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Changes in Office Excel 2007

Updated: May 7, 2009

Applies To: Office Resource Kit

This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14

In this article:

  • What’s new

  • What’s changed

  • What’s removed

This article lists the changes in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 from Microsoft Office 2003.

What’s new

  • New XML file formats

  • New user interface and formatting capabilities

  • Improved usability

  • More rows and columns, and other new limits

  • New OLAP formulas and cube functions

  • New sharing and collaboration features

  • New security features

  • Improved troubleshooting features

New XML file formats

The introduction of a default XML format for Office Excel 2007, part of the new XML file formats, is one of the key innovations for Office Excel 2007. This format is the new default file format for Office Excel 2007. Office Excel 2007 uses the following file name extensions: *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xlsb, *.xltx, *.xltm, and *.xlam. The default file name extension for Office Excel 2007 is *.xlsx.

This change provides improvements in: data interoperability, document assembly, document interrogation, accessing data in documents, robustness, file size, transparency, and security features.

Office Excel 2007 enables users to open and work with workbooks created in earlier versions of Excel. To convert these workbooks to the new XML format, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Convert. You can also convert the workbook by clicking the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save As – Excel Workbook. Note that the Convert functionality removes the previous version of the file, where the Save As functionality leaves the previous version of the file, while creating a separate file for the new version.

If the workbook is referenced by other workbooks, you should upgrade all of the related workbooks at the same time. If a user who is using an earlier version of Excel opens a workbook that references a workbook saved in the new XML format, the references will not update by using the Update Links feature. Earlier versions of Excel cannot update links to workbooks saved in the new XML format.

For more information about new file formats in the 2007 Microsoft Office system, see File format reference for the 2007 Office system. For more information about how to migrate files to new file formats, or for coexisting with different versions of Excel, see Planning for migration to the 2007 Office system and Migrating to the 2007 Office system.

New user interface and formatting capabilities

Improvements to the user interface and formatting capabilities in Office Excel 2007 allow you to:

  • Find frequently used tools and commands faster with the Office Fluent user interface. For more information about the Office Fluent user interface, see Microsoft Office Fluent User Interface Resource Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=111045).

  • Save time by selecting from galleries of predefined styles for cells, tables, charts, and PivotTables.

  • Preview formatting changes in your document before you commit to making a change when you use the formatting galleries.

  • Use conditional formatting to visually annotate your data for both analytical and presentation purposes.

  • Change the appearance of tables and charts throughout your workbook to match your preferred style or color scheme by using new Quick Styles and Document Themes.

  • Create your own Document Theme to consistently apply the fonts and colors that reflect your company’s branding.

  • Use new charting features that include three-dimensional shapes, transparency, drop shadows, and other effects.

Improved usability

  • The following improvements make formula writing much easier in Office Excel 2007:

    • Resizable formula bar: The formula bar automatically resizes to accommodate long, complex formulas, which prevents the formulas from covering other data in a worksheet. You can also write longer formulas that have more levels of nesting than you could in earlier versions of Excel.

    • Formula AutoComplete: You can quickly write the correct formula syntax with Formula AutoComplete.

    • Structured references: In addition to cell references, such as A1 and R1C1, Office Excel 2007 provides structured references that reference named ranges and tables in a formula.

    • Easy access to named ranges: By using the Office Excel 2007 name manager, you can organize, update, and manage multiple named ranges in a central location, which helps anyone who must work on your worksheet interpret its formulas and data.

  • In Office Excel 2007, PivotTables are much easier to use than in earlier versions of Excel. PivotTables are easier to create and there are many other new or improved features to summarize, analyze, and format your PivotTable data.

  • Users can easily make connections to external data without having to know the server or database names of corporate data sources.

  • In addition to the Normal view and Page Break Preview view, Office Excel 2007 provides a Page Layout View for a better printing experience.

  • Improved sorting and filtering that lets you filter data by color or by dates, display more than 1,000 items in the AutoFilter drop-down list, select multiple items to filter, and filter data in PivotTables.

