Excel University Blog

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Add-Ins

AI Dashboards with Claude

By Jeff Lenning | April 21, 2026 |

Excel dashboards are essential for turning raw data into clear, actionable insights. But designing and populating a comprehensive dashboard can be time-consuming. The Claude add-in for Excel offers a powerful AI-based assistant that dramatically speeds up the process. Video Tutorial In this walkthrough, we’ll explore how to use the Claude add-in to plan, build, and…

How to Supercharge Your Excel Reporting with the Claude Add-In

By Jeff Lenning | April 14, 2026 |

In this post, we’ll walk through the game-changing workflow of using the Claude add-in for Excel to quickly generate first drafts for complex reports. Whether you need summarized spending, budget vs. actual analyses, or executive-ready management dashboards, the Claude add-in accelerates data transformation while leaving us firmly in control of accuracy and customization. Video What…

Build Advanced Excel Formulas Instantly with the Claude Add-In

By Jeff Lenning | April 7, 2026 |

What if we could describe what we want in plain English and Excel builds the formulas for us? In this post, we’ll explore how to use the Claude Excel add-in to generate dynamic formulas, lookup models, and summary reports in seconds. Video Tutorial We’ll walk step-by-step through three practical exercises that demonstrate how AI can…

Free Project Tracker Template

By Jeff Lenning | March 4, 2025 |

If you’re managing projects and need a simple way to track progress, Excel’s Agile Gantt Chart template can be a great starting point. This built-in template provides a visual representation of tasks, milestones, and progress, making it easier to stay organized. Video Step-by-step Guide In this guide, we’ll walk through how to: Let’s dive in!…

How To Get A Free Loan Amortization Template

By Jeff Lenning | February 4, 2025 |

If you’ve ever wondered how to track your loan payments and balances, you’re in the right place! In this post, we’ll walk through how to get, use, and customize a free loan amortization schedule template directly from within Microsoft Excel. Let’s dive in! Video Step 1: Downloading the Free Amortization Schedule Template Did you know…

ChatGPT Unprotected a Worksheet

By Jeff Lenning | November 5, 2024 |

I recently discovered that you can upload an Excel file to ChatGPT, ask it to perform tasks on the file, and then download the updated file. In this post, I wanted to share what I discovered and demonstrate it with a few examples including unprotecting a worksheet, writing formulas, and creating a chart. Microsoft’s Copilot…

Combine Lots of Tables in the Same Workbook

By Jeff Lenning | July 9, 2024 |

Today we will tackle a common question: “How can we combine numerous tables that are in the same workbook?” Let’s dive right in and learn how to easily combine tables, even if they have different column orders! Video Step-by-step Process In this guide, we’ll explore how to use Power Query to combine several tables from…

Skipping Excel 1

By Jeff Lenning | November 22, 2022 |

Excel is used for many different tasks, such as budgeting, reporting, comparing bank statements, and other things. It can also be used to export, clean, and import data between two separate systems. For example, suppose you export transactions from an e-commerce system, open them in Excel, tidy up the information a little, and then transfer…

How to Perform a Frequency Distribution in Excel (no formulas)

By Excel University | September 13, 2022 |

Are you a school administrator who wants to see how student test scores are distributed, or maybe an accountant who needs to analyze trends in spending or accounts receivable? If so, creating a frequency distribution in Excel is one of the easiest ways to do it!  Essentially, frequency distributions come in handy whenever you need…

Don’t Panic! Here’s How to Recover an Excel File Not Saved

By Excel University | July 5, 2022 |

Have you ever worked on an Excel project for hours, only for all of that effort to be lost because of one power outage that shut down your system? Everyone knows the panic that sets in when they’ve accidentally deleted important work. But, the good news is that not all is lost! There are a…