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Poll Results:

The Excel 2007 Market Share?

How widely used is Excel 2007 in business? Our continuing poll
provides some clues.

by Charley Kyd
Updated May, 2009

Note: Also see our survey results, "Excel 2007's Ribbon Hurts Productivity, Survey Shows"

Microsoft released both Office 2007 and Vista to retail customers on January 30, 2007. How widely used has Excel 2007 become?

As most Excel users know, Excel 2007 has a radically different user interface than prior versions of the product. Menus and toolbars are gone, replaced by Excel's Ribbon.

(I'd like your opinion about the Ribbon, by the way. Please respond to our survey about the Ribbon. You can see the results about Excel's Ribbon here.)

To simplify terminology, I use New Excel to refer to Excel 2007 and future versions, and Classic Excel to refer to prior versions.

In November, 2007, I posted a poll that asks which version of Excel you use. I've had more than 2000 responses. Here are the results by month: 

In the top chart, the percentage of New Excel users has shown a slow but steady increase since August, 2008. In April, 2009, the percentage of Classic Excel users fell below 40%.

The bottom chart looks only at users of New Excel and displays the percentage of us who also use Classic Excel. That percentage remains at about 45%. If the large number of negative comments is any guide, one major reason that many Excel users still use Classic Excel is that most Intermediate and Advanced users of New Excel hate the Ribbon.

These results could be very useful to you. 

• If you plan to look for work soon and you wonder which version of Excel future employers will want to see on your resume, you probably need to learn both versions. (Sorry about that.) Because most Excel users still use Classic Excel, you probably should start with that program.
   
• If you're trying to decide whether your company should upgrade to Excel 2007, there doesn't seem to be a rush in that direction. Perhaps you should follow the advice of many Excel consultants, and wait for the next generation.
   
• If you're an author or product developer you might wonder whether Classic Excel is still worth your effort. The answer is yes!, Classic Excel definitely is worth your effort. Nearly 80% of all Excel users still use Classic Excel.
   
• If you do buy Excel 2007, be sure to keep your Classic version. More than half of all New Excel users have made this choice, and I highly recommend it.

I'll update these results monthly, so check back early next month.