For more information about the usability improvements in Office Excel 2007, see What's new in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=120390).

More rows and columns, and other new limits

Some of the new limits include:

  • Office Excel 2007 has a larger grid size that allows for more than 16,000 columns and 1 million rows per worksheet.

  • The number of cell references per cell increased from 8,000 to being limited by available memory.

  • To improve the performance of Excel, memory management has been increased from 1 GB of memory in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 to 2 GB in Office Excel 2007.

  • Calculations in large, formula-intensive worksheets can be faster than earlier versions of Excel because Office Excel 2007 supports multiple processors and multithreaded chipsets.

For more information about limit changes in Office Excel 2007, see What's new in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=120390) and Excel specifications and limits (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=121915).

New OLAP formulas and cube functions

New cube functions are used to extract OLAP data (sets and values) from Analysis Services and display it in a cell. OLAP formulas can be automatically generated for you when you convert PivotTable formulas to cell formulas or when you use AutoComplete for cube function arguments when you type formulas.

New sharing and collaboration features

New security features

The Trust Center is a new component of the 2007 Office system that hosts the security settings for the programs in the 2007 Office system in one central location. For Office Excel 2007, the Trust Center settings are found in the Excel Options (click Microsoft Office Button, click Excel Options, and then click Trust Center). The Trust Center also provides a trust bar that replaces the former security warnings that displayed when workbooks opened. By default, all potentially dangerous content in a workbook is now blocked without warnings displayed. Security decisions are no longer necessary when a workbook opens. If content is blocked, the trust bar appears in the program window in Office Excel 2007, notifying the user that content is blocked. The user can click the bar to access the option of unblocking the blocked content. For more information about how to configure security in Office 2007 applications, see Overview of security in the 2007 Office system.

Improved troubleshooting features

Microsoft Office Diagnostics in the 2007 Office system provides a series of diagnostic tests that can solve some problems directly and might identify ways that you can solve other problems. For more information about Microsoft Office Diagnostics, see Diagnose and repair crashing Office programs by using Office Diagnostics (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=111593).

What’s changed

  • Analysis ToolPak (ATP): Function results

  • AutoOutline command

  • BIFF8 records

  • Calculation: Multithreaded calculation (MTC)

  • Charting: chart sheets, integration, and programmability

  • Digital signatures

  • Information Rights Management (IRM): Windows Rights Management Client

  • Filtering

  • Functions: Subtotal

  • HTML Round-Trip

  • PivotTable: Autoformat, customizations, GetPivotData, sorting, and versions

  • Query Tables

  • Remove Hidden Data add-in tool

  • Send To Mail Recipient

  • Shared Workbooks

  • Tables: Insert row

  • Templates

  • Trust Center: Data links, macros

  • Versioning

Analysis ToolPak (ATP): Function results

The workbook functions from the Analysis ToolPak (ATP) are incorporated into the core set of functions in Office Excel 2007. The built-in functions in Office Excel 2007 that replace the ATP functions might yield slightly different, but equally correct, results in some cases. These differences are described in the following sections.

Sin/Cos approaching zero
The following functions in Office Excel 2007 now use the internal routines of other built-in functions to calculate trigonometric operations. Therefore, these functions might return slightly different, but equally correct, answers for the following inputs:

  • BESSELI

  • BESSELJ

  • BESSELK

  • BESSELY

  • IMCOS - also affected by the formatting for imaginary numbers change

  • IMEXP - also affected by the formatting for imaginary numbers change

  • IMPOWER- also affected by the formatting for imaginary numbers change

  • IMSIN - also affected by the formatting for imaginary numbers change

  • IMSQRT - also affected by the formatting for imaginary numbers change

Formatting for imaginary numbers
Functions that return imaginary numbers now use the same rules to employ scientific notation as those used in the rest of Office Excel 2007. For example, the formula =IMSUM({"3.23+1.02i";"-1";"-i"}) returns 2.23+0.02i instead of 2.23+2E-002i. This change affects the following functions:

