The smartest thing Excel does happens in places you can't see.

Functions like FILTER, SORTBY, UNIQUE, XLOOKUP, and VSTACK transform static grids into real-time data systems.

Have you ever found yourself buried under a mountain of Excel spreadsheets, painstakingly updating formulas every time new data comes in? It’s a common struggle, one that can turn even the most ...

Navigating the world of Excel can sometimes feel like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. If you’ve ever found yourself wrestling with the XLOOKUP function, only to be met with a chaotic ...

Microsoft Excel’s dynamic array function XLOOKUP() might completely replace VLOOKUP() and HLOOKUP(). Microsoft Excel’s lookup functions are powerful but often misunderstood because they have a few ...

Q. I get a detailed revenue transaction export from the client, and then I get it again, revised, usually after I’ve already filtered, sorted, and documented my selections. I’m tired of reapplying ...

In addition to the new SORT function, you may also find the new FILTER and UNIQUE array functions useful. For example, the worksheet on the next page contains a detailed listing of invoices in columns ...

Microsoft Excel’s new FILTER() function is a great tool for reporting and dashboards. We’ll show you how to use it to get more done. Filtering is a huge part of many Microsoft Excel sheets, and ...

is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Microsoft Excel used to only allow two types of data: text and numbers.