Excel gets 4 new functions
Excel’s calculation engine just got upgraded. And it’s the biggest change since dynamic arrays came about at the back end of the last decade.
Formulas can now respond to the active cell, something that previously required VBA.
As a result, these four functions have landed:
- ACTIVECELL: returns the cell reference of the active cell.
- ACTIVEROW: returns the row number of the active cell.
- ACTIVECOL: returns the column number of the active cell.
- ACTIVECELLVALUE: returns the value of the active cell.
This opens up new possibilities for how you design dashboards and models, with formulas now able to respond to user interaction.
How about a:
- list of employees you can cycle through, whilst displaying more details about the active one
- soccer matrix that shows you the match stats of your chosen game
- theatre seating plan that allows you to see the available and reserved seats
It’s all possible now!
However, just to put a slight dampener on things, the ACTIVE function set is only available to Microsoft 365 Insiders on the Beta Channel.
If you don’t have them yet, keep checking!
