Excel online - confirming info

[wallum]

Hi all,

Sorry to post about something that's possibly been discussed at length before, but I'm having a hell of a time finding information relevant to me. All I get is Microsoft bluster and information about other versions.

Background is my workplace uses Excel 2013 (still). Boss wants to move to Excel Online instead of upgrading the desktop version. I'm okay with this in theory, as it would open up some benefits, but appears to me it's not a viable option yet. Nothing seems to work properly. Searching for information specific to the online version is hard - adding "online" or "web app" to searches doesn't yield more relevant results as these terms are too common and nonspecific.

Hoping someone can confirm the following points:

1. Workbook links are still not fully supported. Cannot do SUMIF or similar without getting VALUE errors.
2. Where workbook links are successful, lag time for cells to update is highly variabe. Sometime takes minutes, sometimes requires close and reopen of tab.
3. Workbook link can only work if the files are in the same folder on Sharepoint/OneDrive.
4. Online version is missing many features compared to others.
5. It is not possible to link desktop workbooks with online workbooks. Would need to pull data using formulas, not just basic links.
6. The online version is officially called Excel Online?? I really wish it had a unique, searchable name.

I'd love to hear if you've had a similar experience trying to migrate to the online version. I'm not feeling good about this so far - seems like it's a beta that has too many compromises in its current form to be considered viable for a business that relys on spreadsheets.

P.S. I know some of you will probably suggest putting all the workbooks together and linking them as worksheets instead. This may be an option but it's not a great match for our needs.

Greg