Microsoft Word: features, use cases and plans
October 24, 2026
Microsoft product guide
Microsoft Excel
Excel is Microsoft’s spreadsheet app. Businesses use it to track numbers, build budgets and forecasts, and turn raw data into reports they can act on.
- Best for: finance, operations, sales and anyone who works with numbers
- Where it runs: Windows, Mac, web and mobile
- Included in: most Microsoft 365 plans
- Optional add-on: Microsoft 365 Copilot
What Excel does for your business
The features clients ask about most, with an example of each in daily use.
Calculations that update themselves
Change one number and every total, tax line and forecast that depends on it recalculates. In practice: A quote template that recalculates GST, discounts and margin as soon as a quantity changes.
PivotTables
Turn thousands of rows into a short summary by month, product or customer, and re-arrange it with a few clicks. In practice: Summarize a year of invoices by customer and month to see who is buying less.
Charts and dashboards
Build visuals from your data and keep them current as the numbers change. In practice: A one-page sales dashboard the owner opens every Monday morning.
Power Query
Pull data from files, databases and websites, clean it once, and refresh it with one click each month. In practice: Combine bank exports and accounting reports into one clean monthly sheet.
Work together live
Several people edit the same workbook at the same time, from the desktop app or a browser. In practice: A shared project budget that finance and project managers update together.
Copilot in Excel
Ask questions about your data in everyday language, get formula help and have summaries or PivotTables drafted for you. Requires the Copilot add-on. In practice: Ask ‘which three products had the biggest drop in sales this quarter?’ and get the answer without writing a formula.
Which plans include Excel
Every plan below includes Excel. The difference is whether you get the full desktop app or the web and mobile versions.
| Plan | Excel version | Listing |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Apps for business Office apps only, no email or Teams | Desktop, web, mobile | View listing |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | Desktop, web, mobile | View listing |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium Adds advanced security and device management | Desktop, web, mobile | View listing |
| Microsoft 365 E3 | Desktop, web, mobile | View listing |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Web and mobile only | View listing |
| Microsoft 365 F3 For frontline staff | Web and mobile only | View listing |
Variants of these plans without Teams, and Non-Profit and Education versions, are also available. Ask us and we will point you to the right one.
Add Copilot to Excel
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a separate per-user licence that can be added to the business plans above.
For IT buyers
Licensing and deployment notes
- Desktop vs web: Desktop Excel is installed through Microsoft 365 Apps. Excel for the web has no install, and advanced features such as VBA macros and some Power Query and Power Pivot capabilities need the desktop app. Mac support for these differs from Windows.
- Plan limits: Microsoft 365 Business plans are capped at 300 users per organization. Larger teams move to Enterprise plans such as E3.
- Updates: Desktop apps update through Microsoft 365 Apps update channels, which an admin can set for the whole organization.
- Management: Business Premium and E3 include Intune for device and app management. Business Standard and Apps for business do not.
- Storage: Workbooks saved to OneDrive or SharePoint support live co-authoring and version history.
- Copilot: Copilot in Excel needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence per user, on top of an eligible base plan. Features roll out in stages, so availability can vary by region and tenant.
Not sure which plan fits your team?
Tell us how many people need Excel and what they use it for, and we will recommend a plan.
Disclaimer: Microsoft may change features, pricing, plans or packaging at any time. Details here are a guide, not an offer; confirm current details on the listing or with us before you buy.
