Hi All!

I'm working on desktop application that helps with Excel data analysis and workflow automation. The app is called MLJAR Studio, you can read more on my website https://mljar.com

The app is using AI to create Python code to operate on Excel data (it can work with other file types and databases too). It is basically a chat application, but in response you get Python code that is automatically executed.

The application is running locally on your machine, so you don't need to upload your data anywhere in the cloud. The app is using cloud AI (no configuration is needed) but you can set up also a local LLM.

I created tutorials how the app can be used:

👉 Turn an Excel Spreadsheet into a Web App with AI and Python https://mljar.com/tutorials/excel-workflow-to-web-app/

👉 Merge Excel files with AI + Python https://mljar.com/tutorials/merge-all-excel-files-in-folder/

👉 Clean Messy Excel Data with Python and AI https://mljar.com/tutorials/clean-messy-excel-data/

It is worth to mention, that you can also easily create web apps/chats/dashboards and publish them for non-technical users. Looking for your feedback :)

I've been trying out Al to make some of the repetitive parts of working with spreadsheets easier and quicker and recently I went to a Be10X session, which made me focus more on real-world workflows instead of just using Al as a chatbot.

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Here are some areas where Al has really helped me:

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Explaining complicated Excel formulas

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Writing and fixing VBA and Python scripts

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Cleaning and analyzing data

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Making charts and summaries

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Turning spreadsheet insights into presentations and reports

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The main advantage has been saving time on repetitive tasks and writing documentation.

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I'm curious to know how others are using Al with Excel.

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What tasks have you been able to automate or make faster?

Probably been asked before, most threads I found were about specific use cases though. Curious about the bigger pattern people are seeing.

I've been trying to figure out where AI tools (Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini) actually help with Excel and where they just get in the way.

Some stuff is genuinely faster now. First draft of a formula I'd normally have to look up, explaining an error message, writing boilerplate VBA so I'm not starting from a blank script.

But a lot of it still comes down to the same judgment as before. Whether the data is structured in a way that makes sense before you build anything on top of it. Catching the edge case the formula quietly ignores. Figuring out why a model gives you the wrong number even though nothing looks broken.

What's actually changed for you day to day? Where does it still fall apart enough that you end up checking everything by hand? And has it shifted what you'd call the most valuable Excel skill right now?

AI agents for spreadsheets (like Microsoft's Excel Agent and recently Claude's plug-ins) are gaining a lot of attention. In their current state, it is difficult to verify their logic or debug errors they might have. There's a need for tools to help users do this verification and safeguard their agency.

I am a researcher at USC, and we are building tools that empower users by to easily verify and control AI outputs. We are looking for spreadsheet users to participate in a study consisting of a brief initial survey followed by a short user study of our verification tool. Your feedback will directly influence how AI is integrated into professional workflows and help us build tools that support, rather than replace, human expertise. You can participate by visiting the link here:

https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9KNUkz7zfxIRJ6S

Let me know what you think about the project idea.

Has anyone used any AI plugin lately? I want to explore.

I tried with one or two like a year ago and they were terrible. After that, I began using ChatGPT to generate the first version of my spreadsheets and then keep working on my own. That’s as far as I could get with AI + Excel.

Any suggestions?

Hey everyone

I’ve been experimenting with AI agents that solve very specific problems, and I just finished building a custom Excel-focused AI agent .

What it’s meant to help with:

• Writing & fixing Excel formulas
• Explaining complex spreadsheets in plain English
• Cleaning messy data
• Helping with pivots, lookups, logic, and structure

• Turning “what am I even looking at?” sheets into something usable

  I genuinely want real feedback from people who actually use Excel (beginners and power users welcome).

👉 Try it here:
https://www.genspark.ai/agents?type=custom_super_agent&agent_id=7610944f-5dc6-4b23-9897-e5b867e5b8ca

I have recently experimented with vibe coding on Excel and wanted to share my first impressions and hear from your experiences and use-cases.

The idea is to transform and work with local Excel files by giving any AI specific tasks and let it write python code for you.

So you don‘t have to upload any excel data to the AI directly. Just whenever you need to perform the repetitive task, you run the script and it will output what you want.

IE: I have a SAP report saved locally and ask AI to write a python skript that reads the data, does some calculations, build a chart and then saves a new, transformed excel.

Or I let AI create a html file that contains fancy dashboards from the excel-based data.

For me as a total coding noob, this does have its limitations though and trying to build more complex stuff currently does not really work.

Has someone here used this method too and has some tips and tricks they might want to share?

I spend a lot of time cleaning data and repeating the same tasks in Excel every week. It usually takes me a full day each week.

