Your Excel spreadsheets are about to get a lot richer

(Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

You'll soon be able to include images as well as other data types in your PivotTables in Microsoft Excel.
PivotTables are text-based, but Microsoft is providing users with a new way of presenting their data.
The feature is currently rolling out to Office Insiders on Windows and Mac.

Microsoft is currently testing a new feature with Office Insiders that lets them incorporate images as well as data types like Stocks and Geography into PivotTables while using Excel. The new feature is designed to provide users with a richer and more aesthetically pleasing look.

Images and data types in Excel PivotTables — (Image credit: Microsoft)

As you might already know, the PivotTable features in Microsoft Excel are used to create dashboards, reports, and summaries. And for the longest time, the feature has been text-based, thus limiting how users can present their data.

However, Microsoft Excel's feature is designed to enhance this experience further for users by providing them with multiple new ways through which they can present their data.

While data types and in-cell images are a powerful part of modern Excel, PivotTables have only been able to use a text description of these modern content types. Now, the images and data types come intact to your PivotTable rows and columns. They also include the same interactions you have in your source data (image cards, data type icons, data type cards, and so on).
Microsoft

The feature is currently rolling out to Office Insiders both on Windows and Mac, running version 2307 (Build 16609.20000) or version 16.74 (Build 23060401), respectively. As usual, you might not be able to access this feature immediately. This is because they roll out gradually to users in phases.

In related news, Microsoft recently faced an outage that affected its Microsoft 365 service, affecting users based in Western Europe. The company narrowed down the issue to a faulty data center in Germany, but the issue has since been resolved.

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Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.

1 Comment Comment from the forums

GraniteStateColin

That is good and will help with presentation on some data types. Funny to see this article today though, as our team just re-posted feedback to MS on Excel earlier this morning. There are two big complaints we have with Excel (as people who use it nearly every day, and must acknowledge that it has no equal in terms of functional power -- Google Sheets is not even close to being a substitute, like comparing a rusty unicycle missing its seat to a jet):

1. No Dark Mode for the document/worksheet window (Word, Outlook, and Teams all perfectly support Dark Mode for their document windows)

2. No per-workbook undo. It is just mind-bogglingly bad that Excel, in 2023 only has an application-wide Undo. This means if you have multiple spreadsheets open and have made changes in more than one, Undo will force you to remove changes in order, not just to the one you are currently using. Imagine if this occurred in email windows or Word documents. Inexcusable. MS claims that this is because there could be linked spreadsheets, but that's a BS response.

Personally, I'd prefer they fix longstanding problems and missing features that have garnered massive requests on their feedback board over adding new features like improved PivotTables. But, an improvement is still an improvement, and PivotTables are an important strong suit with Excel, so thanks, MS.
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