XML support   Industry-standard XML support in Excel streamlines the process of accessing and capturing information between PCs and back-end systems, unlocking information, and allowing for the creation of integrated business solutions across the organization and between business partners. XML support allows you to:

• Expose your data to external processes in a business-centric XML vocabulary.

• Organize and work with workbooks and data in ways that were previously impossible or very difficult. By using your XML schemas, you can now identify and extract specific pieces of business data from ordinary business documents.

• Attach a custom XML schema to any workbook by using the XML Source task pane to map cells to elements of the schema. Once you have mapped the XML elements to your worksheet, you can seamlessly import and export XML data into and out of the mapped cells.

Person Names Smart Tag menu   Quickly locate contact information such as a person's phone number and complete tasks such as scheduling a meeting using the Person Names Smart Tag menu. The menu is available in Excel wherever a person’s name appears.

Enhanced list functionality   Create lists in your worksheet to group and act upon related data. You can create a list on existing data or create a list from an empty range. When you specify a range as a list, you can easily manage and analyze the data independent of other data outside of the list. Other enhancements to list functionality are:

• A new user interface and a corresponding set of functionality are exposed for ranges that are designated as a list.

• Every column in a list has AutoFilter enabled by default in the header row which allows you to quickly filter or sort your data.

• A dark blue list border clearly outlines the range of cells that compose your list.

• A row in the list frame that contains an asterisk is called the insert row. Typing information in this row will automatically add data to the list.

• A total row can be added to your list. When you click on a cell within the total row, you can pick from a drop-down list of aggregate functions.

• The size of a list can be modified by dragging the resize handle found on the bottom right corner of the list border.

Enhanced statistical functions   Use enhanced statistical functions, including enhancements to rounding results and precision, in your workbooks:

BINOMDIST, CHIINV, CONFIDENCE, CRITBINOM, DSTDEV, DSTDEVP, DVAR, DVARP, FINV, FORECAST, GAMMAINV, GROWTH, HYPGEOMDIST, INTERCEPT, LINEST, LOGEST, LOGINV, LOGNORMDIST, NEGBINOMDIST, NORMDIST, NORMINV, NORMSDIST, NORMSINV, PEARSON, POISSON, RAND, , RSQ, SLOPE, STDEV, STDEVA, STDEVP, STDEVPA, STEYX, TINV, TREND, VAR, VARA, VARP, VARPA, and ZTEST.

Document Workspaces   Create a Document Workspace to simplify the process of co-writing, editing, and reviewing documents with others in real time. A Document Workspace site is a Windows SharePoint Services site that is centered around one or more documents and is typically created when you use e-mail to send a document as a shared attachment.

Compare workbooks side by side   Use a new approach to compare workbooks—compare workbooks side by side. Comparing workbooks side by side (using the Compare Side by Side with command on the Window menu) allows you to see the differences between two workbooks more easily, without having to merge all changes into one workbook. You can scroll through both workbooks at the same time to identify differences between the two workbooks.

Support for ink devices, such as the Tablet PC   Quickly provide input by adding your own handwriting to Office documents on a Tablet PC as you would using a pen and a printout. Additionally, view task panes horizontally to help you do your work on the Tablet PC.