Excel - Ideas feature!

Question

I have just seen the Ideas feature in Excel, which looks like it could be very useful.  In some of the supporting Microsoft tutorials you show a question box in the ideas bar or preview bar, again that would be useful.  I cannot see the the question box?  How can I see the question box?  Thank you!

Answer 1

OK, I have the same issue.  John, the answers provided thus far are stock answers and do not address the problem.

Hi Bob,

Yes I agree, all the answers I have recieved do not address the problem or give advise on how to proceed.  One thread I followed on another site mentioned that my software release may need an update, but no one can confirm this either.  It always astounds me when an organisation the size of Microsoft releases a great product upgrade that so many people like us seem to fall through the gap of "Where is it and How do I find it!"

I hope some smart person can enlighten us soon!

Thanks for your reply

John

Answer 2

Hi John,

Idea for Excel is available to Office 365 subscriber in English, French, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.

You mentioned that you can’t see this feature in toolbar, I would like to confirm that which Office products are you using? Are you using Office 365 subscription or One-Time purchase? You can check the information in Excel-> File-> Account->Products Information.

If you are an Office 365 subscriber, you can follow the steps to use the latest version of Office. Go to Excel-> File-> Account-> Update Options-> Update Now.

If the version is already up-to-date, we suggest you go to Excel-> File-> Options-> Customize Ribbon to check if you can add Idea into Main Tabs list. Moreover, can you check whether your colleagues can see this Feature in their Excel?

@Bob, you can also check my suggestion. If it can’t work, please feel free to contact us and share with your issue information.

Best Regards,

Ivy

Hi Ivy,

I think perhaps I am not explaining myself clearly enough?

When I open Excel, Ideas appears in the toolbar!

Ideals also shows examples of graphs etc in the right hand column.

What does not appear is the "Ask a Question" dialogue entry box at the top of the right hand column just below the words IDEAS (Preview)!

This is what is missing, a very useful part of Ideas, how can I make this appear?

My question is the same as many others are asking too!

I look forward to your reply!

John

Answer 3

Dear John, 

Sorry for taking long time to confirm the issue you are facing.

I tested in my end with different versions of Excel(the latest version), I can see this “Ask a question about your data” dialogue entry box in the Monthly Targeted Channel( version 2003 Build 12624.20442). “**Ask a question about your data”**dialogue entry box missed in Monthly Channel, Semi-Annual Channel and Semi-Annual Targeted Channel. (The data I entered in workbook are the same in different versions of Excel. And all of them are in the latest version.) 

 

Therefore, it should be a bug in the current Office production versions. However, the good news is that it will be fixed in future released version. For your reference: Update history for Office 365 ProPlus

Currently, there are 2 options you can choose:

1. Wait for the future release.

Join the insider version if you would like. However, please notice that the insider version is best for Insiders who want to use the very earliest builds to identify issues and provide feedback about new features still in development. Insider is ideal for those who don't mind the bit of risk involved in using unsupported builds. To join the insider version, you can go to: Become an Office Insider page.

Meantime, you can sincerely submit feedback in Excel for reporting this issue to related team. Your feedback will be sent to them directly, it’s the most efficient way to feedback this issue. Here is the article for you: How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?

Your understanding is highly appreciated. If you still have any concern, welcome to post back to let me know.

Best Regards,

Ivy

Answer 4

Hi Bob, 

You can refer to the suggestion I provided for John, you are welcome to contact us anytime if you need further assistance.   

Thanks for your understanding. Have a nice day! 

Best Regards,

Ivy

Answer 5

Thanks for sending your feedback. We are working on making the Natural Language Queries feature in Excel Ideas available to all O365 subscribers in English in Desktop, Mac and Excel Online. As has been suggested in the thread, if you'd like to try out the feature right away, we'd encourage you to join the Insiders program (you can find instructions here). 

We'd appreciate hearing back from you once you try it out. 

Mar