Happy 43rd Birthday to the First Digital Spreadsheet!

VisiCalc, the first computer spreadsheet, was introduced June 4th, 1979. The author called it a “magic sheet of paper that can perform calculations and recalculations” automatically. He said the main competition was “people doing computations on the back of an envelope.”

Maximum number of columns: 63

Maximum number of rows: 254

Can you imagine having only 254 rows!?

Six years later, Microsoft introduced Excel, which today maxes out at 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows. And that’s for each worksheet within a file.

Excel is the program that turns the pupils of my eyes into little hearts. I love Excel so much, there’s a feature I want to marry: Tables!

And I think by common law, we already are.

I discovered Excel Tables in 2009, when I began to write my book “100 Life-Changing Tips Using Microsoft Office.” Converting your data to a Table object lets you manage data more confidently and efficiently. More importantly, it improves the integrity of your reports. Had I known about Tables when I worked as a Business Analyst at Microsoft, I could have saved three weeks of time. Easily.

What is your favorite feature or first memory of using a spreadsheet? Or do you still use the back of an envelope?

Ready to go down memory lane? Check out Microsoft’s first Excel commercial from 1992. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOO31qFmi9A.

#MicrosoftTraining #VisiCalc #MicrosoftOffice #RedCape?