Skip to main content

Quickstart for spreadsheets

With GPT for Work, use ChatGPT and other AIs to power through thousands of repetitive, tedious tasks in bulk directly in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

Choose between Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets​

If you have the choice, use Microsoft Excel as it is generally faster, smoother, and better handles large numbers of rows (200,000+ rows).

Note: GPT for Excel is compatible with Microsoft 365 subscription and retail perpetual Office 2016 and later (version 2002+, Build 12527.20092+), Excel on Mac (version 16.35+), and Excel on the web.

Start the right way​

Choose your preferred application below for specific instructions:

GPT for Excel provides two powerful features: Bulk tools and GPT functions.

  • Bulk tools provide a user-friendly prompting located in the add-on sidebar and are made for high volume (above 1000 rows).

    Custom prompt demo for Excel
  • GPT functions provide a formula-like experience and are made for experimenting or working with up to a few hundred cells.

    GPT functions demo for Excel

Bulk tools

Use Bulk tools if:

  • You want to perform bulk (row-by-row) operations on columns.
  • You are working with thousands of rows.
  • You prefer a simpler interface.
  • You don't want to deal with spreadsheet formulas.

To use Bulk tools:

  1. Install GPT for Excel.
  2. Open the extension from your spreadsheet menu.
  3. Select the Bulk tools tab in the sidebar.
  4. Choose a tool (e.g., Custom prompt) and configure it:
    • Enter the Prompt to apply to your column(s).
    • Select the column to Put results in.
  5. Select if you want to run a specific number of rows or All rows. Then, click Run rows.

GPT functions

Use GPT functions if:

  • You're comfortable using spreadsheet formulas.
  • You're just experimenting or working with up to a few hundred cells.
  • You need the flexibility of function parameters, function chaining, or combining with native formulas such as IF or CONCATENATE.

To use GPT functions:

  1. Install GPT for Excel.
  2. Open the extension from your spreadsheet menu.
  3. Select a cell and start writing a formula using one of the available GPT functions for Excel. For example: =GPT("Write a tagline", A2).

For hands-on practice, you can download our Microsoft Excel example template.

(optional) Select the right model​ to begin with​

Here are some recommended models to consider:

  • OpenAI gpt-4o for the best overall balance of ease of prompt, speed, quality, reliability, and cost.
  • OpenAI gpt-4o-mini for the most cost-effective option, but it is more difficult to prompt.
  • Anthropic claude-3.5-sonnet for the best writing and reasoning skills.
  • Google gemini-1.5-flash for the fastest results (available on Google Sheets only).

In general, OpenAI models are more mature and suffer much less from errors and content restrictions than models from other providers. We recommend starting with OpenAI gpt-4o.

You can refer to the following resources for more detailed guidance on model selection:

(optional) Choose to use your API key or not​

You can use all features in GPT for Excel and Sheets without setting up your own API key. We recommend keeping it this way unless you are familiar with using API keys.

  • Reasons to not use your API key:

    • If you want a zero-setup experience.
    • If you don't know what an API key is or don't know what rate limits are.
    • If your organization rate limits are too low (we recommend having at least 500K TPM and 1K RPM).
    • If you don't want to get 2 invoices (one from us and one from the model provider).
    • If you are in a country not supported by OpenAI or other AI providers (see list of supported countries).

  • Reasons to use your API key:

    • To lower the cost if you are on self-service pricing (see pricing table).
    • To control and track usage in your API provider's console.
    • For OpenAI only: to use your Assistants, fine-tuned models, and older versions of available models (see supported models).
    • For stronger privacy: we do not log inputs and outputs when you use a model with your API key (see our privacy policy).
note

Whether you use an API key or not, we do not use your inputs or outputs to train models. For more details, please refer to our privacy policy.

What's next

More info​​

On this page