Both routes in Excel 2013 display the Backstage View, which some users will appreciate. In older versions, you can display the File Open dialog by clicking the File tab and choosing Open or choosing Open from the QAT. This option is missing from Excel 2013's Ribbon, but you can still create your own chart templates by right-clicking the chart and choosing Save As Template. Creating a chart template is an efficient way to save custom settings you want to reuse. 5: Chart templateĮxcel 20 offer a Save As Template option on the contextual Design tab. Excel 2013 users will have to create a combo chart, which will take a bit more work. If you try this in Excel 2013, you'll change the chart type for all the series in the chart, not just one. You simply right-click the series you want to change and choose Change Series Chart Type from the shortcut menu. One of the more efficient charting options in earlier versions lets you change the chart type for an individual series - quite easily, in fact. The next time you launch Excel 2013, it will bypass the start screen and open a blank workbook.

In the Start Up Options section, uncheck the Show The Start Screen When This application Starts option.

You can disable this new default, as follows: Excel 2013 displays the start screen instead.

When you launch earlier versions of Excel, it displays a blank workbook. To split the screen, use Split in the Windows group on the View tab. Unfortunately, these controls are gone in Excel 2013. Each scroll bar has one and this feature is a personal favorite.

Using the Split control, you can quickly divide the screen. You can still open workspace files (*.xlw) created in earlier versions. You won't find this feature in Excel 2013, nor can you add it to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). You can then open the workspace to open all the workbooks at once. You can avoid the hassle of reopening them by saving them as a workspace. Save Workspace is helpful when you regularly work with the same set of workbooks.

This review doesn't include Excel Services or the new mobile version. I've compared desktop versions on individual systems. But even though the interface is similar, a few features and options have been deprecated or rerouted - including the following items. Excel users upgrading to 2013 won't have much trouble acclimating to the new tools and options.

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