  • IMAGINARY

  • IMARGUMENT

  • IMCONJUGATE

  • IMCOS - also affected by the sin/cos change

  • IMDIV

  • IMEXP - also affected by the sin/cos change

  • IMLN

  • IMLOG2

  • IMLOG10

  • IMPOWER - also affected by the sin/cos change

  • IMPRODUCT

  • IMREAL

  • IMSIN - also affected by the sin/cos change

  • IMSQRT - also affected by the sin/cos change

  • IMSUB

  • IMSUM

Gamma calculation
The ERF and ERFC functions now use the internal calculations for gamma, which might cause a change in the fifteenth decimal place. For example, =ERFC(0.2) returns 0.777297410872743 when it used to return 0.777297410872742.

  • ERF

  • ERFC

Power calculation
Functions that calculate exponents now use internal routines, and might return slightly different results in the last decimal place. For example, the formula =EFFECT(0.055,199) now returns one less decimal place in the result. This change affects the following functions:

  • BIN2DEC

  • BIN2HEX

  • BIN2OCT

  • CUMIPMT

  • CUMPRINC

  • DURATION

  • EFFECT

  • HEX2BIN

  • HEX2DEC

  • HEX2OCT

  • IMPOWER

  • MDURATION

  • NOMINAL

  • OCT2BIN

  • OCT2DEC

  • OCT2HEX

  • ODDFPRICE

  • ODDFYIELD

  • PRICE

  • SERIESSUM

  • TBILLEQ

  • TBILLPRICE

  • TBILLYIELD

  • WEEKNUM

  • XIRR

  • XNPV

  • YIELD

Financial functions
The following functions return a #NUM error when the basis parameter is very large:

  • ACCRINT

  • ACCRINTM

  • AMORDEGRC

  • AMORLINC

  • COUPDAYBS

  • COUPDAYS

  • COUPDAYSNC

  • COUPNCD

  • COUPNUM

  • COUPPCD

  • DISC

  • DURATION

  • INTRATE

  • MDURATION

  • ODDFPRICE

  • ODDFYIELD

  • ODDLPRICE

  • ODDLYIELD

  • PRICE

  • PRICEDISC

  • PRICEMAT

  • RECEIVED

  • YEARFRAC

  • YIELD

  • YIELDDISC

  • YIELDMAT

Other function changes

  • The EDATE function returns a #NUM error when the months parameter is greater than 1e21.

  • The ERF and ERFC functions return 1 and 0, respectively, for parameters above 1. This change fixes the problem of the functions returning a #NUM error for parameters above 27.

  • The MULTINOMIAL function now returns correct results when a number is passed in as text. This change fixes the problem of the function returning incorrect results when a number other than the first number is passed in as text.

AutoOutline command

Because the AutoOutline command was a low-use feature, it has been removed from the user interface. However, it can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar from the Customized tab in Excel Options. The Subtotal command can be used instead.

BIFF8 records

Description: Some features that could be saved in the Excel 97-2003 file format cannot be saved in the new Office Excel 2007 file formats. The mail envelope header (the information in the To, Cc, and Subject lines that appears when the Send To feature is used) is not saved. While the Send To feature continues to work in Office Excel 2007, this information is not saved with the workbook. If you close the workbook, the information is lost.

Macintosh-specific records cannot be saved in the new file format. Macintosh Excel saves a few Macintosh-specific records into the BIFF8 format, but these records are not used by Office Excel 2007, and Office Excel 2007 cannot save them into the new format. A user of Office Excel 2007 will not notice a change.

