🤖 How to use Claude in Excel: Step-by-step

No news today.

Nothing about "OpenAI launches X" or "Google announces Y." Not today.

Today we're getting our hands dirty.

I've been experimenting with different formats in this newsletter for a few weeks now. News roundups, deep dives, analysis… And I've realized something: what people actually need isn't knowing what's happening in AI. It's knowing how to actually apply it.

So today we're launching a new format: a practical How-To, step by step, zero fluff.

The topic: Claude for Excel. What it is, how to install it, what you can do with it, and what it can't do yet.

If you work with spreadsheets (and let's be honest, who doesn't?), this will be useful. Whether you're in finance, controlling, analytics, or you're just someone who hates Excel formulas. This changes how you work with data.

One important thing: this format is new and I need to know if you like it or not. Seriously. "It's fine" doesn't cut it. Tell me what you need, what you want to see, what felt unnecessary. Reply to this email directly — I read every single one and respond to as many as I can. I work for you, so ask me for whatever you want.

Let's get into it.

The Problem: Excel + AI Has Been a Disaster (Until Now)

Let me tell you something that's probably happened to you.

It's 4 PM. You need to send this Excel by 5. There's a #REF! error and you have no idea where it's coming from.

You take a screenshot. Upload it to ChatGPT. And ChatGPT says: "Check if D14 references a deleted cell."

There is no D14.

Five minutes wasted. But you don't give up.

Now you upload the Excel file directly to ChatGPT. But ChatGPT can't actually read Excel files. It flattens everything to plain text. Formulas disappear. Structure is gone. Cell references cease to exist.

So you end up fixing it manually. Again.

"AI doesn't work for Excel." Sound familiar?

And I don't blame you. Until now, that was true.

The problem was never the AI's intelligence. The problem was that no one built an integration that actually worked inside Excel, with real access to your cells, your formulas, and your structure.

Microsoft tried with Copilot. And they blew it. (More on that later.)

Then Anthropic put Claude directly inside Excel. Not as a separate chat where you send screenshots. Not as a bot that reads plain text. Inside. With access to everything.

And that changes everything.

How to Install Claude in Excel (in 2 Minutes)

Let's cut to the chase. This is quick.

Step 1: Have Excel installed.

Who the hell doesn't have Excel on their computer? If that's you, go download it right now. Seriously. Official Microsoft link here, free with a Microsoft account.

Step 2: Install the Claude add-in.

You have two options:

→ From the Microsoft Marketplace → search "Claude for Excel" → "Get it now".

→ Or from Claude's official page, where they walk you through everything step by step.

Step 3: Activate it inside Excel.

Once installed, go to Tools → Add-ins (Mac) or Home → Add-ins (Windows). Select Claude and a side panel opens on the right.

Step 4: Sign in with your Claude account.

If you don't have an account, create one at claude.ai. And yes, you need the Pro subscription, which costs $17/month.

Is it worth paying for?

I'll give it to you straight: if you work with Excel more than an hour a week, yes. And I'm not just saying that. I've tested it. Claude inside Excel does things that neither ChatGPT nor Copilot can do right now. This isn't hype — it actually works.

Shortcut to open Claude once installed:

→ Mac: Control + Option + C

→ Windows: Control + Alt + C

That's it. Nothing else. Two minutes and you're up and running.

What You Can Do with Claude in Excel (With Real Examples)

Here's where it gets good. This is what actually matters.

Claude isn't a chatbot duct-taped to Excel. It has real access to your cells, your formulas, your structure. It reads the entire workbook, understands the dependencies between cells, and explains whatever you want with exact references.

Let's break it down.

🔍 Understanding Formulas You've Never Seen Before

Someone hands you an Excel. 47 tabs. 200 formulas. There's one you don't understand and you need to know what it does. Not what the function means in general — what that specific formula does in that specific spreadsheet.

You click on the cell. Ask Claude. And it explains it to you, step by step.

Check out this real example. A bakery P&L. Cell E33 has this formula:

=MAX((E29-E32)*0.2, 0)

You ask Claude: "Explain what this formula does in plain English."

And Claude responds: take the value in E29, subtract E32, multiply the result by 0.2 and return that. But if it's negative, return 0 instead. And it adds that this is a common pattern for calculating something like a tax or fee that only applies when one value exceeds another.

It doesn't just tell you what MAX does. It tells you what that formula does in the context of your sheet.

Other prompts you can use:

→ "Trace this cell back to its source inputs"

→ "Why is cell B4 showing an error? Find the root cause"

→ "Find all #REF and #VALUE errors in this workbook"

🧹 Cleaning Data in Seconds

You get a data export. Dates in 5 different formats. Names split wrong. Duplicates everywhere. Before you can do anything useful, you need to clean all of that up.

Normally that takes hours. With Claude:

→ "Convert all dates to YYYY-MM-DD format"

→ "Standardize phone numbers to +1 (XXX) XXX-XXXX"

→ "Find and remove duplicate rows, keeping the most recent"

→ "Split full address into separate columns: street, city, state, zip"

And the best part: Claude highlights every cell it touches. You see exactly what changed. No black box, no surprises.

📊 Analyzing Data Without Writing a Single Formula

You have the data. You need insights. But you don't feel like spending an hour building SUMIFS and pivot tables.

You ask Claude: "What trends stand out?"

