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Creating and using Lambda Functions in Excel Part four of a four-part series of blogs
You can now create and use anonymous functions in Excel (usually called "Lambda functions"). Learn how to add to the stock of Excel functions without having to learn any programming code! Creating and using Lambda Functions in Excel Stages to follow to create a lambda function Three examples of lambda functions When will you be able to use lambda functions? (this blog)

Creating and using Lambda Functions in Excel

Part four of a four-part series of blogs

You can now create and use anonymous functions in Excel (usually called "Lambda functions"). Learn how to add to the stock of Excel functions without having to learn any programming code!

Creating and using Lambda Functions in Excel
Stages to follow to create a lambda function
Three examples of lambda functions
When will you be able to use lambda functions? (this blog)

Posted by Andy Brown on 21 December 2020

When will you be able to use lambda functions?

As Hamlet would say: ay, there's the rub. You need to find out what account you're assigned to in Excel. To do this, from the Excel menu select File => Account to see something like this:

We have Office 365 for Business.

If you can't see the LAMBDA function in Excel, try getting the latest update:

It's worth seeing if there's an update waiting for you which will bring the joy of lambda functions to your laptop.

Failing that, everything will depend on what channel you're on:

This shows I've signed up for the Office Insider channel: on the plus side I get weekly updates, but on the downside these may introduce bugs, as it's beta software.

The next level up is called Current Channel (Preview), which gives you more stable monthly updates. However at the time of writing I couldn't get the LAMBDA function with this program.

If you (like me) are running Office 365 for Business, this Microsoft page explains how you can change which channel you're on. Initially I despaired, as the ways listed seemed so complicated, but buried inside this page is this:

A back door to changing your Office 365 Channel.

If you follow this suggestion, make sure you run your command prompt as an administrator:

The first time I tried this it didn't work, presumably because I didn't run the command prompt as an administrator.

It worked unbelievably well and simply for me!

Parts of this blog
Creating and using Lambda Functions in Excel Stages to follow to create a lambda function Three examples of lambda functions When will you be able to use lambda functions? (this blog)