Claude for Excel

AI-powered Excel assistant powered by Anthropic's Claude

Features • Installation • Usage • Security • Contributing

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An AI-powered Excel add-in that brings the power of Claude AI directly into your spreadsheets. Analyze data, generate formulas, format tables, and get intelligent assistance without leaving Excel.

[📸 Demo Screenshot Coming Soon]

Chat with Claude directly in Excel's sidebar • Context-aware assistance • Instant Excel tools

✨ Features

• 🤖 Natural Language Interface - Ask questions about your data in plain English
• 📊 Smart Data Analysis - Automatic analysis of selected cells and ranges
• ⚡ Quick Tools Menu - 17+ built-in Excel tools for common operations
• 🎨 Professional UI - Clean, modern interface matching Excel's design
• 🔒 Privacy First - Your API key stays local, data only sent to Anthropic
• 📝 Command Palette - Quick access to 18 pre-built prompts with / commands
• 🖼️ Image Support - Attach images and PDFs for analysis (up to 10 files)
• 💾 Context Aware - Automatically includes selected Excel data in conversations
• ⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts - Fast navigation and actions
• 🛠️ Excel Tools - Format tables, freeze panes, sort data, insert rows/columns, and more

🚀 Quick Start

Workflow	Steps
Analyze Data	1. Select cells in Excel 2. Type /analyze or ask "What patterns do you see?" 3. Get AI-powered insights
Generate Formula	1. Select your data range 2. Type /formula or describe what you need 3. Claude generates the formula
Format Table	1. Select data range 2. Click ⋮ menu → "Format as Table" 3. Instant professional formatting
Clean Data	1. Select messy data 2. Type /clean or describe issues 3. Get cleanup suggestions
Stop Generation	Press the Stop button (appears during response) to cancel

📊 What You Can Do

📈 Data Analysis Pattern recognition Statistical insights Trend identification Outlier detection 🧮 Formula Generation Complex calculations VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP Conditional formulas Array formulas

🎨 Formatting & Styling Professional table formatting Conditional formatting rules Cell styling suggestions Auto-fit columns/rows 🔧 Data Operations Clean and normalize data Find and remove duplicates Transpose data Sort and filter

🔒 Security & Privacy

✅ No hardcoded API keys - You provide your own Anthropic API key ✅ Local storage only - API key stored in Office document settings (never sent to external servers) ✅ No tracking - No analytics, no telemetry, no data collection ✅ Direct API calls - Communication goes directly to Anthropic's API ✅ Open source - Full transparency, inspect the code yourself

Important: Your Anthropic API key is stored locally in Excel's document settings and is never transmitted to any server except Anthropic's official API (api.anthropic.com).

📋 Prerequisites

• Excel Desktop (Windows or macOS)
  • Windows: Excel 2016 or later
  • macOS: Excel 2016 or later
• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Anthropic API Key - Get one at console.anthropic.com

🚀 Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/heyimjames/excel-claude-sidebar.git
cd excel-claude-sidebar

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Generate SSL Certificate

Office Add-ins require HTTPS in development. Generate a self-signed certificate:

npx office-addin-dev-certs install

This creates a certificate in the .certs folder and installs it in your system's trust store.

4. Start Development Server

npm run dev

This starts:

• Vite dev server at https://localhost:3000
• Hot module replacement (HMR) enabled
• Source maps for debugging

5. Sideload the Add-in

macOS

1. Open Excel
2. Go to Insert > Add-ins > My Add-ins
3. Choose Add a Custom Add-in
4. Select the manifest.xml file from this project
5. Click OK

Windows

1. Open Excel
2. Go to Insert > Add-ins > My Add-ins
3. Select SHARED FOLDER
4. Browse to the folder containing manifest.xml
5. Select the manifest and click Insert

6. Configure API Key

When you first open the add-in:

1. Click Show Claude in the Excel ribbon
2. Enter your Anthropic API key
3. Click Save API Key

Your key is saved locally in Excel's document settings.

