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Provides: Spreadsheets, calculations, and charting

Format: DVD

Developer: Microsoft

Minimum Requirements: 500MHz PowerPC G4 or Intel processor, Mac os X v10.4.9, 512MB RAM, 1.5GB hard disk space, DVD drive, 1024x768 display, Internet access (for Entourage and certain features)

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Retail Price: Full version: $229.95, Upgrade version: $109.95

Availability: Out now

Excel, under the original name Multiplan, was one of the first Macintosh software programs, long before there ever was a Windows. Now, after all these years, this staple of office, financial, and scientific calculation is still commanding respect. And despite the fact that a number of people still try to use it as a database (e.g., storing rosters, et. al., something that spreadsheets are not really good at), there are still a few new tricks with this version.

[Note: This is one part of a six part review. We recommend you read the Office 2008 Overview before reading this or any other review, as it describes a number of features and dynamics that cover all of the Office programs.]

For anyone who has to use Excel for the Mac in an office environment that has Visual Basic Macros powering their Excel files, you have two choices: either do not upgrade and stay with Office 2004, or wait for the next release as Microsoft has committed to returning VB to Office at that time.

If you've ever wondered what's the big deal with spreadsheets, the basics are straightforward; it's a grid of columns and rows in which one can place numbers and let user-created calculations manipulate those numbers. A grade sheet is a good example, where a teacher can enter the grades a student received. The spreadsheet can total the grades and provide an average which can be used as the final grade. More sophisticated duties can be achieved by providing "weight" to any given grade. Statistical results can be achieved to view the mean and average for the class, and these can be compared to other classes. In other words, you can make any spreadsheet as simple or as complex and/or are capable as you want.

Excel 2008 opens up pretty much as it always has and presents the new gallery options. Note that the toolbar is now fixed to the document. As opposed to Office 2004 where this could float, in 2008 you either have it showing or not. If you do not need the various commands on this toolbar, or you can do them all via key commands, you can save some vertical space. [View -> toolbars -> (uncheck Standard).]

The first of the new Gallery options is one that will be viewed as either fantastic or with a shrug by different groups of users: Ledger sheets.

Ledger sheets are appearing in Office 2008 Excel before they show up on the next PC version of Excel, if you are interested in bragging rights. They are simply pre-formatted spreadsheets with identifying rows and pre-created, built in calculations. Thus, if you've never been able to figure out how to set up basic in-cell calculations, now you can now avoid it a bit longer.

After clicking on the "Sheets" tab, the user is presented with seven different subcategories: Accounts, Budgets, Invoices, Lists, Portfolios, Reports, and Blank Sheets. Selecting Invoices presents three options: Retail Invoice, Service Invoice, and Wholesale Invoice.

When selecting the Service Invoice, as an example, one finds the following columns (across three pages): (page 1) Date, Number, Customer, Category; (page 2) Memo, Item, Quantity, Price; (page 3) Total Items, Discounts, Taxes and Fees, Total Invoice, Mailed (a checkbox), and Posted (a checkbox).

In the grand scheme, this is rather nifty because all of the required cross-calculations are done; you simply enter the data in the appropriate columns and Excel's ledgers will do the calculations. The important thing to realize is that this is no more a substitute for Quickbooks (for example) than Excels' Address list is a formal roster created in FileMaker. The person who can best use these types of sheets is the person who just did a benefit yard sale and wants to calculate this one-time event. Probably the biggest failure of these ledgers is that there is no way to cross-integrate them. That is, there is no way to take the "Address" ledger and connect it to the "Retail Invoice" ledger so you can place and link the address of a given customer. Since there is a column for "Mailed," one might consider there should be some mechanism for linkage to an address, but alas, there is not.

While I do think this is a very nice addition for the person who needs a ledgers for the occasional event, I just hope that those who purchase Office 2008 do not consider this an opportunity to avoid purchasing a proper invoicing program. The good news is that you can do a "Save as..." and export all of the data from a ledger as a tab-delineated text document and import that into most proper database and/or accounting programs. However, keep in mind that calculation result cells are not exported, so if you have a "number of items," and a "price" for the items, the "total" will not be exported.

Assuming you are creating your calculation fields from scratch, a new tool has been added to make this easier: the Formula Builder. First off, let me describe how to make a calculation field the old fashioned way, by hand. This example is profoundly simple, but does help explain the process.

What I've done below is to create a column called "Number," a 2nd column called "Price," and a third column called "Total." Below those headings I've placed a "2," a "$5," and, in the third, a calculation to multiply the 1st cell by the 2nd cell. To do this, click or double-click in the field and enter an "=" sign. Now, click on either the cell with the "2" or the "5," then press the asterisk key (by either pressing Shift-8 or pressing the asterisk key on the numeric keyboard). Finally, click on the last number. Note that what you see in the calculation field [=B2*A2] represents Excel's manner of saying multiply the contents of one cell with the other. After you press the Enter key, all you see in that cell is "$10."

To do the same task using the Formula Builder, you first click (or double-click) on the cell you want to display the calculation. Then click on the Formula Builder icon in the Formatting Palette (the green highlighted tab seen below). Then, scroll down to find the arithmetic tool you want to use from the list. [Note: Although there are no visible "grow handles" on this palette, you can extend it vertically as long as feasible for your screen. This makes scrolling and finding specific items much easier.] Once you've found the tool you want, double-click it and you are then presented with two fields and an arithmetic operation between them.

If you then click on one of the two fields you want to multiply together, it will show up in the top field. Note you can see that same field displayed in the cell on which you are working, exactly as if you were doing this directly without the Formula Builder.

Next, you would mouse-down on the double-pointed arrows to display the various operands from which you can select. I've selected "Multiply."

Finally, you select the last cell as before, click Enter, and you are done. Obviously, if you know what you are doing, using the Formula Builder is more work than doing it straight for a calculation as straightforward as this example. But, for more complicated or complex calculations, the Formula Builder (which is essentially a Formula Wizard) will be a great asset for a number of people.

Charts have not changed all that much, if at all. However, the dynamics of the Gallery does make finding the specific chart you wish to use significantly easier.

Overall, I find this release of Excel does provide a good presentation, but as to whether it's better is somewhat in doubt. Yes, it does have the Gallery views to make selection of charts a bit easier. Yes, it does have ledgers to help bypass the need to create basic tables of data. However, using such a ledger for "real" work would be silly. That notwithstanding, these will be a blessing for the occasional spreadsheet user. Finally, yes there is the Formula Builder, a good wizard for those who need the focused guidance. However, the benefits of Excel being Intel native are surprisingly limited, and the loss of Visual Basic is a killer from the get-go for those who work in a mixed PC/Mac environment where VB is a basic tool. Alas, it will probably be at least three years (if past trends hold true) before an Excel with Visual Basic is back in the next MS Office.

In short, if you do not own Office, this is a great Excel. If you own Office 2004, there's not much reason to update. If you rely upon Visual Basic, there are good reasons to leave this alone.

• See other Microsoft Office 2008 product reviews.

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.