If you are one of the people who have been clinging to Excel 2002 and managed to hang in there all this time, well… hey, it’s time to upgrade. Here is a summary of the things that were changed in Excel 2003:
Online assistance Web-based assistance became a priority with direct Help connections to Microsoft. The online Help system automatically looked for additional topics on the Microsoft Web site, making the system more complete, timely, and accurate. Online/offline integration was seamless—you just connect to the Internet, and the Help system automatically availed itself of online content. In addition, Microsoft added new features that controlled and enhanced Web interactions and customer feedback.
Side-by-side comparison of worksheets The Compare Side By Side command made it easy to identify differences between two worksheets by letting you scroll through both worksheets simultaneously. In Excel 2007, Microsoft transformed this command into a button named View Side By Side.
Improved statistical functions A number of the built-in statistical analysis functions became more accurate in Excel 2003; past versions of these functions had produced slightly different rounding results.
Task panes Microsoft added the Research task pane, offering a wide variety of reference information and expanded resources through your Internet connection. The Research feature now lives on the Review tab on the ribbon.
Information Rights Management The Information Rights Management (IRM) features introduced in Excel 2003 provided a measure of control over unauthorized access to your workbooks. Microsoft updated this feature in 2007 and 2010.
List management Enhanced list management features in Excel 2003 helped ensure list integrity and made it easier to upload list ranges to Windows SharePoint Services sites. Excel 2007 discarded the concept of lists and upgraded to the concept of tables.