STOCK DATA TYPE FUNCTIONALITY UPGRADES

Question

Excel would be so much more useful for personal finance applications if it:

1. Provided quotes that would refresh more frequently than once every 5 minutes
2. The attributes of a Stock data be expanded to populate fields such as ROI
3. Provide DASHBOARD templates that could be uses to reviews ones portfolio allocations, ROI, etc.
4. FIX the STOCKHISTORY functuion as its has stopped working on MS 365 INSIDER version here in Canada

Answer 1

Dear @DSPAL,

I truly appreciate you sharing this update and the useful clarification.

Your observation about regional date formats explains the issue well, and using the DATE() function is the correct and recommended approach. This ensures the STOCKHISTORY formula works consistently regardless of country or regional settings, and it will definitely help other users who may run into the same problem.

Therefore, I would make a brief summary of this post so that other forum members could easily find useful information here:  

Issue description

Customer reported that the STOCKHISTORY function was not working correctly in Microsoft 365 (Insider) when specifying the start_date parameter, with different behavior observed between the US and Canada.

Current Solution (Provided by @DSPAL)

The start_date was provided as a text string (for example "1/1/2025"), which is interpreted based on regional/local date settings. This caused the formula to fail or behave inconsistently across locales.

• In the USA, Start_date is : "1/1/2025"
• In Canada, start date must be: "2025/1/1"

A better way to write the formula so it works correctly anywhere is: =STOCKHISTORY("IBM",DATE(2025,1,1),TODAY(),1,2)

Thank you for sharing such thoughtful feedback.

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Answer 2

Dear @DSPAL,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I completely agree with you that enhancements to the Stock data type would make Excel far more valuable for personal finance and investment analysis. More frequent quote refreshes, richer built‑in attributes such as ROI, and ready‑to‑use dashboard templates for reviewing portfolio allocation and returns are all very important and well‑justified requests.

The best way to ensure these ideas are reviewed by the Excel product team is to submit them directly through Excel > Help > Feedback > Make a suggestion. Feedback submitted there is actively tracked and plays a key role in shaping future feature improvements.

Moreover, to ensure your feedback reaches the right teams, I highly recommend submitting your feedback directly to Microsoft Ideas · Community, where our product development team can know your requirements and ideas for product improvements. If enough users raise ticket for the same idea, Microsoft may consider adding this feature in the future. 

Note: As Microsoft Community moderators, please note that we are not involved in product design decisions and do not have direct access to the development roadmap, we want to assure you that your feedback has been acknowledged and is valued.  

Regarding the STOCKHISTORY function no longer working in Microsoft 365 Insider in Canada, I’d like to gather a bit more information to better understand the scope of the issue. Could you please let me know:

Which Excel version, build number, and Insider channel you’re currently using?

Are other users or accounts in your organization experiencing the same STOCKHISTORY issue, or is it happening only with your account?

Does the issue also occur in newly created workbooks, or only in existing ones?

Since Insider builds include experimental changes, temporary regressions can occur before fixes are released. If the issue happens to other users, therefore, I recommend you report this via Excel > Help > Feedback > Report a problem. Moreover, I also recommend reaching out to your IT administrator. They can help validate whether this is affecting multiple users and, if needed, report the issue through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, which helps ensure its reviewed from a tenant‑level support perspective.

Thank you for sharing such thoughtful feedback. Your use case highlights real opportunities to make Excel an even stronger tool for personal finance, and input like this is exactly what helps drive future improvements.

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Answer 3

Excel currently allows users to access stock data through the Stocks data type, which can be easily converted from text in a cell. However, the frequency of data updates is limited to every 5 minutes, which may not meet the needs of users looking for more real-time data for personal finance applications.

As for expanding the attributes of the Stocks data type, currently, it includes basic information such as last price, bid, and ask. There is no mention in the provided context about plans to add more complex attributes like ROI directly within the Stocks data type.

Regarding dashboard templates for reviewing portfolio allocations and ROI, the context does not specify any existing templates or features for this purpose in Excel. Users may need to create custom dashboards using available Excel features.

Lastly, there is an acknowledgment that issues with the STOCKHISTORY function have been reported, particularly in the MS 365 Insider version, but no specific fixes or updates are mentioned in the context provided. Users experiencing issues may need to check for updates or report the problem through official Microsoft channels.

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References:

• Advanced data types: Stocks and Geography
• Excel performance: Performance and limit improvements
• Microsoft Excel experiences
• Microsoft Excel experiences
• Microsoft Excel experiences