to recover your work when Excel crashed. |
| 2003 | Version 11 - known as Excel 2003, the new features in this version consisted of improved support for XML, a new "list range" feature, Smart Tag enhancements, and corrected statistical functions. |
| 2007 | Version 12 - known as Excel 2007. This version is believed to be the biggest step forward in ten years. |
Today Microsoft Excel continues to expand and move forward with more updates in the pipeline.
To keep up with the ever changing world of Excel, we provide Excel training courses levels 1-3, and since we know that there are such a lot of changes in Excel 2007, we have designed a whole new set of Excel courses which enable you to stay fully up to date.
Here is a useful link to more information on Excel and Excel 2007 courses.
