Excel Labs AKA Advanced Formula Environment - Finally the formula editor we've been waiting for!

[UPDATE] This tool is now called Excel Labs.

Excel Labs, previously called the Advanced Formula Environment, is a long awaited new improved way to write, name and store Excel formulas.

0:00 Introduction
0:26 Where to get the Advanced Formula Environment
0:51 Working in the Grid environment
2:44 Working in the Names environment
3:00 Using the AFE to write LAMBDAs
4:46 Generating LAMBDAs from existing formulas
7:13 Working in the Named Ranges environment
7:23 Working in the Named Formulas environment
8:08 Working in the Modules environment
9:44 Name Manager
9:59 Localisation

[DJPGB]

This is gold! I just applied the automatic LAMBDA creation you demonstrate (4:45) to a function that had a half-dozen helper cells to get from the single cell input to the output value. A lot of interim values were repeated in every cell. I was surprised and delighted to see that the auto-generated function included the concise set of LET statements to remove all of the duplicated calculations. I was impressed.

[xaquison]

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing. There is so much potential using AFE.

[mirrrvelll]

Such a great demonstration of Advanced Fx editor! Wow!

[RenierWessels]

Great video. Thanks for sharing Mynda! Amazing to see a couple of things have already changed since you've released this video. The Excel team is busy indeed.

[darrylmorgan]

Hi Mynda!Great Tutorial.I Have Used Advanced Enviroment A Few Times And Found it Really Impressive...Thank You :)

[robalan]

Wow. This is a very interesting add in to be aware of. Thank you very much for the tutorial. I can see lots of potential for this in my work. Happy holidays!

[peterbartholomew]

Mynda, that is the best reference documentation on the AFE that I have come across (though it may be just a case of not knowing where to look)! I had only recently encountered the F2 renaming that saves a lot of grief.
The grid to Lambda has some oddities, why does = SUM(variableX, variableY) - variableZ appears as
=LET(
subTotal, SUM(
MAKEARRAY(2, 1, LAMBDA(i, j, CHOOSE((i - 1) * 1 + j, variableX, variableY)))
),
SUM(subTotal, -variableZ)
)
Despite that, I used the functionality yesterday to open up a circular reference (one of these horrible models where the interest calculation depends on both closing and opening balances) and then had the means to iterate the calculation towards convergence.

[sunnybaggu]

Thank you for this content. Your explanation is very clear. Very few videos AFE is available in YouTube.

[williamthatsmyname]

Absolutely brilliant. Thanks again for the tutorial.

[patrickschardt]

Wow these are great improvements. Once they add in things like auto parenthesis insertion and mouse selection, it be just about perfect

[jimfitch]

An awesome start! Thanks for the tutorial & for making us aware.

[MrSweck]

I love this tool! The sad thing about it is that our IT-admin has blocked Office Store to avoid any "add-in wild west". I had tried it at home and decided that I wanted it, so I asked for it and got it installed. But not many of my colleagues are playing with Excel at home and will therefore never see it... and even if I show them, they will still never bother to get it since they can't do it by themselves. I hope that one day it will be included as a standard tool, like the VBE. Many people want it even though they don't know it yet.

[CeliaAlvesSolveExcel]

Extremely useful, Mynda! Thank you for this. Question: how do you type in the lambda character?

[quentinbricard]

Thank you for this video, it's very interesting!

[Fredick.]

Linda persona, eres genial. Gracias por compartir este muy interesante material.

[mattschoular]

This looks great. This may prove helpful to some when writing formulas. However, the user will need the basic understanding of what they are trying to achieve in the AFE. I suppose that is why it is suitably named Advanced Formula Environment. Still a bit of a chicken and egg situation though.

Thanks for sharing, Mynda. Happy Holidays

[emilionunziata]

can you please tell me if it work even in other language and system localizations?

[iankr]

Many thanks, Mynda! How do you enter the lambda Greek letter symbol? Do you use the ASCII code with the Alt key?

[andreminis]

Hi Mynda, Great review. I have tried to unwrap the formula in the formula bar as you showed in your video. When I click the check mark nothing happens. Is there another way to solve this?

[erikguzik]

I know i had this add in, in my excel workbooks, and I think it moved off the home tab, but now I cannot find it anywhere. have looked for it but the add in appears to be missing and nothing to load in again? do you know if its going thru an upgrade to be released again sometime soon, or what?