Put Claude inside Excel to do the grunt work
Install the Claude for Excel add-in and clean data, build formulas and explain spreadsheets without leaving the sheet — the end of staring at VLOOKUP error messages.
What this looks like
One step on screen at a time. Read it, do it, tap Next.
Put Claude inside Excel to do the grunt work
Step 1 of 8
Understand what the add-in can and can't do
Claude for Excel puts a Claude sidebar inside your spreadsheet. It can read the open workbook, explain formulas, clean data, write new formulas, and restructure tables.
Checkpoint
You can name one task in your current spreadsheet you'd hand over first.
Before you begin
Tick these off as you sort them. Stopping halfway to create an account is how a fifteen-minute build becomes an hour.
0 of 6 ready
Ticks are saved on this device, so you can come back to them.
- Account
The add-in installs from the Microsoft store inside Excel. You'll need to be signed in to Excel (Microsoft 365 or a free Microsoft account both work).
- Account
The add-in signs in with your claude.ai account. Paid plans get higher usage limits inside Excel.
- Have ready
Bring something genuine — a data export with inconsistent formatting, or a model with formulas you inherited and don't understand.
The basics — ticked once, remembered everywhere
- Account
Either the hosted version or a self-hosted install. Everything here works the same on both — the only visible difference is the shape of your webhook URLs.
Create a workspace - Know-how
Adding a node, connecting two of them, and pressing Execute. If any of that is new, the free primer covers it in about ten minutes.
- Credential
You will paste at least one secret during setup. A password manager beats a notes app, and it stops you pasting a live key into a chat window by accident.
The shape of the setup
The Claude features you will touch, left to right, in the order you use them.
What you will build
Jump straight to any step, or print the list and tick it off beside your Claude tab.
If something goes wrong
Everything ready?
Start walkthrough