A better Name manager
Dear all,
What I love, please read this a need, is a better Name manager.
The size of the list is way to small. If you work a lot with names, then you get longer names which are not easy to select.
Also would like to see an easier way to replace, rename and exchange Names and references. When I make a Template sheet with names/reverences and want to make multiply copies bij code or manualy, its a crime to change or update the Name.

Good news! We are planning to improve the Name Manager in Excel for Mac. Thanks for your support of this request.
We’ll be sure to provide an update as we make progress toward releasing this feature.
Steve [Microsoft Excel]
42 comments
-
Andrew Pickering Brook commented
MS has just made LAMBDA functions available for Excel (even for Mac!). However, all of the MS Support "How Toos" and "Help" demonstrate how to create them using a Name Manager that does not exist on the Mac version. Eventually I did manage to get them to work, but only by viewing someones YouTube clip. So yes MS, a Name Manager that is the same as the Windows version would be useful.
-
Paulo commented
No name manager still? Impossible to work with names in excel for MAC!
-
John Henry commented
Truly unbelievable how long this has gone on for. Excel has had a stranglehold on analytics for decades - not without reason of course. But this sort of wilful disregard for Mac users, in a world where tools like Tableau, Smartsheet, Airtable and Google Sheets are growing, is just ridiculous.
-
Rupertsland commented
This feature has been talked about in every Excel for Mac version going back to Excel 2011. It's 2020. As a developer who works with Excel for Windows and Mac platforms, I'm really surprised that Microsoft did not include or implement this desperately needed feature in Excel for Mac.
It is almost impossible to edit and manage hundreds of range names and multiple Table names in Excel for Mac without a feature like Name Manager that's found in Excel for Windows. This makes it more difficult to natively implement solutions in Excel on the Mac platform. I'm developing and testing workbook templates for use on both platforms and these include VBA code, as well as data connections to queries in a SQL Server 2017 database. The Name manager vastly simplifies the process of troubleshooting and fixing problems with range and table names - for example, broken references. At the end of the day, I have no choice but to only use Excel for Windows in order to develop solutions, and then open and test the solutions on the Mac platform for compatibility, and then go back to Windows to make adjustments. Going back and forth is not very efficient.
Also baffling is that in the Mac version, the Excel for Mac Help topic provides instructions on using the Name Manager in the Excel for Mac version.
-
dominique fischer commented
I am ready to throw away my Mac. Most of what I need does not work as well... OH! shuck...Maybe it's exactly what MS is hoping by providing sub-standard versions of their products for the Mac!!!
Hum... -
Courtney Nafus commented
It's very disappointing that this feature isn't compatible with MAC OS, seems like it would be very easy to develop on their end! There are a massive amount of MAC/Microsoft users, capitalize folks!
-
John E Burke commented
ARRRRRRRRRGH I have been wrestling with this for years without realizing that the PC folks had the name manager tool I have been wishing for on the Mac since 2010 or so. PLEASE!
-
Peter Delis commented
It's clear Microsoft is committed to harmonising the Excel Windows and Mac versions as is evidenced in the VBA interface.
It's a shame that they have overlooked updating the Name Manager. I can only hope that they look to this forum and take onboard the suggestion that the Excel Apple Name manager is in serious need of harmonisation.
-
Charles Coy commented
Yes please! Often working on complex model workbooks where long lists of names are used across the workbook.
Would be ideal to have exactly what the MS Windows version of Excel has (Names Manager) where each range (or multiple) can be modified and removed. -
Anonymous commented
The Define name dialog box available in excel for MAC is very limiting. From small things like it not being re-sizeable, resulting in the list of defined names displayed being truncated, to large more impactful things like not showing the results of the named range (field value, or formula results) which limits ones ability to validate the named range. It's remedial and ineffective. For people who have used the Windows version with a full more robust name manager this is a huge step backwards ! It makes me regret lobbying at work to get a MAC to replace my PC.
I would think it would be in Microsoft's best interest to have more business people WANT to use a MAC at work, However, when the Office 365 suite of tools (a suite that is pervasive in all major companies) has significant gaps in functionality on the MAC version, you are shooting yourselves in the perverbial foot. -
Charles Williams commented
You can use my addin product FastExcel Manager Pro for Mac:
This contains Name Manager Pro which has a lo more features than the standard Windows Name Manager.
http://www.decisionmodels.com/fxl_MgrProMac.htmBut its a chargeable product.
-
Anonymous commented
I agree, plus, I should be able to specify worksheet vs workbook names directly like the PC version, instead of the roundabout way I can never remember and have to Google every time that the Mac version has.
-
Anonymous commented
doesn't need to be better - you already have a better one for PCs. just port it!
-
Anonymous commented
Just moved from Office Mac 2011 to 2016 kicking and screaming, with the loss of the ability use keyboard rather than right click for inserting columns or rows. You can click "=3+3" with manually adding the + sign ...REALLY ?? Finally the whole suite is sludgy and SLOW... The tool bars are graphically hard to read compared to the old GUI. Not to mention you have to flip back and forth trying to find things that used to at your finger tips like the view screen or other frequently used things on laptops. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! Does Microsoft test these things with users on Macs?
-
Anonymous commented
even Google Sheets puts Excel for Mac to shame when it comes to Named Range management
-
Anonymous commented
Image
Image
Thanks,Travis
***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***
This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread.
I have the same question (24)
-
Lynn commented
Amen!
-
Martin Geithmann commented
Agree that a better name manager is needed. The existing way the feature is laid out is confusing, the dialog boxes very small on high-res displays, and makes a powerful feature harder to use than it needs to be.
-
Michael Wagener commented
Excel for Mac is becoming really irritating these days and it all revolves around the crippled version of Name Manager that they are trying to pass off on us. One has to wonder what motivates them. I like Excel (in fact a lot of my life revolves around it... ), and I like Mac. Why can I not have a product that actually works? That would be nice, instead of having to accommodate work-arounds to get by. Like the current bug where one cannot open the Cell-Name section of the Edit-bar presently... oh my goodness me... ! It's exasperating...
-
Nikhil commented
Making Mac Name Manager feature identical to Windows version would be great. I didn't realize how much value the features on the Window platform added until I worked on my most recent project. Having to use the weak functionality of the Mac version of Name Manager has added literally 10-20% to the amount of time needed to accomplish the same tasks on the Windows version. In some instances, I can't accomplish what I want to at all.