Calculation: Multithreaded calculation (MTC)

Description: Multithreaded calculation (MTC) makes it possible for Office Excel 2007 to automatically divide formula evaluation and computation tasks into multiple calculation engines that are distributed among multiple processors. This arrangement reduces the time that is required to calculate workbook models, because multiple calculations can be performed simultaneously. By default, MTC is turned on, and it is set to create as many calculation engines as there are processors on the computer. When multiple processors are available, Office Excel 2007 creates a calculation engine for each processor on the computer. Office Excel 2007 distributes the calculation tasks across the available engines to be serviced by the multiple processors.

You can manually specify the number of calculation engines that Office Excel 2007 creates, regardless of how many processors are on the computer. Even if all of your workbooks calculate quickly, you can keep the default MTC settings without adversely affecting those workbooks. You can also keep the default MTC settings if you only have a single processor on your computer, although in this case MTC is not used.

Migration path: Most users will not encounter issues in this area. In some cases, they might see that their workbooks calculate faster. In the case where a workbook opens on a computer that has a different number of processors than the computer on which it was saved, additional calculation time is incurred while Office Excel 2007 ensures that each formula is distributed across the appropriate number of calculation engines.

This issue is almost unnoticeable with workbook models of small or medium complexity. This issue is more noticeable with large workbook models that require longer times to calculate. It is best to use these intensive calculation workbooks on computers that have the same number of processors. For example, if you have a four-processor computer dedicated to servicing a calculation-intensive workbook, a four-processor computer should be the primary computer for working with that workbook.

Charting: chart sheets, integration, and programmability

Description: Charting has the following changes:

  • Chart sheets: When a user presses F11 when a chart is active, a new blank chart appears. In earlier versions, this same action sometimes inserted a chart with the same data as the first chart.

  • Integration: If a file saved in HTML format in an earlier version of Excel is opened in Office Excel 2007, the chart might not look the same as it did in an earlier version. You can adjust the layout of the chart in Office Excel 2007 or open the file in an earlier version of Excel, and save the file as a binary file.

  • Programmability:

    • Excel 4 macros (XLM) that showed chart dialog boxes are no longer supported. XLM macros will still work in Office Excel 2007. However, we recommend that XLM macros are rewritten in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

    • Setting properties that make references (such as Series.Name or Series.Values) to invalid references will be treated as an invalid reference, rather than causing a run-time error.

    • The Creator property now causes a runtime error. This Macintosh-only method is not supported on Windows. Use the xlCreatorCode constant instead.

For information about all the chart feature changes, see Changes in Charting.

Digital signatures

Description: The digital signature feature has the following changes:

  • The signature format in the 2007 Office system is XMLDSig.

  • The digital signature entry point is moved from Tools, Options, Security, Digital Signatures to the Microsoft Office Button, Prepare, Add a Digital Signature and, for signed workbooks, to the Signature task pane.

  • Invalid signatures are no longer automatically removed.

  • The object model is extended to support the new model and to support existing solutions.

  • Third parties can create their own signing providers.

  • Users can access the previous functionality through a more visible and intuitive route.

Reason for change: The digital signatures feature in the 2007 Office system is more visible and intuitive. Users can view when signature verification is performed, and who has signed the document. Third parties can create custom signing solutions.

Information Rights Management (IRM): Windows Rights Management Client

Description: The 2007 Office system no longer supports Windows Rights Management Client v. 1.0. The 2007 Office system requires Windows Rights Management Client SP2. Users who have the previous Windows Rights Management client installed are prompted to install the new client version. Users do not notice a change with the new client version.

Reason for change: Security fixes in the 2007 Office system are incompatible with the previous Windows Rights Management Client.

Migration path: Users with the previous client version are prompted to upgrade to the new version, which is available as a download from the Microsoft Download Center as Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services Client with Service Pack 2 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=111868). For more information about IRM, see Configure Information Rights Management.

Filtering

Description: In Office Excel 2003, macros checked the AutoFilterMode property if the selection was in a list (table) to determine whether Autofilters was turned on in that list. In Office Excel 2007, the AutoFilterMode property works in connection with worksheet AutoFilters, and does not work in connection with AutoFilters that are part of a table. Office Excel 2007 gives each table its own AutoFilter object, which in turn uses tables to enable multiple AutoFilters in each worksheet.

