Microsoft Excel 2016

Pros

• Part of the Microsoft Office 2016 suite
• Sports a handy template feature
• Scales to accommodate different skill levels
• Collaborative tools
• Intelligent graphing and forecasting

Cons

• Collaborative tools are not home use friendly
• Office 365 monthly charges
• Not enough new features

Microsoft Excel 2016 is accepted as an integral part of today's modern computerized office. The software has earned this place of prominence due to its ability to crunch all kinds of data. That includes financial accounts, of course, but the program can also be configured to host a home budget worksheet or any of a thousand other data-heavy functions.

An Excel worksheet organizes numerical information into a series of rows and columns. The "cells" formed by the table-like structure are loaded with data, but there's also an active ingredient running behind the cells. These are mathematical formulas. They occupy the tabulated containers and process data, especially the financial variety. In essence, Microsoft Excel 2016 runs calculations on the data and creates an output that's then placed in a new cell. Certainly, this baseline function lays at the heart of the program, but the newest version builds on this data-crunching framework by adding new features. Graphs can be produced from the data. Templates are available, and these pre-configured worksheets enable users to quickly set up customized accounting forms.

If Microsoft created this venerable spreadsheet offering as a complex financial partner, they've succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. But this is scalable software, which means it adjusts to the operator's skill level. Those templates, well, they can be used to run the financial information that regulates a large company, but a downloaded template simplifies tasks greatly. Financial health becomes an easily decipherable chore, with Excel 2016 calculating home budgets, travel expenditures, and other hard to visualize financial management tasks. Again, it's the ability to program blank cells to swiftly add static data and complex formulas, that defines this spreadsheet application as a powerful financial tool.

As an essential part of the Microsoft Office suite, Excel has evolved greatly over the last few years. It now interfaces seamlessly with the other members of the Office family, plus there are many new shortcuts available. These time-savers include a graph suggestion feature, so the intelligently tuned application actually proposes graph types as datasets are added. Incidentally, the user interface has been newly upgraded, all so that the spreadsheet workspace delivers a modern look.

Looks are only part of the story, though, with the newly streamlined software sporting more extras than seem possible in such a compact package. Indeed, Microsoft Excel 2016 loads surprisingly fast. The program readily calculates, correlates, and organizes sets of data. It also tracks trends, makes forecasts, and attempts to track future spending habits. Finally, all of these new features are bound together by a newly incorporated collaborative spirit, a share function that ties coworkers together via mobile Apps and networking magic.

Pros

• Part of the Microsoft Office 2016 suite
• Sports a handy template feature
• Scales to accommodate different skill levels
• Collaborative tools
• Intelligent graphing and forecasting

Cons

• Collaborative tools are not home use friendly
• Office 365 monthly charges
• Not enough new features