Excel for Windows (Desktop Application)
Welcome to the Excel for Windows (Desktop Application) feedback forum! This is the place for users to send us suggestions and ideas on how to improve.
Take a look at the feedback that we are currently working on and what feedback we have already completed.
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Enable user to pin Folders to the recent lists for Open and Save As
** Please bring back functionality from the old Microsoft Office suites (not just xls).
** For alphabetic sorting of files in the recent lists, please don't vote here. Instead, see https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10261443-recent-files-pane-in-excel-2013-was-pretty-good-b
Specifically: it is useful to have a list of recently-accessed folders from which to open files. Such folders were available on the older versions of Microsoft (MS) Office, but not in the 2016 “upgrade”. (i.e. MS Office 2016 contains only a list of the recently opened files.)
Constantly having to navigating BACK to a recently used folder to open / save a file is very annoying.
I'm not the…
284 votes -
Preserve source quoting and separator when saving CSV.
Currently, Excel alters CSV files to it's internal CSV format whenever the file is saved, even if no changes were made to the file. For example, if I open a CSV file like below (anonymized version of a AWS credentials file):
User Name,Access Key Id,Secret Access Key
"somebody",WISKFHEYDSJ2UDFH6XAD,mDHJNSLCF!safsdlds>Flsdfj/MjufsldkhafdslAnd then I merely open the file and save it without making any changes, Excel will alter file, removing the quotes:
User Name,Access Key Id,Secret Access Key
somebody,WISKFHEYDSJ2UDFH6XAD,mDHJNSLCF!safsdlds>Flsdfj/MjufsldkhafdslIn this particular example, the change is harmless but for more complex CSV files, simply opening them in Excel is sufficient to break other…
65 votesGreat suggestion – CSV hasn’t been an area we’ve been looking into recently, but we’ll reconsider. It looks like this is starting to get some votes fairly quickly. If you like the idea, then please keep the votes coming! That’s the best way to help get this onto our engineering schedule.
Thanks,
John [MS XL] -
Increase the 218 character filename length limit to open files in excel
Excel can't open files with full path lengths greater than 218 characters as documented in https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/213983. This is still a problem in Office 2016. It seems crazy that Excel can't open a valid file that the filesystem allows. People have been complaining about this since Office 2000. The thread below has over 11 thousand views and there are plenty others. Please fix this. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-excel/sorry-unable-to-find/595333d0-1463-499f-967e-4da8ac2e2047
55 votes -
Quit having a spreadsheet reopen in a different size than it was when it was closed
When I close a spreadsheet, it is the size I want it to be. But when I reopen it, Excel is as likely as not to have "decided" that it knows better than I do what I want, and it reopens in a different size. Sorry, but I do know better than Excel does what I want, and resent the arrogance displayed in changing my preferences. Make it stop!!!
33 votesWhen you say that it opens a different size – can you give more info? Do you mean the application window is a different size (it shouldn’t be) or that the font sizes (zoom) are different? (again, they shouldn’t be)
Additionally, if you can post a video of what you’re seeing, that would be a big help for us.
If there is a problem here, it’s definitely something we’d want to fix.
Cheers,
Dan [MS] -
Add a setting/option where all CSV/delimited files are opened as "Text"
Add a setting called
"Open text-delimited files (CSV, etc) as text only, with no type inference."When this setting is active, then every column's format will be "Text" when a CSV or other such file is opened, so that the initial view is exactly the text represented in the CSV.
29 votesThanks for the feedback!
Can you comment on whether you expect this to basically import all the lines as text to column A, or if you have some other expectation?
Also, I’m assuming people refer here to the file/open path, and not to the Data/From-Text or New-Query/From-Text path.
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Leave minimized window minimized when opening other Excel Documents
Exactly as the title states. When I minimize an Excel window, I'm doing it for a reason. It's very annoying to have the minimized window pop back up on my screen when I open another Excel file. If I want it back on my screen, I'll do it myself. At least give us an option to turn this on/off.
19 votes -
xls and xlsx files are not defaulted as Excel files in Windows 10
In Windows 10, xls and xlsx files are not automatically associated to Excel. If you try to open an xls or xlsx file from windows explorer, it open a save as windo rather than booting and opening in Excel.
