Which Microsoft Office application is used for spreadsheets?

Microsoft Excel is the Microsoft Office application used for spreadsheets. It organizes information in rows and columns, performs calculations with formulas, and can turn data into charts, tables, and reports.

Excel is more than a digital grid. It includes statistical, financial, engineering, and logical functions, along with tools such as PivotTables for summarizing large datasets. Its Visual Basic for Applications system also lets users automate repetitive tasks and build custom spreadsheet tools.

Microsoft first released Excel in 1985 for the Apple Macintosh. A Windows version followed in 1987. Before Excel, Microsoft had developed Multiplan, but that program struggled against Lotus 1-2-3 on MS-DOS computers. Excel eventually became one of the most widely used spreadsheet programs and remains part of Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365.

The other options belong to different Office roles: Access is a database application, PowerPoint is for presentations, and Word is for word processing. Excel files commonly use the .xlsx extension, although older versions used .xls.