Microsoft said earlier this week on its official blog and the Excel blog that Excel is adding lists, in-cell arrays and nested arrays, plus four new functions — FLATTEN, HAS, HASANY and HASALL. The update loosens a rule that has defined the spreadsheet program for 40 years: one cell, one value.
Under the new model, a single cell can hold multiple pieces of data, and each item can still be filtered and calculated on its own.
Multiple values can now live in one cell
Microsoft framed lists as the most direct way to use the new structure. In the past, users who wanted to record several owners for one project often had to squeeze names such as Carlos, Henrietta and Jacob into one text string inside a single cell. Survey responses with several time slots had to be stored the same way, as one line of text rather than separate values.
Excel treated that text as one value. Filtering worked only against the full string, which made it hard to isolate rows tied to one person such as Carlos.
With the update, users can choose Insert > List or press Ctrl+J, then enter multiple values separated by commas or semicolons depending on regional settings. After that, pressing F2 or double-clicking the cell lets users add, remove or edit individual entries.
The change also affects filtering and formulas. Items inside the same cell can be filtered individually instead of as one full sentence. When a formula references that cell — for example, =B2 — Excel spills each value into neighboring cells.
Arrays can now exist natively inside a single cell
Microsoft said lists are only one part of the release. The deeper change is that arrays can now exist natively inside a single cell, whether they are entered manually or returned by a formula.
The method is to wrap a formula that would normally spill across multiple columns in another pair of curly braces, keeping the result inside one cell. That extends Excel’s existing convention of using curly braces to describe arrays, but now one layer can sit inside another.
Arrays can also contain other arrays, such as ={{1,2,3};{4,5,6}}. Microsoft said that in earlier behavior, an array inside another array could produce a truncated result or a #CALC! error. With nested arrays supported, the full result can be returned.
It gave TEXTSPLIT as an example. Without nested arrays, each row returned only the first item. With nested arrays enabled, each row can spill its own array.
Four new functions arrive with the update
Microsoft is also adding four functions tied to the new array structure:
- FLATTEN(array, [pad_value], [levels]): removes one or more nesting levels and spreads the result back onto the worksheet.
- HAS(array, value): checks whether a value appears in an array, such as whether a project is assigned to Carlos.
- HASANY(array, values): checks whether any specified value appears, which can be used to find projects linked to any manager in a set.
- HASALL(array, values): checks whether all specified values appear.
Preview release comes with six known limitations
Microsoft also cautioned users not to use the features in important workbooks yet because they remain in preview.
The company listed six known limitations:
- Conditional formatting does not inspect array contents unless users write extra formulas.
- Data validation cannot use lists or arrays as dropdown sources.
- Charts do not expand arrays into data points.
- PivotTables cannot read array values.
- Power Query cannot load or output array columns.
- Find and Replace cannot replace individual values inside an array.
Microsoft added that most calculations involving nested arrays require switching the workbook to the new Compatibility Version 3 under Formula > Calculation Options. Some existing formulas may return different results under Version 3, and users can stay on Version 1 or Version 2 if a workbook behaves unexpectedly.
For now, PivotTables and charts still do not work with the new data structure.
Beta rollout is limited to specific Windows and Mac versions
The release is currently limited to Beta users and is being rolled out gradually. On Windows, it requires version 2610 (build 20520.20000) or later. On Mac, it requires version 16.114 (build 26092111) or later.
Microsoft said the features could still be paused, changed or removed. Feedback can be submitted through Help > Feedback.
Excel shifts away from a long-standing data rule
The report noted that database design has long followed the first normal form principle, which requires each field to contain one indivisible value. By contrast, multi-select fields have long been standard in tools such as Airtable and Notion.
Excel spent 40 years closer to the former model. This update moves it toward the latter, while compatibility and existing analysis tools still need time to catch up.