17 votes -
YOU HAVE RUINED EXCEL 2016
WHY CAN I NOT OPEN MORE THAN ONE SPREADSHEET INSIDE EXCEL< WHY WOULD I WANT MULTIPLE WINDOWS THIS IS A JOKE
COMPLETELY UNPRODUCTIVE
14 votes -
Save to current folder instead of "Document Library"
In a corporate environment you often have 1000+ people on the same server, with 10+ levels of subfolder defining your little part of it. So, it's a REAL PAIN when every time you want to save a copy of a workbook to your folder (or maybe a new subfolder of the current folder's parent) that you are always thrown out to the "Document Library" so that you have to navigate back through all the subfolders to where you just were. The "Document Library" is a fixed location, so it should be accessible via a button on the Save As dialog,…
11 votes -
Allow the option to list pinned files either alphabetically or by recent use.
Excel 2016 switched the order of the pinned files from alphabetical to most recently used. IMHO, that was a big improvement. Apparent;y that change has been reversed.
Pre-2016 I only pinned 4 of 5 files that were hard to find or only used monthly. Files I used Daily I pulled from the recently used files.
In 2016 I switched to pinning about 20 files. The ones I used daily or weekly are always near the top. The ones I use monthly are farther down but easier to find than going to the various directories.
For me, going back to the…
8 votes -
DropBox missing from "Add a Place in Office 2016
In Office 2013 users had the ability to add non-Microsoft cloud storage providers (DropBox Google) to "Add a Place". This interoperability was a valuable asset to the user trying to use Office applications. In Office 2016 the ability to add DropBox is no longer available in the UI. The only options are Microsoft cloud stores.
8 votes -
Fix Read-only issue
Fix the issue described here: tps://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/office_integration__sharepoint/2015/11/12/excel-2016-opens-sharepoint-workbooks-as-read-only/
I do not want to have to re-open files every time in Excel 2016.
6 votes -
Arranging Excel Files From The Task Bar
Bring back the ability to move files up and down the column when right clicking the Excel Icon on the task bar. Currently, when you pin a file to the Excel Icon, its placed at the bottom of the list and can't be moved. I have many files that I pin and sorting them manually would be very helpful.
6 votes -
Finally allow multiple open files with same base filename
I can guess why Excel works the way it does, but Excel has never allowed C:\A\X.XLSX and C:\B\X.XLSX to be open at the same time in the same Excel instance. Excel may be the ONLY Windows program which can have multiple files open at the same time but not handle files in different drives and/or directories with the same base filename.
Time for Excel to grow up.
FWIW, Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro allowed this as far back as 1989. LibreOffice Calc allows it today.
6 votes -
I keep 25 files in the pinned list. Having them re-sorted each time they are opened is VERY inefficient! Why did you ever make such a stup
I keep 25 files in the pinned list. Having them re-sorted each time they are opened is VERY inefficient! Why did you ever make such a stupid change? MS always talks about increasing productivity - this change (of re-sorting the pinned list based upon usage date/time) causes me to be VERY unproductive!
6 votes -
Allow multiple attempts when entering a password
When opening a password protected file, if you type it incorrectly, you have to open the file again and type it in. Similarly, if you click to open the file twice, and type the password correctly, the second file will then open, forcing you to type the password again. If you hit cancel on the second file, the first (correctly authenticated) workbook will close.
5 votes -
Need to bring back Recent Items folder originally available under Win 7 favorites. New file access within Apps is anti productivity
May Recent Items folder available to Quick Access that shows up in open and save option in Windows Office Apps
5 votes -
Option of opening new file in current instance or new instance (dual monitor support)
When a file is opened it automatically opens in the same instance which does not allow you to have two workbooks side by side on two monitors (without manually dragging the excel window across two monitors every time).
I know you can manually open a new instance of excel but when opening a file it seems to randomly choose which instance it opens in, sometimes both files are in the same instance which is useless for what is needed.
Manually finding the file through the open command it not useful either due to large numbers of files being from outlook…
4 votes -
Excel to Export or Saveas to JSON format
Currently there is no option of saving excel file to JSON format, we need to use online or third party tool to do this.
4 votes -
Add a SEARCH box to the File|Open|Recent menu
I have a looooong list of files in my Recent screen when I try to open a file. I should be able to search to quickly get what I need vs scrolling to find it.
4 votes
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