How to Use ChatGPT in Excel

This guide will explain how you can use ChatGPT alongside Microsoft Excel.

ChatGPT is a powerful AI that can help Excel users generate Excel formulas that solve their specific problems.

The rise of powerful language models such as GTP-3 has made it possible for algorithms to generate text to fit any use case. Since these AI models were trained on such a large amount of content, users have found a variety of ways to take advantage of the breadth of the model’s knowledge.

ChatGPT is a chatbot released by OpenAI that aims to provide a conversational AI that can answer any question as if it were an expert. 

Because Microsoft Excel is such a widely-used tool, ChatGPT has extensive knowledge of how Microsoft Excel works and can even generate custom formulas from scratch.

Let’s look into a quick example of when you can use ChatGPT to improve your Excel workflow.

Suppose you have a dataset of x and y value pairs. You want to find the absolute difference between the squares of x and y. 

Instead of searching for a solution, you can simply ask ChatGPT the following: 

‘Write an Excel formula that finds the absolute difference of the squares of cell A2 and B2.’

Excel users can also use AI to improve their daily workflow in other ways. Some users have already tried using ChatGPT to create custom macros from scratch to automate processes in Excel. 

If you are interested in trying out ChatGPT yourself, head to the next section to take a closer look at a real example of the service generating Excel formulas.

A Real Example of Using ChatGPT in Excel

Let’s go over a simple example of using ChatGPT to generate Excel formulas. We will also provide a sample prompt you can use yourself with ChatGPT.

The sample spreadsheet below finds the absolute difference between two squares. The formulas used in column C were created by ChatGPT after we provided the necessary requirements for our spreadsheet.

The conversation below shows how users can generate a custom formula quickly through the ChatGPT platform.

Do you want to take a closer look at our examples? You can make your own copy of the spreadsheet above using the link attached below. 

Use our sample spreadsheet to take a closer look at the formula returned by ChatGPT.

If you want to learn more about how to use ChatGPT yourself, head over to the next section to read our step-by-step breakdown on how to do it!

How to Use ChatGPT in Excel

This section will guide you through each step needed to start using ChatGPT to generate Excel formulas. You’ll learn how to access the ChatGPT service and formulate a prompt that will output an appropriate Excel formula for your needs.

Follow these steps to start using ChatGPT in Excel:

1. First, determine what kind of formula your spreadsheet requires. You will need to know what cell references the formula needs to use to obtain the result.
   In this example, we want to output the absolute difference between two squares in column C. We will first need to generate the formula for cell C2. This formula will use the values in cells A2 and B2 to calculate the absolute difference between two squares.
2. Next, open a browser and head to ‘https://chat.openai.com/chat’ to access the ChatGPT service.
   
   Click on the textbox found at the bottom of the page.
3. Start the prompt with a clear statement such as ‘Write a Microsoft Excel Function’. This will ensure that the ChatGPT chatbot will return a solution that works in Excel.
   Follow that statement with a description of what you want your formula to do. Ensure that you indicate the cell references the formula will need to use.
4. Click on the arrow icon to submit the current input. After a few seconds, ChatGPT should return a valid Microsoft Excel function.
   
5. The user may now copy and paste the formula into their Excel spreadsheet.
   
6. Hit the Enter key to evaluate the formula generated by ChatGPT.
   In the example above, the formula provided by ChatGPT returned the correct result.
7. Use the Fill Handle tool to copy the formula down the rest of the column.
   
   

These are all the steps needed to use ChatGPT to create formulas in Excel.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here are some frequently asked questions about using ChatGPT in Excel:

1. Why is ChatGPT unavailable for use?
   Because of the increase in the number of ChatGPT users, there may be times when the service is unavailable for use. Users must wait a few minutes until ChatGPT is back online.
2. Does ChatGPT remember what users have said earlier in the conversation?
   Yes. ChatGPT can take your current response in the context of prior responses. Users can take advantage of this feature to modify formulas it has already generated.
   In the example below, we asked ChatGPT to modify our formula to return the string ‘Zero’ instead of the number 0 if applicable.
   
   

This step-by-step guide should provide you with all the information you need to begin using ChatGPT to create Excel formulas using AI.

We’ve shown you how to formulate your responses to enable ChatGPT to return the right formula for your spreadsheet.

Using ChatGPT with Excel is just one tip you can use to make your Excel workflow more efficient. Our website offers hundreds of other functions and methods to help you get more out of Microsoft Excel.

With so many other Excel functions available, you can find one appropriate for your use case.

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