ChatGPT plugin for Excel & Google Sheets (2026 guide)

The official way to use ChatGPT in a spreadsheet is ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets, OpenAI's add-in that runs as a sidebar inside your workbook. In Excel, install it from Home > Add-ins by searching for "ChatGPT". In Google Sheets, install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace and open it from the Extensions menu. Sign in with your ChatGPT account and ask in plain language: build a budget, explain a formula, fix an error, clean a sheet or run scenarios. It is available worldwide on every ChatGPT plan, Free included, though Free and Go get limited usage (OpenAI Help Center).

People often search for a "ChatGPT plugin for Excel". Strictly, the spreadsheet tool is an Office add-in and a Google Sheets add-on, not a plugin from the ChatGPT Plugin Directory. Several directory plugins and apps also work with spreadsheets, though. This guide covers both, plus where each one fits.

Which option should you use?#

What happened to the old ChatGPT Excel plugins?#

In 2023, several third-party "ChatGPT plugins" offered spreadsheet help. All of them stopped working when OpenAI closed the original plugin store: no new installs after March 19, 2024, and existing plugin conversations ended on April 9, 2024 (full timeline). Guides and videos from that period describe tools that no longer exist.

The current tool is a different product. OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Excel in beta on March 5, 2026, running on GPT‑5.4. ChatGPT for Google Sheets joined it in beta on April 22, 2026, along with support for skills and apps in both. On May 5, 2026 both became generally available across all plans, now powered by GPT‑5.5 (OpenAI announcement).

Who can use it and what it costs#

According to OpenAI's help article, the add-in is available globally to Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu and K-12 users.

• Free and Go: limited usage.
• Plus and Pro: included, subject to your plan's agentic usage limit. That limit is shared with ChatGPT's other agentic features.
• Business, Enterprise, Edu and K-12: a free preview ran until June 2, 2026. Since then, usage follows each plan's credits. Admins can monitor usage and buy more credits.

Installing it costs nothing extra. Bigger workbooks, multi-step edits and complex analysis use more of your limit, so a quick formula question costs far less than rebuilding a model.

Note: Older reports from the beta say it was limited to paid plans or to certain countries. That stopped being true at general availability in May 2026.

How to install ChatGPT in Excel#

1. Open Microsoft Excel on desktop or on the web.
2. Go to Home > Add-ins.
3. Search for ChatGPT and add it.
4. Open ChatGPT from the ribbon.
5. Sign in with the ChatGPT account that has your plan. If you belong to a workspace, pick it.

If your organization blocks the Microsoft Store add-in, a Microsoft 365 admin can deploy it internally instead. Download the manifest XML linked from OpenAI's help article. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Integrated apps > Deploy Add-in > Upload custom apps, upload the file and assign it to the right users or groups.

How to install ChatGPT in Google Sheets#

1. Install ChatGPT from the Google Workspace Marketplace. The listing is published by OpenAI and showed more than 3 million installs as of October 2026.
2. Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
3. Go to Extensions > ChatGPT to open the sidebar.
4. Sign in with the ChatGPT account that has your plan.

On install, the add-on asks for permission to view and manage spreadsheets it is installed in and to see your email address. Read the consent screen before you accept, especially on a work account.

Admin setup for Business, Enterprise and Edu#

In workspaces that use role-based access control, users may see the add-in but be unable to sign in until an admin enables it:

1. Open Workspace settings.
2. Select Permissions & roles.
3. Select ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets.
4. Turn on Enable ChatGPT for Excel and Sheets.

One setting covers both Excel and Google Sheets. Admins also control which apps are available inside the add-in. The add-in supports workspace controls such as data and inference residency where available, Enterprise Key Management and role-based access, and its prompts and responses appear in the Compliance API.

If Windows Excel shows "This add-in could not be started" during single sign-on, OpenAI says this can happen when an older SSO callback URL redirects to its current endpoint. A global admin fixes it by copying the ACS URL from OpenAI Admin Portal > Identity > SSO > Manage SSO and making it the default in the identity provider.

What it can do#

ChatGPT in the sidebar can read the whole workbook, including large multi-tab files, and change it directly. OpenAI lists these uses:

• Building trackers, budgets, plans and templates from scratch
• Cleaning messy sheets: formatting, labels, duplicates and broken formulas
• Explaining an unfamiliar spreadsheet: its assumptions, drivers and key formulas
• Updating a model when inputs change, then summarizing what changed
• Running scenarios and sensitivity tables
• Reviewing reporting, KPI, planning and forecasting work

It also searches the web to pull data into a workbook. It links answers to the exact cells it read or changed, and it asks permission before editing so you can review each step and undo changes (OpenAI). Calculations still run in Excel or Sheets, so you can audit the formulas it writes like any others.