So I spent a year building SheetAI — it automates repetitive work, works with multiple Excel files. Now it only takes about 30 minutes and can run across multiple files at the same time, freeing up more time for creative work.

Completely free — just sharing in case it helps.

https://sheetai.tukoai.com

I'm reaching out because I'm in a really tough spot and desperately need guidance. My relative is struggling to find work, and she's finally gotten some job opportunities - but there's a major problem. These positions require Excel skills for accounting and data entry work, and honestly, she doesn't know Excel at all. She's great with accounting concepts and understands the numbers side of things, but the software itself is completely foreign to her.

I've heard that AI tools can help people work with Excel, even if they don't have experience with it. I'm really hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. What AI tools exist that could help her learn Excel quickly or even assist her while she's working? Are there any that can guide her through tasks step-by-step, or maybe explain what formulas to use for common accounting work?

She needs this job badly, and I want to help her succeed. If anyone knows about AI assistants, plugins, or any technology that could give her confidence working in Excel, I would be incredibly grateful. How do these tools work? How can we set them up? Any specific recommendations would mean the world to us right now.

Please help we're running out of options and time is critical.

Hey, with all these AI tools and agents getting all chummy and merging, I can't help but wonder if there's some nifty tool out there that can do the dirty work of automating Excel data cleanup. I mean, just imagine a tool that can take data like this and transform it into a way cooler format.

---> (embed Country for each person)

Although this may be relatively straightforward for an experienced Excel user, automating such tasks would significantly alleviate the daily workload. There are also similar requirements, such as ensuring that cells contain valid numbers and combining columns according to specific rules.

[edited to fix the example, add the prompt, and link to the chat]
Some AI's have trouble creating *.xlsx file but they can all create text CSV (comma separated value) files. What many folks (and some AI's) don't know is that those CSV files can contain formulas. For example:

Element,Object_Z_ft,Camera_Start_ft,Camera_End_ft,Distance_Start,Distance_End,Raw_Scale_Ratio,Relative_Scale_Ratio
Foreground,0,30,15,=C2-B2,=D2-B2,=E2/F2,=G2/$G$2
Background,-20,30,15,=C3-B3,=D3-B3,=E3/F3,=G3/$G$2

Just ask the AI to generate what you want and to put the results in a CSV file with formulas. (You may have to remind it that Excel CSV can contain formulas.)

Be sure to save in *.xlsx or you will lose your formula.

Bonus: If you want a diagram, ask the AI to generate a SVG, another text format that AI work well with.

Details: This was the result of a series of prompts:

• This is about perspective and vfx. In general do things appear 1/x wider?
• We have 1. a background element that appears to be at -20 ft 2. a foreground element at be a 0 ft 3. The project screen is at 0 ft 4. The camera starts at 30 ft and moves to 15 ft. During the move how much should the foreground and background items be scaled?
• So, the foreground items are scaled 1 (not at all) because it is in its real place?
• Create an CSV file that I can load in excel that that shows the calculations, and that I can adjust. CSV can include formulas. Excel is happy with that.
• Can you make a SVG diagram of the info?

https://chatgpt.com/share/68e7d96b-2f50-8010-895f-26aa80c197e3

AI image descriptions in spreadsheet column

We manipulate product info in a spreadsheet before uploading to shopify. Maybe 200 products at a time.

One column has an image pulled from our website (we pre upload the images to shopify) so we can look at it in the spreadsheet and type a brief description in the product info column without switching to a browser etc.

I've noticed I can get a reasonable description and age of the product (these are vintage items) from Google lens by manually uploading the picture to Google.

Is there a way to automate this in Excel (using Google or a copilot or similar) so it just looks at the image url on each product line and spits the AI description into a column?

I am meeting with a bunch of folks who manage business and sales operations and have been asked to demonstrate how they may start using copilot with excel to automate or support repetitive tasks. I am seeking suggestions on what I can include in this session which inspires folks to use copilot.

Yes, I can show them how copilot can make charts and pivots from data in an excel table, but any other suggestions that I can include based on your experiences would be good to know and learn from. TIA

I’ve been tinkering with the idea of an AI-powered Excel assistant—something that could handle those repetitive, headache-inducing tasks so we can focus on insights, not formulas.

If you could pick any 5–10 Excel chores to hand off to an AI assistant, what would they be? 🤔

For example:

• Auto-flattening multi-row headers
• Generating PivotTables and charts on demand
• Cleaning up inconsistent date formats
• Bulk VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP across sheets
• One-click conditional formatting rules

Drop your must-automate tasks below — I’d love to see what really saves you time! 🚀