The history of Microsoft Excel
Learn about the history of Excel and its evolution into the go-to Spreadsheet tool
Microsoft Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet program, with approximately 1 billion users world-wide. It is the cornerstone tool for almost every finance team in the world.
Excel has evolved from a basic spreadsheet tool into a powerful application incorporating functions, tables, Pivot Tables, charts, the Data Cube, PowerQuery, and, more recently, dynamic arrays and Python for Excel.
Excel has even moved into the world of e-sports with the launch of theFinancial Modelling World Cup.
Microsoft Excel is 40 this year
2025 marks the 40th birthday of Microsoft Excel, so there is no better time to take a look at where it started out and its evolution into the tool we all know and love (well, unless you work in IT, of course).
Early Beginnings
It seems strange to think that there was a time when the spreadsheet world was not dominated by Microsoft Excel but pre-1985 it was all about Lotus 123.
The first spreadsheet software was actually VisiCalc, but Lotus 123, which launched in early 1980, soon dominated the market.
Microsoft began developing its own spreadsheet software and launched Multiplan in 1982. Multiplan struggled to compete with Lotus 123 so, in 1983 Microsoft started work on a new spreadsheet program that was code-named "Odyssey".
The first version of Excel was launched in 1985. Interestingly, it first launched on the Apple Mac, but was soon also released on Windows, coinciding nicely with the growth of popularity of the Windows environment.
Microsoft continued to enhance Excel’s capabilities, adding features such as macro programming using Excel’s own language (VBA), improved charting, and data analysis tools.
Excel becomes top dog
By the early 1990s, Excel had surpassed Lotus 1-2-3 and soon became the go-to spreadsheet tool.
I entered the world of spreadsheets in 1999 after completing my degree and embarking on my career as an accountant. By that time, Excel was firmly the tool of choice. Indeed, one of my first tasks as a fresh-faced financial analyst was converting a number of Lotus 123 models over into MS Excel.
Excel's Evolution
Over the following twenty years, Microsoft continued to invest in Excel to ensure that it could meet the growing needs of its user base and hold on to its top spot.
In 2007 Microsoft increased the number of rows available from 65,536 to 1,048,576. They also revamped Excel's interface with the (somewhat controversial) introduction of the Ribbon menu system.
Over the next two decades, Microsoft has continued to develop Excel introducing new features such as the Data Cube, PowerPivot, PowerQuery, a plethora of new functions, dynamic arrays and Python for Excel.
Microsoft Excel Today
Today, Microsoft Excel is a versatile and indispensable tool used in almost every industry. From analysts and financial modellers to marketeers and sales managers, people continue to turn to Excel for their modelling needs.
Other software houses have entered the spreadsheet market, most notably Google, but Excel remains firmly in the number one slot.