Migration path: Code in an Office Excel 2003 workbook that has macros that check the AutoFilterMode property in a list might not work correctly. This issue does not affect a document or macro that was created in a version earlier than Office Excel 2003. Instead of checking the AutoFilterMode property, the macro should be changed to check the table’s AutoFilter object.

Functions: Subtotal

Description: The location of subtotals and grand totals when the Subtotal feature is invoked is updated to address issues of user expectations and backward compatibility. Users who use the Subtotal feature might find that the location of their subtotals is different than it was in versions earlier than Excel 2000, but otherwise the feature works as expected. Calculations are correct, and the correct subtotals and grand totals are created. Only the location has changed.

HTML Round-Trip

Description: The Save As HTML feature is used to create HTML files viewed in a Web browser that does not require Office Excel 2007 to view the file. When a user updates the contents of the file, he or she most likely opens the .xls file, edits the file, and resaves it as HTML. Most users do not open those HTML files for further editing in Office Excel 2007. Office Excel 2007 no longer stores Excel-only feature information in HTML file formats. Office Excel 2007 continues to use the Save As HTML feature to publish workbooks viewed in a Web browser.

In earlier versions of Excel, the Save As HTML feature saved HTML tags to view in the browser. It also saved a set of Excel-specific tags that were not viewed in the browser in the HTML file. Although the Web browser does not use these Excel-specific tags, the Excel program uses the tags when it opens the HTML file to preserve the features that were used when the file was saved. Office Excel 2007 no longer saves these Excel-specific feature tags in HTML files, and therefore these tags do not exist in the HTML file.

The overall result is that HTML files cannot be used by Office Excel 2007 to preserve feature information. Instead, HTML files are used by Office Excel 2007 to publish static HTML views of a workbook. For example, if a workbook contains PivotTables, formulas, and charts, and the workbook is saved as HTML, the following actions occur:

  • A view of the PivotTable is saved in the HTML file, but the PivotTable is not saved.

  • Calculated results of the formulas and cell formatting are saved in the HTML file, but the formulas are not saved.

  • A picture of the chart is saved in the HTML file, but the chart feature is not saved.

If the HTML file is opened by using any version of Excel, you see:

  • Cells that look similar to a PivotTable, but the PivotTable is no longer active.

  • Numbers in cells, but no formulas.

  • A picture of a chart, but no ability to work with the picture as a chart feature.

Office Excel 2007 can still open HTML files, and can still open Excel-specific features that are contained in HTML files. However, to make and save changes to the file while preserving all of the features in that file, you must save the file in a format that supports Excel features. The best format for this is the new XML file format.

Reason for change: Most users use Save As HTML to publish HTML for a browser to render, not to open the file again in Excel.

Migration path: Office Excel 2007 workbooks can be published as HTML. You should use the workbook (.xls, .xlsx) as your main copy. Always open the main copy, make changes, save the main copy, and save as HTML. There are no Excel-specific features saved into the HTML file. HTML workbooks can open HTML workbooks. However, to ensure all the Excel features in the file work correctly, you should use the new XML format (.xlsx) to save a copy of the workbook and use that copy as your main copy. This change will not force most users to change the way they work. Instead, this change reflects the way most users use the Save As HTML feature.

PivotTable: Autoformat, customizations, GetPivotData, sorting, and versions

Description: The PivotTable feature has the following changes:

  • Autoformat: PivotTable Styles replaces the functionality for AutoFormat. The AutoFormat option has been removed from the user interface, but can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar from the Customized tab in Excel Options. PivotTable Styles is an improvement over AutoFormat because it lets users create their own styles and does not change the PivotTable layout. PivotTable Styles is consistent with the Table Styles feature in Microsoft Office Word 2007 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007.

