Excel 2 – 1987
The original version of Excel for Windows, Excel 2 first appeared in late 1987. It was labeled Version 2 to correspond to the Macintosh version, which was the original Excel. Because Windows wasn’t in widespread use at the time, this version included a runtime version of Windows — a special version with just enough features to run Excel and nothing else.
Excel 3 – 1990
This version offered a significant improvement in both appearance and features. It included toolbars, drawing capabilities, worksheet outlining, add-in support, 3-D charts, workgroup editing, and lots more.
Excel 4 – 1992
Excel 4 hit the streets in the spring of 1992. This version made quite an impact on the marketplace as Windows increased in popularity. It boasted lots of new features and usability enhancements that made it easier for beginners to get up to speed quickly.
Excel 5 – 1994
This version introduced tons of new features, including multisheet workbooks and the new Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro language. Like its predecessor, Excel 5 took top honors in just about every spreadsheet comparison published in the trade magazines.
Excel 95 – 1995
It is also known as Excel 7. On the surface, it resembled Excel 5. This version included only a few major new features. However, Excel 95 proved to be significant because it presented the first version to use more advanced 32-bit code. Excel 95 and Excel 5 use the same file format.
Excel 97 – 1997
Excel 97 is also known as Excel 8. It is probably offered the most significant upgrade ever. The toolbars and menus took on a great new look, online help moved a dramatic step forward, and the number of rows available in a worksheet quadrupled. And if you’re a macro developer, you may have noticed that Excel’s programming environment (VBA) moved up several notches on the scale. Excel 97 also introduced a new file format.
Excel 2000 – 1999
Also known as Excel 9, Excel 2000 was released in June of 1999. Excel 2000 offered several minor enhancements, but the most significant advancement was the ability to use HTML as an alternative file format. Excel 2000 still supported the standard binary file format, of course, which is compatible with Excel 97.
Excel 2002 – 2001
Excel 2002 is also known as Excel 10 or Excel XP. It was released in June of 2001 and is part of Microsoft Office XP. This version offered several new features, most of which are fairly minor and were designed to appeal to novice users. Perhaps the most significant new feature was the capability to save your work when Excel crashes and also recover corrupt workbook files that you may have abandoned long ago. Excel 2002 also added background formula error checking and a new formula-debugging tool.
Excel 2003
It is also known as Excel 11. It was released in the fall of 2003. This version had very few new features. Perhaps the most significant new feature was the ability to import and export XML files and map the data to specific cells in a worksheet. It also introduced the concept of the List, a specially designated range of cells. Both of these features would prove to be precursors to future enhancements.
Excel 2007 - 2007
Also known as Excel 12, Excel 2007 was released in early 2007. Its official name is Microsoft Office Excel 2007. This release represented the most significant change since Excel 97, including a change to Excel’s default file format. The new format was XML based although a binary format is still available. Another major change was the Ribbon, a new type of UI that replaced the Excel menu and toolbar system. In addition to these two major changes, Microsoft enhanced the List concept introduced in Excel 2003. A List is now known as a Table, improved the look of charts, significantly increased the number of rows and columns, and added some new worksheet functions.
Excel 2010
Excel 2010, was released in early 2010 and is also known as Excel 14. If you think you’ve spotted a typo in the previous sentence, you’re wrong. Yes, even big companies can be superstitious; Microsoft skipped Version 13 of Office and went from Version 12 to Version 14. Excel 2010 builds on the improvements introduced in Excel 2007, and it offers several new enhancements.