Excel Lists and Arrays in Cells: What Changes for Spreadsheets

By Jaspal Singh September 27, 2026 Updated: September 27, 2026

Excel is dropping its oldest rule: one cell, one value. A preview in the Beta Channel for Windows and Mac lets one cell hold a list of items, a formula's full result, or arrays nested inside arrays. If you have ever typed "Carlos, Henrietta, Jacob" into a cell, filters and formulas can now treat each name separately.

What Happened

On September 24, 2026, Microsoft published two posts announcing the change: a detailed Microsoft 365 Insider post by Excel senior product manager Jake Armstrong, and a shorter overview on the Excel blog. The Insider post opens by noting that throughout Excel's 40-year history, users could only put one value in each cell.

The release has three connected parts, which Microsoft calls lists, arrays in cells, and nested arrays. It also adds four new worksheet functions: FLATTEN, HAS, HASANY and HASALL.

The features are rolling out to Beta Channel users on Windows Version 2610 (Build 20520.20000) or later and Mac Version 16.114 (Build 26092111) or later. They are preview features, and Microsoft does not recommend them for important workbooks until general availability. The company also warns that features in this rollout "may be paused, adjusted, or removed." No date for general availability was given.

Coverage followed within a day. The Register focused on what the change means for software that reads Excel files, and its readers raised worries about compatibility and about how easily business logic can be audited.

Why It Matters

Real data rarely fits one value per cell. A project has several owners. A product carries several tags. A survey built with Microsoft Forms can return "2:00 PM; 2:30 PM; 3:00 PM" as a single answer, an example Microsoft uses itself. Until now, users had two bad options: spread those values across extra rows and columns, or cram them into one text string.

The second option is common and causes real problems. Filter a column of comma-separated owners and Excel offers each whole string as a choice, so "Carlos, Henrietta" and "Henrietta, Carlos" are two different entries and you cannot simply filter for Henrietta. Counting or looking up individual names means text-splitting formulas.

Lists fix that at the data level. The values stay together in one cell, so the row still describes one project, but Excel knows they are separate items. Microsoft's own example shows the filter menu offering individual owners rather than whole text entries.

The wider change matters more to people who build models. Arrays in cells mean a formula's full result can live in one cell instead of spilling across the grid, which makes table-shaped spreadsheets possible where every row carries its own variable-length set of numbers. That is closer to how databases handle data, and it changes what a "cell" means.

There is a cost. Every program that reads Excel files was written on the assumption that a cell holds one number, one piece of text, one date or one error. The Register points out that libraries such as openpyxl, pandas and calamine return a single value for a cell and will need updating, and that CSV export, Google Sheets, LibreOffice and older Excel builds do not support multi-value cells.

How It Works

Lists: several values typed into one cell

You create a list with Insert > List or the Ctrl+J shortcut, then type or paste items separated by commas or semicolons, depending on your regional settings. An icon appears in the cell, and selecting it shows the individual values. Editing works the way it does for any other cell: double-click it or press F2 to add, remove or change items.

The important part is what happens when a formula refers to that cell. Microsoft says referencing a list "returns all its values for calculations." A plain =B2 pointing at a list cell spills each item into its own cell, so functions work on each item rather than on one long string.

Arrays in cells: keeping a formula's result together

Since dynamic arrays arrived in Microsoft 365, a formula that returns several results "spills" them into neighbouring cells. Type ={1;2;3} and you get three cells. Braces have always been Excel's notation for arrays, and the new feature allows more than one layer of them. Type ={{1;2;3}} and the outer braces wrap the array in a one-by-one array, so the whole result sits in a single cell.

The same trick works for any spilling formula. Microsoft shows TEXTSPLIT, which normally spreads a string's pieces across columns, wrapped in braces so they stay in one cell. The result is still an array that later formulas can use, but it no longer needs empty space to spill into.

Microsoft's run-tracker example shows why this matters. Each row is one run, and one cell holds the split time for every kilometre, however many there are. Distance, total time, average split, average speed and fastest kilometre are calculated in the same table from that cell.

Nested arrays: arrays that contain arrays

Arrays can now hold other arrays, written as ={{1,2,3};{4,5,6}}. This fixes a long-standing gap. Microsoft says a formula that produced an array of arrays used to return a truncated result or a #CALC! error. Its example is TEXTSPLIT pointed at a whole column of comma-separated text: without nested arrays, Excel returned only the first item for each row. With them, each row gets its full set of pieces as its own array.

Four new functions

FLATTEN(array, [pad_value], [levels]) removes one or more levels of nesting and spills the individual values into the grid. The pad value fills gaps when rows have different numbers of items; Microsoft uses an empty string so shorter rows show blanks.
HAS(array, value) returns TRUE if the value appears anywhere in the array.
HASANY(array, values) returns TRUE if any of the given values appear.
HASALL(array, values) returns TRUE only if every one of the given values appears.