  • Customizations: Office Excel 2007 OLAP PivotTables track customizations of items, even when those items are temporarily not visible in the PivotTable. This is true for item formatting and item label customization. In Office Excel 2003, custom labels and formatting that were applied to an item were lost when the parent field was collapsed. Expanding the parent level again brought back the data source label, not the customized label, and the custom formatting was lost. In Office Excel 2007, the custom formatting information is retained, and is reapplied after each collapse/expand operation. Customized labels are stored even when the field is removed from the PivotTable, and are reapplied if the field is re-added to the PivotTable later.

  • GetPivotData: The default reference in Office Excel 2007 is the new structured reference, instead of GetPivotData in Office Excel 2003. The user can return this to GetPivotData in an options dialog box.

  • Sorting: In Office Excel 2007, PivotTables support AutoSort scoped to a specific row or column of values. In Office Excel 2003, AutoSort could only be applied based on the values in the grand total row or column. The new sorting options are available for any PivotTable version in Office Excel 2007.

  • Versions: PivotTables in Office Excel 2007 cannot be made interactive in earlier versions of Excel, and Office Excel 2007 does not downgrade the PivotTable version when earlier-version file formats are saved. Earlier-version PivotTables do not support the following new features: label filtering; value filtering (except for top 10 filters, which are supported); hiding intermediate hierarchy levels in OLAP data sources; and manual exclusive filtering. If it is necessary to author the same PivotTable collaboratively in both Office Excel 2007 and earlier versions of Excel, users should not save the workbook in an Office Excel 2007 file format. For more information, see Working with different PivotTable formats in Office Excel (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=121919).

Query Tables

Description: Query Tables are now merged with the List feature, which is now called Tables.

Reason for change: This change improves functionality and provides a more consistent user experience.

Remove Hidden Data add-in tool

Description: The Document Inspector replaces the Remove Hidden Data add-in tool for Office 2003. The entry point and user interface are different. The new user interface enables multiple inspectors to run, which gives the user more precise control of the workbook-cleaning process. For more information about the Document Inspector feature, see Remove hidden data and personal information from Office documents (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=110482).

Reason for change: The Document Inspector provides Remove Hidden Data add-in functionality in the 2007 Office system and is more discoverable. Users do not have to download the Remove Hidden Data add-in tool separately.

Migration path: Install the 2007 Office system.

Send To Mail Recipient

Description: The Send To Mail Recipient options have the following changes:

  • Send To Mail Recipient (as Attachment): This menu option lets users send the Excel worksheet as an attachment. To select this option, click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Send, and then click E-mail.

  • Send To Mail Recipient: In Office Excel 2003, this menu option lets users send the contents of the Excel worksheet in the body of an e-mail message. This option has been removed from the user interface, but can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar from the Customized tab in Excel Options.

  • Send To Mail Recipient (for Review): This menu option lets users send the Excel workbook as an attachment to a reviewer. This option has been removed from the user interface, but can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar from the Customized tab in Excel Options. The object-model entry points also remain.

Reason for change: The Send To Mail Recipient (for Review) feature is superseded by the group collaboration features in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The collaboration features in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provide a more robust workflow. Users can continue to use the object model for Send for Review, and add the option to the Quick Access Toolbar, but they should consider migrating to the SharePoint document life cycle workflow offering. The Send for Review feature uses client-only programs. Users can write an add-in to use this feature's object model while they migrate to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 environment. Alternatively, users can send the document to reviewers in an e-mail message. Reviewers can comment on the document by using the Comments feature located on the Review tab. For more information about the Comments feature, see Insert or delete a comment (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=118656).

Shared Workbooks

Description: Shared Workbooks, a feature since Excel 95, enable multiple users to work on the same copy of a workbook. The shared workbook manages all changes so that the copies can eventually be merged. In Office Excel 2003, this feature is only supported in the BIFF8 file (XLS) format. However, not all Excel features are supported in Shared Workbooks. Office Excel 2007 supports Shared Workbooks in the BIFF12 (XLSB) format and the XML12 (XLSX) format.

