Excel Unleashed: Discover the Alluring New Office Ribbon and Excel Home Screen - Episode 2238

Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Walkthrough of new Excel Home Screen and Look of the Ribbon.

Excel now debuts a new Home screen in the File menu - it is a combination of the existing New and Open screens. Also - the icons on the Ribbon are changing for those using Office 365.

Welcome to the MrExcel netcast, where we bring you the latest updates and tips for mastering Microsoft Excel. In this episode, we'll be discussing the new changes to the Office Ribbon and Excel Home Screen. If you're a fan of Excel and want to stay up-to-date with the latest features, make sure to subscribe and hit that bell icon for notifications.

The summer of 2018 has brought two major changes to Excel. The first being the new Home Screen, which greets you with a friendly message depending on the time of day. This screen is a combination of the old New and Open screens, allowing you to access both blank workbooks and templates. You can also access more templates by clicking on "More Templates". Below this, you'll find a section for recent files, pinned files, and shared files. Overall, the Home Screen provides a convenient way to access all your Excel files.

The second change is the redesign of the icons in the Ribbon. While some may love the new minimalist design, others may find it lacking in definition. The icons have been simplified and some have lost their color, making them less distinguishable. For example, the table icon no longer looks like a table and the recommended pivot tables no longer have data in the values area. Let us know in the comments what you think of these new icons and if you prefer the old ones.

Another noticeable change is the tab designator in the Ribbon. Previously, when you selected a tab, it would change color and have a line on three sides. Now, it only has a line at the bottom, making it harder to differentiate between tabs. However, if you purchase Excel 2019, you will still have the old version with the previous tab design. So, if you're not a fan of the new design, you can stick with the old one.

To learn more about these changes and other Excel tips and tricks, check out my new book "Microsoft Excel 2019 Inside Out". And don't forget to download the workbook from this video to compare the old and new icons. Thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next netcast from MrExcel. Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on the new changes.

#excel
#microsoft
#microsoftexcel
#walkthrough
#excelnew
#evergreen

This video answers these common search terms:
how to show the home bar in excel
how to display backstage view in excel
what is excel backstage view
what is the backstage view in excel

Table of Contents:
(00:00) Changes in Excel in summer 2018
(00:15) New Home Screen in File menu
(00:25) Combination of New and Open options
(01:30) Redesigned icons in Excel 2019
(02:35) Comparison of old and new icons
(03:02) Share your thoughts on the new icons
(03:15) Changes in tab design and colors
(04:15) Get the old version with Excel 2019 purchase
(04:30) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

[MrXL]

If you like this video, please Subscribe and Ring the Bell!

[mazarata]

I like simplicity and clarity. My first impression is that the icons do meet my preferences. However the tabs are indeed not brought out sufficiently. Thanks for that intro.

[excelisfun]

Sun turning black says it all: it is clearly worse because it is harder to decipher the meaning of the icon. The meaning of an icon is: picture to help you quick understand what the button is for. With the "less is less" icons it takes longer to decipher what the button is for. How is that good?

[datadivanet]

Anyone seen how to change it back? I need the color contrast to find things.

[QuickMadeUpName]

agreed. some are difficult to see what they are like the save as button and open button... horrible.... but i do like the animation improvements like when you highlight a range or delete worksheets etc.

[alibibi]

The new icons seem less expressive. But I think I get what they were going for with this. I find the thick and simple lines make the icons more accessible. Before, I would tend to look for something by reading the labels. Now I feel it is much faster to just look for the right icon (especially with the dark theme enabled).

[henryg]

I find the lack of colour and (fake) detail in the icons makes it that much more difficult to quickly find what I am looking for, particularly on the QAT, and what is currently selected. It's much worse in Outlook though IMO. Doubtless will get used to it in time, but not a fan.

[martijnfransen]

the new ones are with less clutter I think that is a new thing that you see with a lot of software, I like that

[nononsense]

Old icons sometimes in windows in appropriate for example Save button has pictures of Floppy Disk which new generation doesn't know at all!!! Change is always welcome but it should be meaningful and should not outdate soon

[qazcool]

My Office Ribbon Icons & Graphics are not updated, Is there any way to get them updated with the latest one? Please let me know. Thanks

[DaveH]

They made a load of visualisation errors in this new design. Until recently you couldn't see the record/stop macro button bottom left of application, that got fixed with 1809. I do like the new look though, if it went back then I wouldn't lose any sleep.

[Cypher]

I love the new icons. I love the simple, yet elegant design. I prefer this style of icons, and personally think this is the best I've seen.

I tried to google this change, and I can't really find any good info. Can you tell me what style this is considered? I've heard it called "metro"

I would like to read up on how this style of UI is created.

[drsteele]

The new Home page should default to Pinned (or allow the user to so choose). The Ribbon designator is harder to see than the old one, which had inverted colours to make it distinguishable. The new icons are hard to discriminate from one another, although some of them are improved. No doubt MS's metro style is the inspiration for the icon changes, but removing the colours from many of the icons means they require a second glance (e.g., the clear-all eraser was once grammar-school eraser pink). All this tinkering MS does can end up wrecking a good thing; now, the functionality for Get Data from Table/Range is greyed out when trying to use it on an existing Excel Table. That needs fixing before icons do.

[AnaLuiza-zyxl]

How can I download an office with this icons options?

[hanz]

Not a fan of the new icons, but I can adapt. What I really don’t like are the multiple clicks needed to open or save to a specific folder. This started several versions ago and the lag between clicks seems to have increased.

[meg-a-bytes]

Its ironic that as PC monitors have become much more detailed with more pixels the graphics in widows became less dynamic and more boring. i liked the 2010 style. This newer style remids me of the old DOS days.

[reneepeterson]

I have an excel sheet 2016 version, I have a column with a first and last name then a (& symbol) and the first and last name of an addition person. I need to put the last name in a column and the first name in another column a total of four columns. One column for each last and first name. I need to leave the column with the names together in tact. Is there a macro that exist to be able to do this? Thank you in advance.

[sandip_bettereveryday]

I liked the new look and feel (though not the HOME screen). But I was expecting the new simpler single-row ribbon which is replacing the current three-row ribbon design (I think it is already live there in web version of MS Word, though not checked.)

[johnwhibley]

There is a large push/trend, I've found, in marketing/UX/design at the moment to reduce icons and symbols to a very minimal aesthetic and color pallette, paying homage to a more retro look and feel and reducing concepts to their basic form and function. I think it is a matter of Microsoft playing to this trend in design in 2018 more than anything else. Happy to be corrected on this, speaking from my work in marketing at the moment. Personally from the looks of it I actually quite like their direction of design within Excel.

[zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

My office 365 does not look like this. On a side note, when is office 2019 coming out?