AI for Excel, explained — and made useful.
What AI can really do with your spreadsheets in 2026: write formulas, clean data, build dashboards, forecast, and generate reports. This is the honest, visual map — the tools, the tasks, and the worked tutorials.
What AI can actually do in Excel
Six things that genuinely save time in 2026 — each links to a worked, no-signup tutorial.
Write & explain formulas
Describe what you want in plain English; get the formula and an explanation you can check.
Clean messy data
De-duplicate, fix types, split columns and standardise text without fragile macros.
Build dashboards
Turn a file into KPI cards and charts — no PivotTable wrangling, no BI setup.
Forecast the future
Auto-tuned Holt-Winters and FORECAST.ETS for trends and seasonality.
Segment customers
RFM and cohort analysis to see who's loyal, who's churning, and who to win back.
Generate reports
One-click Word/PowerPoint reports — exec summary, charts, recommendations.
The three kinds of "AI for Excel"
They're not the same — pick by the job you actually need done.
Cell-level help
- Generate & explain formulas
- Great for quick fixes
- Cheap, often free
- Don't analyse the whole file
Whole-file analysis
- Dashboards, forecasts, reports
- Auditable — shows its working
- Keep your Excel workflow
- From $14.99/mo · free tier
Big, governed platforms
- Powerful and scalable
- Needs a data model + engineer
- £600+/seat territory
- Overkill for a spreadsheet
Explore the guides
Honest rankings and step-by-step tutorials. Start anywhere.
See it on your own spreadsheet
Upload an Excel or CSV file and get an auditable dashboard, forecast, and report in about two minutes. Free to try.
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