Microsoft is preparing an update to the Excel spreadsheet that fixes an obvious flaw that dates back several years.
According to a new entry in the company's product roadmap, Excel will soon allow users to place hyperlinks in comments added to spreadsheets. Links can currently only be added to comments in plain text, so they must be manually pasted into a web browser.
The feature is currently in development, but is expected to roll out to all Microsoft 365 users by the end of next month.
Given how simple and obviously useful the new Excel feature is, we found it hard to believe it didn't already exist. Lo and behold, a brief investigation revealed that the current version will not allow the user to click on a link embedded in a comment thread, adding unnecessary friction to the experience.
A quick search online reveals that this is a problem Excel users have been facing for years. Until now, people had to rely on a rough solution to fix the problem.
As several online tutorials demonstrate, it's possible to add a hyperlink to a note (which is separate from a comment) and pin that note to the sheet so it doesn't disappear when the user moves away from the associated cell. Microsoft Excel will then launch this URL in the default browser when someone clicks on the note.
However, this method isn't particularly simple (it requires all existing formatting and all extra characters are removed from the note) or particularly pretty, so the ability to hyperlink a comment thread will be welcome.
The update can be seen as part of a larger campaign to optimize Microsoft 365 Apps for live collaboration, in a world where many people expect to stay remote or embrace hybrid working.
In December, for example, Microsoft released a series of improvements to the Excel web client, which can now support a wider range of files. Meanwhile, Microsoft Outlook received a feature that allows users to specify whether to join a meeting in person or via video conferencing software.
The company even released a new collaboration app, called Loop, that lets users create portable components that move freely and stay in sync across Microsoft apps.
The new hyperlink feature for Excel is another piece of that same puzzle.