Compatibility Versions contain improvements to Excel functions that update based on a workbook setting. This will allow you to access these improvements, while ensuring that your workbooks will continue to work as expected. Each version contains all changes from previous versions.
New workbooks in the Current Channel will be set to Version 2 (as of April 2026). See the table below for specifics by release channel.
Compatibility Versions
Workbooks that predated this feature are treated as being Version 1.
|
Version |
Functions with changes |
Description of changes |
Excel Versions that have access |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Version 1 |
N/A (Compatible with legacy Excel) |
All versions |
|
|
Version 2 (Recommended on Current Channel) |
LEN, MID, FIND, SEARCH and REPLACE functions |
Support for Unicode surrogate pairs |
Excel for M365 |
In Version 2, many emoji and special characters that were previously counted as two characters are now counted as one. For example, LEN("😀") returns 1 instead of 2.
Note: Some emoji are made up of multiple characters combined together (for example, emoji with skin tone modifiers or variation selectors). These components are still counted separately. If a result seems unexpected, the character you are looking at may be a combination of multiple characters rather than a single one.
You can set a workbook's compatibility version through Formulas > Calculation Options > Compatibility Version
For Excel 2024 and previous, the highest available Compatibility Version is Version 1 and the Recommended Version is Version 1.
|
Release Channel |
​​​​​​​Highest Available Compat. Version |
Recommended Version (Version for new workbooks) |
|---|---|---|
|
Beta |
Version 2 |
Version 2 |
|
Preview |
Version 2 |
Version 2 |
|
Current |
Version 2 |
Version 2 (as of April 2026) |
|
Monthly Enterprise |
Version 2 |
Version 1 |
|
Semi-Annual Enterprise |
Version 2 |
Version 1 |