Migration path: If users will be editing a shared workbook in Office Excel 2007 and a previous version of Excel, keep the workbook in the Biff8 file (XLS) format. Changing the file format to the new BIFF12 (XLSB) or XML12 (XLSX) formats will discard the revision history.

Tables: Insert row

Description: The List feature in Office Excel 2003 had a special row at the bottom to add new records to the list. This special row is removed in Office Excel 2007. Instead, you can add data to a table by using the ENTER and TAB keys when the active selection is in the last data row of the table. You can also drag the resize handle at the bottom-right corner of the table to add more rows. Developers who have written code by using the ListObject object in Office Excel 2003 might need to make adjustments if that code uses ListObject.InsertRowRange.

Templates

Description: The available set of templates in Office Excel 2007 has changed.

Reason for change: The new templates use new features available in Office Excel 2007, and they provide a more modern look for users.

Migration path: The templates in earlier versions of Excel are still available as downloads from Office Online.

Description: The Trust Center feature has the following changes:

  • Data links: When opening a workbook in Office Excel 2007, all connections are disabled by default, and there are no modal prompts for Refresh on open and Periodic refresh. Instead, Office Excel 2007 displays the trust bar. Clicking the trust bar displays the enable/disable options for the connections in that workbook. This change primarily addresses a user education issue that relates to the trust bar. Placing a workbook in a trusted location enables the workbook to automatically refresh without prompts.

  • Macros: Office Excel 2007 no longer saves VBA code that includes nothing but comments and declaration statements. Excel VBA code that is attached to a workbook and that contains nothing but comments and declaration statements is neither loaded nor saved with the file. Very few workbooks are affected by this change. Users can work around this issue by adding a subroutine or function to the Excel VBA code.

Versioning

Description: The stand-alone versioning feature has been removed in Office Excel 2007. A more robust versioning feature that stores the information for each version separately is provided with document libraries on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 sites.

Reason for change: The versioning feature in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document libraries provides a more robust workflow than what is available with Office Excel 2003.

Migration path: Install the 2007 Office system and migrate to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 environment. Organizations that used the versioning feature can use the Version Extraction Tool (VET) in the Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM) to extract versions of a document into multiple files. For more information, see Migrate Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to the 2007 Office system.

What’s removed

  • Charting: Printed Chart Size, Chart Window, charts on dialog sheets, change chart type for multiple charts, and support for XLM constants

  • Data Retrieval Services

  • Microsoft Script Editor (MSE)

  • Natural Language Formulas (NLFs)

  • Send to Routing Recipient

  • Speech recognition

Charting: Printed Chart Size, Chart Window, charts on dialog sheets, change chart type for multiple charts, and support for XLM constants

The following Charting features have been removed:

  • Printed Chart Size: The Printed Chart Size option has been removed from the Chart tab in the Page Setup dialog box. The PageSetup.ChartSize property is hidden and has no functionality. The new behavior matches the Custom setting in Office Excel 2003. Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and it was not possible to reimplement this command for charts. Macros that use the PageSetup.ChartSize property can resize the chart.

  • Chart Window: The Chart Window command has been removed from the View menu. The Chart.ShowWindow property is hidden, and has no functionality. Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and it was not possible to reimplement this command for charts. Macros that use the Chart.ShowWindow property can show another window on the sheet and scroll within that window to show only the chart.

  • Change chart type for multiple charts: In Office 2003, you can select multiple charts and change the chart type for all of the selected charts simultaneously. This behavior is not available in the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and it was not possible to reimplement this command for charts. You can change the chart type for each chart individually. Alternatively, save one chart as a template, and apply the template to the other charts.

  • Charts on dialog sheets: Charts are not allowed on dialog sheets. It was not possible to implement this feature for the 2007 Office system.

  • Support for Excel 4 macro (XLM) constants: Macros that were converted from XLM might have retained the XLM constants for certain parameters. These constants are no longer supported, and the documented constants should be the only constants used. Change VBA calls that use numeric values for enumerations to those that use appropriately named constants.

