Excel is a must-have tool for working with large amounts of data, performing complex calculations, applying filters, and many other features. However, even though Excel is very powerful, it can be difficult for less experienced users to navigate the different formulas and understand how to use them. This can be frustrating and slow down your work. This is where artificial intelligence ChatGPT comes into play.
ChatGPT is a very powerful AI which I told you about in this article. This tool can, among other things, simplify your use of Excel by offering personalized formulas according to your needs. You can explain to it what you want to do with your calculations and it will provide you with the formula to use, as well as an explanation on how to integrate it. This way, you will no longer have to spend time searching in guides or on the internet for the formula that suits you. ChatGPT makes your task easier and allows you to work more quickly and efficiently.
In this article, we explain how to create Excel formulas with ChatGPT.
Generate Excel formulas with ChatGPT
Before we begin, it is important to understand that ChatGPT is basically a rather Anglo-Saxon tool. It will therefore generally offer Excel results in English by default. This has two implications in case you want to generate Excel formulas with ChatGPT. It will therefore use the English name of the functions by default and it will use the ", " as a separator instead of the ";" used on French systems. This is why I ask ChatGPT to generate "an Excel formula in French with French separators".
- Identify what you need in Excel. To properly explain your needs to AI, it is important to know exactly what you want to do.
- Go to ChatGPT et enter your request in the chat box. Be sure to specify that you want an Excel formula, as the AI can also generate entries in other Programming languages. The AI will then provide you with the formula to insert into Excel, as well as an explanation on how to use it.
- Customize your formula. You can specify in which cells the elements to be taken into account in your formula are located. You can also use specific words instead of conditions to be used in formulas. To do this, simply explain to the AI what you want to do.
For example, if you want to systematically obtain the last day of the month preceding a given date, you can formulate the following question in everyday language:
Can you generate an Excel formula in French with French separators that gives the last day of the month preceding a date entered in A1?
With this example, it will offer me the following Excel formula which works perfectly:
=DATE(ANNEE(A1); MOIS(A1); 0)
ChatGPT will then offer you an Excel formula to use in your file, but will also explain how to use it and what each element of the function is used for.
On the other hand, ChatGPT is not infallible and sometimes some answers do not work or it offers you Excel functions that do not exist or whose name is not correct. It is up to you to challenge the AI in order to end up getting the right answer.
So, now you know how to build Excel formulas with ChatGPT.
Generate VBA code with ChatGPT
If you are a little more comfortable with programming, you can alternatively ask ChatGPT to generate some code VBA to use in Excel. Again, sometimes you will need to marginally adjust the code or report errors to the AI for it to correct.
Using the example of finding the last day of the previous month, ChatGPT came up with an almost correct VBA function. I say almost, because it used the word "date" as a variable name, but "date" is a VBA reserved word for date formatting and therefore cannot be used as a variable. I told ChatGPT this and he apologized profusely and offered me an alternative code with a correctly named variable ("myDate" instead of "date"). Result: the function works perfectly and is a great alternative to generating Excel formulas with ChatGPT!
In conclusion…
With ChatGPT you have an interactive guide for Excel that allows you to ask your questions in everyday language and obtain personalized formulas to use on the Microsoft spreadsheet. This AI allows you to simplify the use of Excel by offering you formulas adapted to your needs and explaining how to use them. You can also take advantage of this opportunity to learn new formulas and techniques in an interactive and easy way.
Excel is a powerful tool that can do almost anything you want, so don't hesitate to take full advantage of it. And with the help of ChatGPT, you can use Excel even more efficiently and easily. Feel free to explore all the possibilities this incredible tool offers to improve your Excel usage.
Article updated on January 4, 2025 by Byothe
Great article!
Thanks for this article! I'm really bad at formulas and this will help me.