
What's new in Excel development
Advanced Data Analytics
Add-ins like Analysis ToolPak provide advanced statistical analysis, such as regression analysis, ANOVA, and moving averages.
Data Mining and Predictive Analytics
Tools like XLSTAT or Analyse-it offer a suite of data analysis functions, including regression, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and time-series forecasting.
Data Visualization
Add-ins like Power BI Publisher for Excel allow seamless integration of Excel data into Power BI, enabling interactive reports and dashboards.
Interactive Dashboards
Tools like Tableau or QlikView enable the creation of powerful interactive dashboards directly within Excel.
Heatmaps and Conditional Formatting
Some add-ins help create visually appealing heatmaps or advanced conditional formatting rules to highlight trends, patterns, or outliers in your data.
API Integrations
Add-ins can allow Excel to connect to third-party services or databases, such as Salesforce, SQL Server, Google Analytics, or social media platforms, to pull in real-time data for analysis.
External Data Connections
Add-ins like Power Query (built-in) allow users to extract, transform, and load (ETL) data from various external sources like databases, web pages, or cloud storage (e.g., SharePoint, OneDrive).
Web Scraping
Tools like Import.io or DataMiner help pull data directly from websites into Excel, which is useful for scraping product data, market trends, or financial information.
CSV and JSON Data Import
Many add-ins simplify the process of importing structured data from CSV or JSON files and can automate data cleaning tasks.

Extend Excel functionality with Office Add-ins
With the Office Add-ins platform, you can extend Excel's functionality through a web app that runs within the Excel client on multiple platforms such as Windows, Online, Mac OS, iPad. Unlike COM and VSTO add-ins, Office Add-ins can do almost anything a webpage can do inside a browser. This technology is enabled using the JavaScript API for Office known as Office.js.

Access Excel data with Microsoft Graph
Use the Excel REST API in Microsoft Graph to extend the value of your Excel data, calculations, reporting, and dashboards. With Microsoft Graph, you can read and modify Excel workbooks that are stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, or other supported storage platforms. By issuing REST API requests to Microsoft Graph, your web or mobile application can access Excel objects.