💡 Usage

Basic Chat

1. Select cells in Excel (optional - provides context)
2. Type your question in the input box
3. Press Enter to send

Command Palette

Type / in the input to open the command palette with 18 pre-built prompts:

Command	Description
/analyze	Analyze selected data and provide insights
/summarize	Create a summary of the data
/chart	Get suggestions for chart types
/format	Apply formatting to cells
/formula	Generate Excel formulas
/explain	Explain patterns in the data
/clean	Clean up and normalize data
/sort	Sort data recommendations
/filter	Apply filtering suggestions
/conditional	Create conditional formatting rules
/vlookup	Generate VLOOKUP formulas
/table	Convert range to structured table
/transpose	Transpose rows and columns
/duplicate	Find and remove duplicates
/calculate	Perform calculations
/validate	Add data validation rules
/merge	Merge cells or data
/pivot	Create pivot table suggestions

Quick Tools Menu (⋮)

Click the three-dot menu in the header for instant Excel actions:

Category	Tool	Description
Formatting	AutoFit Columns & Rows	Auto-fit all columns and rows to content
	Format as Table	Convert selection to a table
	Clear Formatting	Remove all formatting from selection
Insert/Delete	Insert Row Above	Insert new row above selection
	Insert Column Left	Insert new column to the left
	Delete Selected Rows	Delete the selected rows
	Delete Selected Columns	Delete the selected columns
Freeze Panes ✓	Freeze Top Row	Keep top row visible when scrolling
	Freeze First Column	Keep first column visible when scrolling
	Unfreeze Panes	Remove all freeze panes
Sorting	Sort Ascending	Sort selection A to Z
	Sort Descending	Sort selection Z to A
Navigation	Select All Data	Select all used cells in worksheet
	Go to Cell A1	Jump to the top-left cell

✓ = Toggleable tools show an orange checkmark when active

Image Attachments

Attach images or PDFs for Claude to analyze:

• Click the 📎 paperclip icon to upload files
• Or drag and drop files into the input area
• Or paste images from clipboard (Cmd/Ctrl + V)
• Supports: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, PDF
• Max 10 files per message, 5MB per image, 10MB per PDF

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut (Mac)	Shortcut (Windows)	Action
⌘K	Ctrl+K	Focus message input
⌘L	Ctrl+L	Clear chat history
⇧?	Shift+?	Show keyboard shortcuts
Enter	Enter	Send message
Shift+Enter	Shift+Enter	New line in message
/	/	Open command palette
Esc	Esc	Clear input or close palette

🏗️ Project Structure

excel-claude-sidebar/
├── src/
│   └── taskpane/
│       ├── components/      # React components
│       │   ├── ChatInterface.tsx
│       │   ├── MessageInput.tsx
│       │   ├── Message.tsx
│       │   ├── Settings.tsx
│       │   ├── ToolsMenu.tsx
│       │   └── ...
│       ├── hooks/          # Custom React hooks
│       │   ├── useClaudeChat.ts
│       │   ├── useExcelContext.ts
│       │   └── ...
│       ├── lib/            # Utilities & types
│       │   ├── anthropic.ts
│       │   ├── commands.ts
│       │   └── types.ts
│       ├── styles/         # CSS files
│       └── App.tsx         # Main app component
├── assets/                 # Icons and images
├── manifest.xml           # Office Add-in manifest
├── vite.config.ts         # Vite configuration
└── package.json

🛠️ Development

Available Scripts

npm run dev          # Start dev server with HMR
npm run build        # Build for production
npm run preview      # Preview production build
npm run lint         # Run ESLint
npm run type-check   # TypeScript type checking
npm run clean        # Remove dist folder

Environment Variables

Create a .env file for development (optional):

# Development only - for testing without Office
VITE_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Note: In production, API keys are entered by users via the Settings UI and stored in Office document settings.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Certificate Issues

If you see certificate warnings:

# Reinstall certificate
npx office-addin-dev-certs install --force

Add-in Not Loading

1. Check dev server is running (npm run dev)
2. Verify HTTPS certificate is trusted
3. Clear Office cache:
   • macOS: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef
   • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef
4. Restart Excel

API Key Not Saving

API keys are stored in Office document settings. If not saving:

1. Make sure you have write permissions for the Excel file
2. Try saving the Excel file first
3. Re-enter the API key in Settings

Context Not Loading

If Excel context isn't being captured:

1. Select cells before sending message
2. Check Console for errors (F12 in Excel)
3. Try refreshing the add-in

💰 API Usage & Costs

This add-in uses Anthropic's Claude API. You're responsible for your own API usage and costs:

• API calls are billed by Anthropic based on token usage
• See Anthropic Pricing for current rates
• Monitor usage in your Anthropic Console

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

👨‍💻 Credits

Built by

• James Frewin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • GitHub

Design by

• OCTOBER Design Studio

📜 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

🆘 Support

• 🐛 Issues: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Questions: GitHub Discussions
• 🐦 Updates: Follow @jamesfrewin1

🔗 Links

• Anthropic Console
• Office Add-ins Documentation
• Claude API Documentation

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Disclaimer: This is an unofficial third-party add-in. Not affiliated with Microsoft or Anthropic. Use at your own risk.