Microsoft Corp. today introduced new data management features for Excel that will make it easier to work with spreadsheets containing complex, regularly updated information.

For most of its history, Excel only allowed users to fill spreadsheets with text, numbers and formulas. Microsoft last year took an initial step toward changing that by adding support for two additional data types. It’s now taking the idea further by introducing the ability for users to import any piece of data into their spreadsheets, however complicated, and define custom data types to manage this information.

The biggest benefit for users will be increased convenience. Previously, if a business analyst sought to import a customer’s shopping history and product reviews into Excel, they would have had to place the individual data points in separate spreadsheet cells. Now, they can compress all of this information into just a single cell by defining a “customer” data type. Clicking the cell brings up the full details in a pop-up panel.

The feature will simplify data projects by removing the need to reformat complex records into Excel’s previous two-dimensional spreadsheet structure. Storing data across fewer cells should also reduce copy and paste errors, resulting in better information accuracy. 

“Up to this point, the Excel grid has been flat: it’s two dimensional,” Brian Jones, the group program manager for Excel, wrote in a blog post today. “You can lay out numbers, text, and formulas across the flexible grid, and people have built amazing things with those capabilities. Not all data is flat though, and forcing data into that 2D structure has its limits. With Data Types we’ve added a third dimension to what you can build with Excel.”

Another key feature of the custom data types is that they refresh when a newer version of a record is available. Using Excel’s Power Query feature, workers can sync a cell containing a custom data type to an external source such as a database or customer relationship management system. There’s also an integration with Microsoft’s Power BI that makes it possible to pull information from the business intelligence tool. 

“A single cell value can have a live connected set of information you can quickly pull into your decision-making process, without needing to constantly go back to the original source to find more information,” Microsoft’s Brian Jones detailed.

The extra versatility the update brings to Excel could help Microsoft up the ante against the startups that have emerged in recent years to challenge its spreadsheet dominance. Airtable Inc., one of the highest-profile contenders, recently raised a $185 million round at a nearly $2.6 billion valuation. One of Airtable’s core features is that it allows users to place not only numbers and text in spreadsheet fields but also other types of information, a feature Excel can now more directly match. 

Image: Microsoft