Alice Chambers |
Microsoft has integrated programming language Python into Excel to provide users with access to advanced data analysis and visualisation capabilities.
Available in public preview to those in the Microsoft 365 Insiders programme and using Beta Channel on Windows, Python in Excel provides access to tools for visualisations, cleaning data, machine learning and predictive analytics. It leverages Anaconda Distribution for Python running in Microsoft Azure and includes the most popular Python libraries, such as pandas, Matplotlib and scikit-learn.
The Python calculations can be accessed directly within an Excel cell so that results can be displayed on worksheets through plots and visualisations. To access the analytics, users can input the new ‘PY’ function directly into cells.
Excel users can aggregate and visualise data with Python in Excel (credit: Microsoft)
Teams can also collaborate on Python in Excel by sharing workbooks via Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook, as well as by adding comments and mentions.
Teams can add comments to workbooks for better collaboration