Prompts to try#

Type @ and pick a sheet name to focus a prompt on one tab, for example "@Inputs only: change the growth rate to 4%."

Skills and apps inside the sidebar#

Since April 2026 the add-in supports the same building blocks as ChatGPT itself (what these terms mean):

• Skills are reusable playbooks for spreadsheet work: workflows, formatting standards and output structures, so you don't rewrite the same long prompt each time. Two come built in, for financial modeling and corporate finance formatting. Select + to browse them, or type @ and the skill name.
• Apps let the sidebar use data from services connected to your ChatGPT account. Select +, then open apps. Apps you have connected in ChatGPT carry over, subject to admin settings and your permissions in each service.

The financial data apps announced with the Excel launch are the obvious match. With FactSet AI-Ready Data, Daloopa, Moody's or Wisesheets connected, you can pull company figures straight into a model. Some of these need an existing subscription with the provider.

Tip for app builders: OpenAI says MCP tools meant for the spreadsheet sidebar should be annotated as read-only and non-destructive. Tools without explicit annotations may be handled conservatively and may not show up there. If you publish an MCP app and want it to work in Excel and Sheets, set those annotations accurately (how readOnlyHint works).

Use Excel with Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app#

If you work in the ChatGPT desktop app, Codex can drive an open Excel workbook through the add-in. It can inspect and update sheets, formulas, values, formatting and charts. It can also use code and local files as part of the job, such as reconciling a workbook against a CSV export in a project folder. This works with Microsoft Excel only, not Google Sheets.

1. Install ChatGPT for Excel and sign in with the same ChatGPT account and workspace you use in Codex.
2. Open the workbook in Excel and keep the add-in pane open.
3. In the ChatGPT desktop app, select Codex and mention @Microsoft Excel, or ask Codex to work with the open workbook.
4. Review the changes before you save or share.

If Codex can't find the workbook, check three things: both are signed in to the same account and workspace, Allow Codex control is on in the add-in's ••• menu, and the workbook and pane are still open. Codex doesn't use direct Excel control for every spreadsheet request. New to Codex? Start with Use plugins in Codex.

Other ways to use ChatGPT with spreadsheets#

The add-in works inside one open workbook. For anything else, these options cover the gaps.

Create or edit Google Sheets from a chat#

ChatGPT Work can create and edit native Google Docs, Sheets and Slides once the Google Workspace app is connected, and it asks you to choose the file and approve each action (OpenAI Help Center). OpenAI's Google Drive plugin bundles skills for Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive comments, so a prompt like "Update the Q3 tracker sheet with these numbers" works from a normal chat. You can also save a workbook as a template and reuse its structure for new spreadsheets.

Find workbooks in SharePoint and OneDrive#

Microsoft 365 users can connect OpenAI's SharePoint app to find, summarize and organize files across SharePoint sites and OneDrive, workbooks included. To edit a workbook's cells, open it in Excel and use the add-in.

Upload a file for one-off analysis#

For a quick answer you don't need anything installed. Attach a CSV or .xlsx file to a chat and ask for summaries, charts or a cleaned copy. ChatGPT analyzes a copy, so nothing changes in your original file. That makes it a safe first step with a sensitive workbook, provided you're comfortable sharing the data with ChatGPT.

Spreadsheet apps and plugins in the directory#

Third-party developers publish ChatGPT apps for spreadsheet jobs the official add-in doesn't target. Each app has its own account, pricing and privacy terms, so check them before you connect (security checklist).

Autosheet runs its own spreadsheet agent on a Google Sheet. You give ChatGPT a prompt and a Sheets URL. It handles formulas, charts, pivot tables and formatting, and bulk row-by-row jobs such as enriching leads or categorizing a product catalog, which it says run at up to 1,000 rows per minute. Long jobs keep running on its servers.

Formula Genius generates, explains and debugs Excel and Google Sheets formulas, and also writes SQL, regex, VBA macros and Google Apps Script. It is useful for the macro work the official add-in may not fully support.

Julius analyzes Excel and CSV files with Python: cleaning and combining datasets, regressions, forecasts, charts, dashboards and PowerPoint output. Files live in your Julius library rather than in your workbook.