For information about all the chart feature changes, see Changes in Charting.

Data Retrieval Services

Description: Data Retrieval Services (DRS) has been removed in the 2007 Office system. There are two parts of DRS. The first part consists of features in earlier versions of Excel, FrontPage, and Office Web Components (OWC) that allow you to create connections to DRS sources. These features include a user interface for creating the connections and the ability to execute the connections (retrieve data). The second half consists of server-side adapters that retrieve data from a specific data source, such as a Microsoft SQL Server database, and return that data to Excel (for example) by using the DRS protocol. The DRS features in earlier versions of Excel, FrontPage, and OWC cannot connect to a data source unless there is a DRS adapter available.

Office 2003 shipped the following DRS adapters. DRS adapters function only when they are installed on a server running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Office SharePoint Server 2007.

  • WSS adapter—exposes Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 data by using the DRS protocol. Shipped with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

  • OLEDB adapter—exposes data from OLEDB sources by using the DRS protocol. Shipped with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

  • SQL adapter—exposes data from a SQL Server database by using the DRS protocol.

  • Web Parts and Components add-on pack (Ststpkpl.msi). Shipped as part of the Office 2003 add-in.

  • Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) adapter—exposes data from Great Plains and Solomon by using the DRS protocol.

Reason for change: DRS is addressed in other products.

Migration path: For the general DRS entry point, SQL Server and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 data is available through other ways that also existed in Office Excel 2003.

Microsoft Script Editor (MSE)

Description: Previous versions of Excel allowed you to publish files to HTML with interactivity by using the Microsoft Office Web Components. We have removed support for saving HTML files with interactivity by using the Office Web Components. This means that the integration with Microsoft Script Editor has been removed from Office Excel 2007.

Reason for change: Integration with Microsoft Script Editor is removed from Office Excel 2007 because HTML will not be supported as a full-fidelity file format. This means that script debugging components are no longer installed by default in Office Excel 2007. This was a low-use feature and the removal increases security.

Migration path: When you need to create interactive spreadsheets for display in a Web browser, we recommend that you use Excel Services. If you save a file in a file format for a previous version, Office Excel 2007 will preserve the script elements. If you save a file in an Office Excel 2007 file format, the information Script objects (Worksheet.Scripts) is saved along with other properties. However, when you open that file, the script will not load.

Natural Language Formulas (NLFs)

Description: The Natural Language Formulas (NLFs) feature allowed users to use the labels of columns and rows on a worksheet to refer to the cells within those columns without explicitly defining them as names. This little-used feature was turned off by default beginning with Excel 2000, and is removed from Office Excel 2007.

Reason for change: This was a low-use feature.

Migration path: When a workbook that contains NLFs is opened in Office Excel 2007 (or upgraded to the Office Excel 2007 file format), the user is alerted by the program that NLFs are not supported, and that the NLFs will be converted to static cell references if the user continues the operation. If the user chooses to continue, NLFs in the workbook are converted to static cell references. Code that uses NLFs through the object model is not changed and must be updated by the user. Workbook solutions that have cell references based on NLFs (range labels) are broken by this change. All object model code that uses NLFs must be updated by either the user or the developer.

Send to Routing Recipient

Description: This low usage option was removed from Office Excel 2007.

Migration path: The Send To Routing Recipient feature is superseded by the group collaboration features in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The collaboration features in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provide a more robust workflow.

Speech recognition

Description: The entry points for the speech recognition features have been removed from the user interface in Microsoft Office Access 2007, Office Excel 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, and Office Word 2007.

Migration path: Windows Vista provides speech recognition features that can be enabled from Control Panel | Control Panel Home | Ease of Access | Speech Recognition Options. To download and install speech recognition on the Windows XP operating system, see Microsoft Speech SDK 5.1 (SpeechSDK51.exe) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=130386).

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