Claude in Excel: AI-Powered Spreadsheet Analysis

Claude is now available directly in Microsoft Excel, bringing AI-powered analysis to your spreadsheets. Here’s how to make the most of it.

What’s Available

Claude in Excel (beta) supports:

• Pivot tables: Create and modify pivot tables with natural language
• Charts: Generate visualizations from your data
• File uploads: Analyze external data sources
• Quick access: Shortcut to open full Claude app from Excel

Getting Started

Availability

• Max users ✓
• Team users ✓
• Enterprise users ✓

Setup

1. Install the Claude add-in from Microsoft AppSource
2. Sign in with your Claude account
3. Access Claude from the ribbon or sidebar

Key Use Cases

Data Analysis

Ask Claude:

• “What are the main trends in this sales data?”
• “Find outliers in the Q4 revenue column”
• “Compare performance across regions”

Pivot Table Creation

Natural language:

"Create a pivot table showing total sales by product category and quarter"

Claude creates the pivot table with appropriate fields and aggregations.

Chart Generation

Request:

"Create a line chart showing revenue trend over the past 12 months"

Claude generates appropriate visualizations based on your data.

Formula Assistance

Ask:

• “What formula calculates the growth rate between columns B and C?”
• “How do I create a VLOOKUP for this data?”
• “Write a formula to sum all values where status is ‘Complete‘“

Data Cleaning

Request:

"Find and highlight all cells with missing data"
"Standardize date formats in column A"
"Remove duplicate rows based on column B"

Best Practices

1. Be Specific

Tell Claude exactly what columns or ranges you’re working with.

2. Provide Context

Explain what the data represents for better insights.

3. Iterate

Start with simple requests, then refine based on results.

4. Verify

Always review Claude’s outputs before using for decisions.

Example Workflows

Monthly Reporting

1. Import: Upload new data file
2. Clean: “Standardize all date formats to YYYY-MM-DD”
3. Analyze: “Create summary statistics for each department”
4. Visualize: “Create charts showing month-over-month trends”
5. Export: Generate report-ready visuals

Sales Analysis

1. Question: “What products had the highest growth this quarter?”
2. Drill down: “Break that down by region”
3. Compare: “How does this compare to same period last year?”
4. Predict: “Based on trends, what’s the projected Q1?”

Financial Review

1. Summarize: “Provide a summary of this P&L statement”
2. Calculate: “Calculate all relevant financial ratios”
3. Highlight: “Flag any metrics outside normal ranges”
4. Document: “Create notes explaining key variances”

Limitations

What Claude Can Do

• Analyze visible data
• Create formulas and pivot tables
• Generate charts
• Provide insights and recommendations

What Claude Cannot Do

• Access external databases directly
• Run macros or VBA code
• Modify workbook permissions
• Access protected sheets

Security Considerations

Data Handling

• Data is processed according to your Claude plan’s policies
• Enterprise users have additional data controls
• No data retention for analysis queries

Best Practices

• Don’t share sensitive data unnecessarily
• Use enterprise plans for confidential data
• Review data governance policies

Tips for Power Users

Keyboard Shortcuts

Set up custom shortcuts to quickly invoke Claude.

Templates

Create template files with common Claude prompts in notes.

Batch Processing

Use Claude to create formulas, then apply across large datasets.

Integration

Combine with other Claude features for comprehensive workflows.

Comparison with Copilot

Feature	Claude in Excel	Microsoft Copilot
Pivot tables	Yes	Yes
Charts	Yes	Yes
Natural language	Advanced	Good
Reasoning	Strong	Good
External data	Upload	Microsoft ecosystem
Pricing	Claude subscription	Microsoft 365

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Want to supercharge your Excel workflows with Claude? Let’s discuss your use case.