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Search the web with GPT for Excel

Search the web directly in GPT for Excel using models with web search capabilities (indicated by the 🌐 icon in the model switcher). These models use fresh web search data, which allows you to generate up-to-date responses about companies, current events, facts, and more, directly in your workbook. You can use web-capable models in any bulk tool or GPT function.

Bulk tools vs. GPT functions​

Choose the method that best fits your needs:

  • Use bulk tools if:

    • You want to perform bulk searches on entire columns (row-by-row).

    • You are working with thousands of rows.

    • You want to include source references in your output.

    • You need to target specific domains or time ranges for your searches.

  • Use GPT functions if:

    • You're comfortable using spreadsheet formulas.

    • You're working with up to a few hundred cells or you want to run searches for individual cells.

    • You need the flexibility of nested formulas or of combining GPT functions with native functions.

Web search with bulk tools​

Use bulk tools to perform web searches with any model that has web search capabilities (🌐). When using the Perplexity Sonar models, you can also target specific domains and time periods.

  1. Click GPT for Excel Word in the Home tab.

    Home Ribbon

    info

    You can also go to Home > Add-ins > My add-ins > GPT for Excel Word.

  2. Expand the model switcher and select a model with web search capabilities (indicated by the 🌐 icon).

    Select model

  3. In the sidebar, select Bulk tools and click the tool you want to use.

    Select Custom

  4. Set up your bulk tool run. For example, to set up a Custom prompt run:

    Setup Custom
    FieldDescriptionExample

    1

    Prompt to run for each row

    Enter the prompt you want to run for each row.

    Find and summarize user reviews for: {{Event}}.

    2

    Search options

    • Search effort: Select the amount of search context the model uses. Higher effort means deeper, more thorough searches (but higher cost).

      • Low: Minimal search context, optimized for cost savings

      • Medium: Balanced search for cost vs. depth

      • High: Uses the most search context for richer results

    • Domains: Specify up to three domains to target. The model will attempt to generate responses based only on search results from these domains.

    • Recency limit: Select a time range for the search results. The model will generate responses using only results from this period.

    • Search effort: Medium

    • Domains: instagram.com, eventbrite.com, goandance.com

    • No recency limit

    3

    Put results in column

    Select the column or columns to put the results in. Cells in these columns won't be overwritten with the results if they contain text.

    B: Information

    4

    Show sources

    		Enable this option to write source references in the column to the right of the results column.

    Enabled

  5. Click Run rows.

Your search results appear in the output column. If you enabled source references, they appear in the adjacent column.

Run Custom

For instructions on how to use the tools, see Bulk tools.

Web search with GPT functions​

Use GPT functions to perform general web searches. Note that domain and time period targeting are only available through bulk tools when using the Perplexity Sonar models.

For OpenAI search models, you can access web search options through both bulk tools and functions.

Using the model switcher​

  1. Click GPT for Excel Word in the Home tab.

    Home Ribbon

    info

    You can also go to Home > Add-ins > My add-ins > GPT for Excel Word.

  2. Expand the model switcher and select a model with web search capabilities (indicated by the 🌐 icon).

    Select model

  3. In the workbook, select a cell and write your formula:

    =GPT("Find the Instagram handle for 'Berlin Salsa Festival 2025'.")
    Result web search functions using sidebar

    The formula uses the web-capable model selected in the model switcher.

Specifying the model in the formula​

  1. Click GPT for Excel Word in the Home tab.

    Home Ribbon

    info

    You can also go to Home > Add-ins > My add-ins > GPT for Excel Word.

  2. In the workbook, select a cell and write your formula, specifying a web-capable model directly in the formula, for example the Perplexity Sonar model:

    =GPT("Find the Instagram handle for 'Berlin Salsa Festival 2025'.", , , "sonar")
    Result web search functions using parameter

    The formula uses the web-capable model regardless of what's currently selected in the model switcher.

For instructions on how to write formulas with GPT functions, see GPT functions.

Tips for domain-specific web search (Perplexity)​

When using the Domains option, keep the following in mind:

  • Not all domains will return results. Perplexity can only search domains that its crawler has already indexed. Perplexity does not crawl new content on demand. In addition, the crawler respects robots.txt directives, so Perplexity will not return private or restricted content from sites its crawler has otherwise indexed.

  • You can specify up to 3 domains per search.

For example:

  • ✅ Works well: wikipedia.org, bbc.com, stockanalysis.com, www.nasdaq.com

  • ❌ May not work: yourcompany-internal.com, paywalledsite.com, newly-launched-blog.com

If you don't get results from a specific domain:

  • Try a different source of information or a more widely indexed site.

  • Remove the domain restriction.

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