Microsoft Excel
Excel Power Query vs. Manually Fixing Data: A Side-by-Side Comparison
Clean one messy Excel dataset two ways — manually and with Power Query — to see exactly when each approach saves you time.
Microsoft Excel
How to Add Checkboxes in Excel with Claude AI (and Count Them with COUNTIF)
I wanted to see whether Claude inside Microsoft Excel could handle something visual instead of a formula: adding a column of real, clickable checkboxes. One short prompt, no fiddling with Form Controls — that was the test. Here's how it went, plus the manual fallback and the formula I
Microsoft Excel
Find and Remove Duplicates in Excel: 3 Methods with UNIQUE, VSTACK, and TEXTJOIN
Finding duplicates, highlighting them, and removing them is something I do all the time in Excel. There's no single best tool for the job — the right approach depends on whether your data has a unique identifier, whether you need to compare one list or two, and whether you
Microsoft Excel
Excel Conditional Formatting: Highlight Rows Where Spend Goes Over Budget
Use a formula-based conditional formatting rule with a mixed reference to highlight every row where the spend column exceeds the budget column.
Microsoft Excel
How to Use Claude in Excel to Clean Messy Data (Step-by-Step Walkthrough)
I wanted to see how well Claude in Excel can actually clean data — not just a row or two, but a genuinely messy spreadsheet with broken dates, inconsistent states, extra spaces everywhere, dollar signs glued to text, and possible duplicates lurking in the rows. So I built a fictitious order
Microsoft Excel
Excel Copilot Got 3 Updates: New Icon Location, Preview Mode & Anthropic Claude Models
Microsoft Copilot in Excel just picked up three updates I think you'll want to know about. I caught these on Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, and they change how I use Copilot day to day. Let's walk through each one. Update 1: The Copilot Icon Moved Out
Microsoft Excel
Claude in Excel: Cross-Sheet XLOOKUP and Building a Data-Validated HR Spreadsheet from Scratch
Two real tests of the Claude add-in for Excel: a cross-sheet XLOOKUP profit calculation, and building an HR spreadsheet from scratch with data validation dropdowns, hidden source lists, and dynamic tables.
Microsoft Excel
Fix Blanks in Excel Data with GO TO SPECIAL and the COPILOT Function
Every serious Excel user should have Go To Special in their toolkit. It is one of the fastest ways to find blanks, formulas, constants, or other specific cell types in a worksheet — and it pairs beautifully with the new Excel COPILOT function when your data needs more than a quick
Microsoft Excel
Power Query: Remove Extra Spaces in the Middle of Words (Beyond TRIM)
Extra spaces are one of the most common data problems in Excel — leading spaces, trailing spaces, and the trickiest of all, extra spaces in the middle of words. The TRIM function handles all three. But what happens when you switch to Power Query for a larger data cleanup? Power Query&
Microsoft Excel
Copilot in Excel: When to Use a PivotTable vs Functions
Copilot in Excel can create PivotTables in seconds, and that is great for basic summaries. But when you need calculations that go beyond what a PivotTable can show — median, second highest, third highest — functions are the better approach. Here is how to use Copilot for both, and when to choose
Microsoft Excel
Excel TRANSLATE Function: Translate Text Directly in Your Spreadsheet
Microsoft has added a built-in TRANSLATE function to Excel that lets you translate text between languages directly in your spreadsheet — no copy-pasting into Google Translate or third-party tools. In this tutorial, Chris Menard demonstrates how to use this powerful new function. YouTube Video How the TRANSLATE Function Works The syntax
Microsoft Excel
Preview: Excel COPILOT() Function and Formula Completion in Action
Live Stream on M365 Copilot Function and Formula Completion in Excel. Registration is NOT required. Just join at noon ET on 03/18/2026