And look what happens. In this example, a full monthly P&L, Claude reads the entire sheet and gives you a straight-up analysis:

It tells you revenue is volatile with a downward drift in the second half. It points out the strong months and the weak ones. It warns you that COGS spiked in Q4, crushing margins.

Without touching a formula. Without creating a pivot table. You ask and it answers using the data from your sheet, citing specific cells.

Other useful prompts:

→ "Identify the top 10 customers by revenue and their growth rates"

→ "Compare actuals to budget and explain the largest variances"

→ "Categorize these transactions by expense type"

→ "Score each lead based on likelihood to convert"

🏗️ Building Financial Models from Scratch

You don't want to start from a blank sheet and build every formula yourself.

You ask Claude to build the model and it does. With real formulas, cell dependencies, and professional structure.

Check out this example: a complete business plan for a real estate acquisition in Paris. Acquisition costs, financing structure, 24-month cash flow projection, capital repayment…

Claude doesn't just plug in numbers. It builds step by step in the side panel: first the inflows, then the outflows by category (building purchase, renovation, interest payments…), and you see and approve each block before it applies anything.

Other prompts for models:

→ "Build a 3-statement financial model for [company/industry]"

→ "Create a SaaS metrics model with ARR, churn, and LTV"

→ "Build a 12-month revenue forecast using historical trends"

→ "Add a downside case assuming revenue drops 15%"

📄 Pulling a PDF Directly into Excel

Someone sends you a PDF with data you need in your spreadsheet. Normally you'd have to retype it manually or pay for a converter tool.

With Claude, you drag the PDF into the side panel and tell it:

→ "Extract the financial table from this PDF into Excel"

→ "Pull the line items from this invoice into my template"

→ "Fill in my deal template using data from this offering memo"

Claude reads the PDF and dumps the data directly into your sheet. Structured. Makes sense. No copy-pasting like a caveman.

What It Can't Do (Yet)

I'm not going to oversell this. Claude in Excel is powerful, but it's not magic. It has clear limitations and you should know them before you start using it.

What it doesn't support right now:

→ Macros and VBA. If your Excel relies on Visual Basic code, Claude can't touch it. Can't run it, can't edit it, can't create it.

→ Power Query and Power Pivot. Nothing. If you use these tools to transform data or build complex data models, Claude doesn't go there.

→ External database connections. It can't pull from your SQL Server, your Salesforce, or your ERP. It works with what's in the file, period.

→ Huge files. There are size limits depending on your plan. If you have a 50MB Excel with 200,000 rows, you'll probably run into issues.

And something important that Anthropic themselves say:

Don't use it for final client deliverables without reviewing. Don't use it for audit-critical calculations without verifying. Don't use it with highly sensitive data without proper controls.

It's the classic: just because AI does it doesn't mean it's perfect.

This is where the usual applies. AI has a jagged frontier. Sometimes it blows your mind. Sometimes it fails at something that seems obvious.

We're at that point where AI is incredibly intelligent, but for some reason fails at X. That's normal. Don't get frustrated when it happens — and it will.

My recommendation: use it to understand, build, clean, and review. But always have a human do the final check. Especially if that Excel is leaving your computer.

Copilot vs Claude: The Reality

When Claude for Excel went viral, Microsoft reacted fast. One day later, they launched "Agent Mode" for Copilot in Excel.

The internet's response was… well, see for yourself:

"Anthropic already ate your lunch." "It took you this long?" "I have Copilot and it's horrible, sorry but it's the truth." "Too late, buddy."

I've tested both. And I'll give you my honest take:

Claude is better. Significantly better.

It's not that Copilot is useless. It does things. But the difference is in how it understands context. Claude actually reads your workbook, understands the relationships between cells, cites exact references when explaining something. Copilot often gives you generic answers that could apply to any Excel file.

You know that feeling when you're talking to someone who clearly hasn't read the document before the meeting? That's Copilot. Claude actually did the reading.

Look, I have nothing against Microsoft. I use their products every day. But here they showed up late and unprepared. They've had Copilot integrated into Office for years and haven't managed to make it work well. Anthropic's been at it for months and they've already passed them.

Competition is good. It'll make both of them improve. But right now, if I have to pick one, I pick Claude without hesitation.

Wrapping Up

Here's the summary. This is what you can do today:

1. Install Claude in Excel. Microsoft Marketplace or Claude's official page. Two minutes.

2. Open any Excel you have lying around. A complex one, the kind you inherited from someone and never fully understood.

3. Ask it things. Have it explain formulas. Have it find errors. Have it analyze trends. Start there.

4. Once you get the hang of it, ask it to build. Models, projections, scenarios. Make it work for you.

Yes, it costs $17/month. Yes, it has limitations. But if you work with Excel regularly, this will save you hours. Real hours. And probably a few headaches.

Now for the important part.

This format is new. A practical How-To, no news, no noise. Just direct application.

I need to know if this was useful. If you want more of this. If you prefer the usual format. If there's something that felt unnecessary or something you wish I'd covered.

Reply to this email. Seriously. I read every single one. I work for you, so tell me what you need.

See you soon.

Pablo

AI won't replace you. Someone who knows how to use it will. This free 5-day course teaches you the essentials: effective prompts, automation fundamentals, and when agents beat workflows. Ready to level up?