Excel currently remains one of the most widely used spreadsheet programs, and its popularity spans both the professional and personal spheres.
Excel is continually receiving new features and improvements from Microsoft.
However, the company also sometimes takes features away. It has been reported that Microsoft will no longer provide support for three features beginning in June 2023. Customers of Microsoft 365 are the only ones who can access these capabilities. Hence, only those who subscribe to the service are impacted.
Microsoft Excel Features That Will Be Removed
This past weekend, Microsoft sent an email to the subscribers of its Microsoft 365 service informing them that the company will be removing two important features from Excel in the next year: Money in Excel and Wolfram Data Types in Excel.
The Microsoft 365 email said: "Microsoft is committed to improving your Microsoft 365 subscription. As a result, we occasionally remove underused features and benefits. This email provides details on three features we plan to remove next year."
According to Neowin, Money will be the first Excel product in the line to be taken off the market. This is essentially a dynamic template that allows users to connect safely to the data maintained by their banks and directly sync information.
After June 30, 2023, it will no longer update a user's transaction history. Users won't be able to reconnect to their previously established financial accounts, nor will they be able to link up to any new accounts.
Nevertheless, users will be able to keep their existing data, and Microsoft will not be able to access it in any way.
The Redmond-based technology giant has suggested that people either switch to Tiller or use one of the other premium budget templates available in Excel. The latter product provides users with a greater number of functionalities than Money in Excel does but costs an additional $79 per year.
The last feature to be removed in Microsoft Excel is the Wolfram Data Types. A collaboration between Microsoft and Wolfram was announced a few years ago, but the company has since come to the conclusion that it does not want to continue the partnership.
The company that created Excel has decided to concentrate its efforts on developing its own custom solutions. After June 11, 2023, the functionality of refreshes for existing data types and connections to new ones will be discontinued. Having said that, the data you already have will not be removed; instead, it will no longer be connected to the Wolfram service.
Microsoft's Decision
Lastly, Microsoft has decided to discontinue its partner offers because the company is interested in pursuing additional business opportunities in which it can offer customers greater value. Although the company has not provided any further information, it has informed customers that if they sign up for an offer, they must redeem it before June 30, 2023, or else it will be permanently removed from their account.
It is important to note that subscribers to Microsoft 365 are the only ones who can access these capabilities; therefore, only those who subscribe to the service are impacted.
As reported by Thurrott, Microsoft has provided some explanations for why it is discontinuing all three of these products. Even though the company has made available some replacements and alternatives for the products that it has discontinued, it will be interesting to observe whether or not this has a significant impact on the number of customers who leave the company.