In Microsoft's project-tracker example, HAS finds projects owned by a specific person, HASANY finds projects involving any member of a leadership team, and HASALL finds projects that include every required stakeholder.

Compatibility Version 3

The most technical piece is a workbook setting. Microsoft uses compatibility versions to change how functions calculate without silently breaking older files. Workbooks created before the setting existed count as Version 1. Version 2 fixed how LEN, MID, FIND, SEARCH and REPLACE count emoji, so that LEN("😀") returns 1 instead of 2, and it became the default for new Current Channel workbooks in April 2026. Excel 2024 and earlier stop at Version 1.

Microsoft says Compatibility Version 3 will ship alongside arrays in cells and is required for most calculations involving nested arrays. You set it per workbook under Formulas > Calculation Options. The warning that matters: some existing formulas return different results under Version 3. If a workbook stops behaving as expected, Microsoft's advice is to keep it on Version 1 or 2.

What does not work yet

Microsoft lists six known limitations in the Beta Channel release. Conditional formatting does not look inside arrays unless you use a formula rule. Data validation cannot use a list or array as dropdown items. Charts do not expand an array into data points. PivotTables do not read array values as source data. Power Query does not load or output array-valued columns. Find & Replace cannot replace individual list or array items.

What's Still Unknown

When it ships to everyone. Microsoft gave builds for Beta Channel only. There is no date for the Current Channel, the enterprise channels or general availability, and the company says the behaviour may change before then.

Which formulas change under Version 3. Microsoft says some existing formulas return different results but did not list them in the announcement. Anyone managing shared workbooks will want that list before switching.

How it is stored in the file. The Register reports that Microsoft has not yet published how the new data type is represented in the .xlsx XML. Until it does, library maintainers cannot add support, and nobody outside Microsoft can say exactly what an older Excel build will show when it opens one of these cells.

Web and mobile. The announcement names Excel for Windows and Mac. It does not mention Excel for the web, iPhone, iPad or Android, which matters for any workbook that is shared or co-authored.

The rest of Excel. PivotTables, Power Query and charts drive most reporting workbooks, and none read arrays yet. Microsoft has not said when each will catch up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I put multiple values in one Excel cell now?

Yes, if you are on the Microsoft 365 Beta Channel. Windows needs Version 2610 (Build 20520.20000) or later and Mac needs Version 16.114 (Build 26092111) or later. Select Insert > List or press Ctrl+J, then type the items separated by commas or semicolons. Microsoft is rolling the feature out gradually, so it may not appear on every eligible machine straight away.

What is the difference between a list and an array in a cell?

A list is the typed version: you enter several items by hand and Excel stores them as separate values in one cell. An array in a cell is the general form, usually the result of a formula that would normally spill. Wrapping that formula's body in an extra pair of braces keeps the whole result in one cell. Arrays can be any shape and can contain other arrays.

What do the new FLATTEN, HAS, HASANY and HASALL functions do?

FLATTEN removes levels of nesting from an array and spills the values into the grid, with an optional pad value for uneven rows. HAS returns TRUE when one value appears anywhere in an array. HASANY returns TRUE when at least one of several values appears. HASALL returns TRUE only when all of the listed values appear. Together they can replace many SEARCH and COUNTIF workarounds.

Will old versions of Excel open workbooks that use lists?

Microsoft has not said exactly what older versions will show. Excel 2024 and earlier only support Compatibility Version 1, and most nested-array calculations need Version 3. The Register reports that older Excel builds, Google Sheets, LibreOffice and CSV export do not support multi-value cells. Until Microsoft documents the behaviour, keep these features out of files you share with people on other versions.

What is Compatibility Version 3 in Excel?

It is a per-workbook calculation setting that ships alongside arrays in cells and is needed for most nested-array calculations. You change it under Formulas > Calculation Options. Microsoft warns that some existing formulas produce different results under Version 3, so it recommends leaving a workbook on Version 1 or 2 if it stops working as expected after the switch.

Do PivotTables and charts work with lists?

Not yet. Microsoft lists them among the preview's known limitations: PivotTables do not read array values as source data, and charts do not expand an array into separate data points. Power Query cannot load or output array columns either. For reporting, you will need to flatten the data first, for example with FLATTEN.

Should I use lists in my work spreadsheets today?

Microsoft itself advises against it. These are preview features whose behaviour may change before general release, and the company says it does not recommend them for important workbooks. Try them in a copy or test file, send feedback through Help > Feedback in Excel, and wait for general availability before building business processes on them.