Spreadsheet Human UX is a skill-only plugin for reviewing a workbook's usability: input flow, clarity, accessibility and auditability.

MCP servers for developers#

If you build agents or use Codex, MCP servers let you script spreadsheet work:

• The community Excel MCP server creates, reads and edits .xlsx files without Excel installed: ranges, formatting, charts, tables and conditional formatting, limited to folders you allow. It runs locally over stdio, so it fits Codex and other local MCP clients.
• The community Google Workspace MCP server covers Sheets alongside Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Docs and more.
• Google's official Workspace MCP servers, which include one for Sheets, were in a developer preview at the time of writing.

To connect a remote MCP server to ChatGPT itself, see How to add an MCP server to ChatGPT.

Limitations to know#

From OpenAI's help article and launch post:

• Separate chat history. Spreadsheet chats don't sync with your main ChatGPT history, so a conversation started in the sidebar won't appear in ChatGPT, and the other way round.
• No memory. The sidebar can't use ChatGPT memory. Put standing instructions in a skill or repeat them in the prompt.
• VBA and macros may not be fully supported.
• Complex formulas and edge cases may still need manual work, and output may need cleanup to match your formatting conventions.
• Big jobs take longer. During the beta, OpenAI warned that some responses could be slow. Large workbooks and multi-step edits also use more of your usage limit.
• Mistakes happen. Review formulas, calculations, citations and changed cells before sharing. OpenAI also notes that ChatGPT is not a financial, legal or tax advisor.

Privacy and data handling#

What OpenAI says happens to your data:

• ChatGPT processes your prompt, attachments and the relevant spreadsheet context.
• Your data is stored locally in the product, and you can download or delete it from the add-in's Settings.
• Some data logs may be kept by OpenAI for 30 days for safety and integrity.
• The add-in runs inside Microsoft's or Google's product, so your agreement with them applies too. Under Microsoft's Add-in Marketplace terms, Microsoft may be able to read your workbook content, attachments and prompts.

For confidential models, check whether your company allows the add-in before you use it with real data. Work on a copy until you trust the results.

Tips for better results#

• Say what to leave alone. "Update assumptions on the Inputs tab only. Don't change formatting. Summarize changes."
• Ask for a plan before big edits. "Before editing, list exactly which tabs and ranges you'll modify."
• Duplicate important files first so you can roll back. OpenAI recommends this too.
• Make it show its work. Ask which cells it read and changed, then spot-check them.
• Turn repeat requests into a skill. If you format every monthly report the same way, a skill saves rewriting the prompt (how to write one).
• Use the right tool for the job. The add-in for work inside a workbook, Codex when local files or code are involved, and a chat with Google Drive when the spreadsheet is one step in a bigger task.

FAQ#

Is there an official ChatGPT plugin for Excel?#

Yes, though it is an Excel add-in rather than a ChatGPT Plugin Directory plugin. ChatGPT for Excel is made by OpenAI and installs from Home > Add-ins in Excel.

Is ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets free?#

Installing it is free, and Free and Go users get limited usage. Plus and Pro use count toward the plan's agentic usage limit. Business, Enterprise, Edu and K-12 use is billed through the plan's credits.

Does it work in Excel for the web and on Mac?#

OpenAI's install steps cover Excel desktop and Excel on the web. Office add-ins generally run in Excel for Windows, Mac and the web. OpenAI's article doesn't list supported versions separately, so if the add-in doesn't appear, check for Excel updates and your organization's add-in policy.

Can ChatGPT edit my spreadsheet directly?#

Yes. The add-in writes values, formulas, formatting and charts into the workbook and asks for permission before it makes changes. A file uploaded to a regular chat is a copy, so edits there produce a new file rather than changing yours.

Can ChatGPT write VBA macros or Apps Script?#

ChatGPT can write VBA or Apps Script code for you to paste in, but OpenAI says the add-in may not fully support VBA and macros. Formula Genius, in the plugin directory, also targets macro and script generation.

Which model does it use?#

GPT‑5.5 since general availability in May 2026. The beta launched on GPT‑5.4.

Does my data train OpenAI's models?#

For ChatGPT Enterprise, OpenAI says shared data is not used for training by default (OpenAI). On other plans, check your ChatGPT data controls and your workspace's terms. Either way, Microsoft's or Google's terms for the host app also apply.

Looking for more tools for everyday work? See The best ChatGPT plugins for everyday work, or browse spreadsheet and data tools in /plugins and /apps.