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What is Microsoft Excel? An introductory guide to analysis and automation available in M365 E3/E5

About This Article
This guide helps beginners understand how to use Microsoft Excel beyond a simple spreadsheet tool, covering input, aggregation, data shaping, co-authoring, and automation for business use cases. Based on official Microsoft documentation verified as of September 17, 2026, it explains the positioning of E3/E5 and distinguishes between functions with different roles such as Power Query, VBA, and Office Scripts.

Verification Status: 📘 Verified with official Microsoft documentation – Device testing not conducted (2026-09-17)

Excel is a spreadsheet application, but in actual business operations,"Receive data → Prepare data → Calculate → Review → Present to others"its greatest strength is the ability to handle this entire workflow within a single file.

On the other hand, packing everything into Excel can lead to problems such as "not knowing who made edits," "repeating the same copy-and-paste tasks every month," "breaking formulas," and "losing track of the latest version." This article explores advanced usage to avoid these issues.

First, learn just these 6 terms

Power Query is not a formula, but rathera tool for recording cleanup procedures before and after importing data into Excel, which makes it easier to understand.

Overview of data centered on Excel

Instead of looking only at the Excel interface itself, seeing where data comes from and where it goes helps clarify its role.

flowchart LR
    CSV[CSV / テキスト] --> PQ[Power Query\n取り込み・整形]
    DB[(業務データ)] --> PQ
    PQ --> TABLE[Excelテーブル]
    TABLE --> FORMULA[数式・XLOOKUP\n集計・判定]
    TABLE --> CHART[グラフ・ピボット]
    TABLE --> AUTO[VBA / Office Scripts\n定型作業の補助]
    FORMULA --> REPORT[確認用レポート]
    CHART --> REPORT

This is not a network diagram, buta data architecture diagramDepending on the article, we use the diagram that best aids understanding, such as architecture diagrams, relation diagrams, sequence diagrams, and permission diagrams, in addition to process flows.

Is Excel different between E3 and E5?

According to Microsoft's current service descriptions, both Microsoft 365 E3/Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5/Office 365 E5 provide Microsoft 365 Apps for the web and desktop client applications. Using Excel itself is not exclusive to E5.

Here too,The difference between E3 and E5 and the difference between the Web version and desktop version are separate issues.is.

Try it first: Connect two lists using XLOOKUP

For example, suppose you have an "Employee Master" with employee IDs in column A and names in column B, and the employee ID you want to look up is in E2.

=XLOOKUP(E2,$A$2:$A$100,$B$2:$B$100,"見つかりません")

What is it doing?

E2It searches for the value in A2:A100 and returns column B of the matching row. The final "Not Found" is displayed when there is no corresponding ID.

What happens upon success?

Changing the employee ID in E2 updates the corresponding name. Non-existent IDs display "Not Found".

Modify one location

Change the return range from the name column to the department column. This demonstrates that the "lookup column" and "return value column" can be specified independently.

Real-world example: Are you manually processing CSVs every month?

Suppose you perform the following tasks every month.

1. Open the CSV

2. Delete unnecessary columns

3. Fix the date format

4. Filter by department

5. Copy to another Excel file

6. Repeat the same process next month

In this case, the first tool to consider is Power Query.

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as 利用者
    participant F as 毎月のCSV
    participant Q as Power Query
    participant E as Excelレポート
    U->>F: 新しいCSVを用意
    U->>Q: 更新を実行
    Q->>F: データを読み取る
    Q->>Q: 登録済みの整形手順を再実行
    Q->>E: 整形後データを読み込む
    E-->>U: 同じ形の表で確認

The key takeaway from this diagram is that Power Query does not memorize the monthly results, but ratherreuses the transformation steps..

Papanda Practice 1: Inspecting CSVs safely using PowerShell

This is a read example that inspects only the column names and the first three rows of a CSV before opening it in Excel.

$path = "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\sample.csv"

if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $path) {
    $rows = Import-Csv -LiteralPath $path
    $rows | Select-Object -First 3
    $rows | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object Name
} else {
    Write-Host "[NOT FOUND] $path"
}

What to inspect?

Without modifying the original CSV, you check what columns exist and what values are contained in the first few rows.

What happens upon success?

The first three rows and column names are displayed in the console.

Change one location

-First 3Change from-First 10to. Without altering the data itself, you can increase only the inspection range.

This is a safe topic that can be easily extracted into a Daily Code Sample.

Papanda Practical 2: Viewing Workbook Sheet Names in VBA

This is a simple example for desktop Excel just to see what sheets exist in the current workbook.

Sub ListWorksheetNames()
    Dim ws As Worksheet

    For Each ws In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
        Debug.Print ws.Name
    Next ws
End Sub

ThisWorkbook.Worksheetsrepresents the worksheets in the workbook containing this VBA code. Since it does not modify any cells, it is an easy entry-level example to try out VBA.

Upon success, the sheet names are listed in the Immediate Window. Adding a test sheet and running it again will confirm that the new sheet name appears.

If macros are prohibited on your corporate PC, do not bypass the settings; follow your administrator rules.

Papanda Practical 3: Reading First in Office Scripts

If you are in an environment where Office Scripts are available, start by logging the name of the active worksheet.

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook) {
  const sheet = workbook.getActiveWorksheet();
  console.log(`Active sheet: ${sheet.getName()}`);
}

Upon success, the current sheet name is logged. Selecting a different sheet and running it again changes the result. Rather than updating or deleting a large number of cells from the start,Retrieve -> Verify -> Make small changesIt is safer to learn in this order.

Caution Regarding VBA Editing During Co-authoring

Microsoft's best practices for Excel co-authoring note that editing VBA code or macros during co-authoring may impact other users, and therefore recommend performing code edits when other users are not interacting with the workbook.

In other words, simply placing a file on OneDrive or SharePoint does not make any action safe. Consider your operational workflows for spreadsheets that are co-authored versus workbooks where VBA is frequently modified.

Avoid Relying Too Heavily on Excel as a Database

Because Excel is convenient, consider alternative mechanisms if the following conditions arise:

In an environment where Copilot is available, "do not let it fix things automatically"

この表を確認し、欠損値・重複・異常に大きい値がありそうな列を列名付きで指摘してください。
値や数式は変更しないでください。
判断根拠と、人間が確認すべきセル範囲を分けて示してください。
数値・日付については推測で補完しないでください。

Rather than asking to "clean up the data" from the start,Search for potential anomalies -> Human verification -> Make only necessary changesThis approach makes verification easier.

Points for administrators to check

• Microsoft 365 Apps deployment and updates

• Macro/VBA policy

• Availability of Office Scripts

• Sharing scope for OneDrive/SharePoint

• External data connections and credentials

• Sensitivity labels

• Licenses and data access scope when using Copilot

Sensitivity labelsis a mechanism that applies classifications such as "Confidential" or "Secret" to data and links them to protection based on organizational settings. This is considered in conjunction with management on the Microsoft Purview side, rather than as a feature exclusive to Excel.

Official Information and Primary Sources

• Microsoft 365 / Office 365 Plan Options (Microsoft Learn)

• Office Application Service Description (Microsoft Learn)

• Collaborate on Excel workbooks at the same time (Microsoft Support)

• Excel co-authoring best practices (Microsoft Support)

Rather than viewing Excel merely as an "app for creating spreadsheets",if you view it as a workbench for observing data, making repetitive tasks reproducible, and connecting them to minor automations,it becomes easier to organize the roles of Power Query, VBA, and Office Scripts.