Claude works inside Excel and PowerPoint as Microsoft 365 add-ins, so you can hand off questions, edits, and generation without leaving your spreadsheet or slides. This guide covers what each add-in does, how to use it, supported environments, and caveats, based on official documentation. See the separate article for the Word add-in.
Common to both
Both add-ins are beta features available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Install the "Claude for Microsoft 365" add-in from the Microsoft Marketplace, then activate it in Excel/PowerPoint and sign in with your Claude account. From the sidebar you can pull context from other tools via connectors, call enabled Skills with a / command, or save Instructions that apply to every conversation. Your Instructions and chat history are kept separate between Excel and PowerPoint.
Claude in Excel
Built for spreadsheet-heavy work like financial analysis and modeling. What it can do:
- Ask questions about a workbook and get answers with cell-level citations
- Edit assumptions while keeping formula dependencies intact (changed cells are highlighted)
- Debug errors such as
#REF!,#VALUE!, and circular references - Build models from scratch or fill templates, and navigate multiple tabs
- Apply native Excel operations directly — sorting, filtering, pivot tables, charts, conditional formatting, data validation
Supported files are .xlsx and .xlsm, and it runs on the web, Windows, Mac, and iPad. However, data tables, macros, and VBA are not supported.
Claude in PowerPoint
Built for people who frequently create presentations. What it can do:
- Generate slides that follow your existing template (slide master, fonts, colors)
- Pinpoint-edit a single slide without regenerating the whole deck
- Generate a full deck structure from a natural-language description
- Turn bullets into diagrams, process flows, and editable native charts (not static images)
It runs on the web, Windows, and Mac (no iPad or Android). It tries to respect template rules, but it is worth reviewing the output for complex templates.
What to watch out for
Both add-ins are beta, so a human must review final client-facing deliverables and any audit- or verification-critical work. It is also safest to use them only with trusted files — externally received templates, vendor files, and the like may contain hidden malicious instructions (prompt injection) that could trick Claude into unintended actions.
Related: see the Claude in Outlook Guide for email and scheduling.