Use AI to Help with Excel and Google Sheets

Work · by Lung Tee · 5 reads

#ChatGPT #Excel #Google Sheets #Work #Formulas

Use AI to Help with Excel and Google Sheets

If Excel formulas have ever given you a headache, try getting help from AI. Just describe what you need in plain language, and the AI writes the formula and explains how to use it.

Have AI write formulas

Describe what you want clearly, for example: "Column A is the product name and column B is sales. I want to total sales only for products whose names start with 'Coffee'." The AI will reply with a SUMIF formula and explain each part.

Formulas AI often helps with

VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP for pulling data across tables
IF and IFS for conditions
COUNTIF and SUMIFS for counting and totaling by criteria
TEXT and DATE for formatting dates in the Thai style

Analyze data

Attach a data file in ChatGPT and ask, for example, "Which product sold best each month?" or "Summarize the sales trend over the last 6 months." The AI will do the calculations and create charts.

Use AI in Google Sheets

Google Workspace has an AI assistant that helps build tables and summarize data in Sheets, while Microsoft 365 users can use Copilot.

Build ready-made tables

Ask: "Design a monthly income and expense table for a shop, with categories, total formulas, and a profit summary." Then build the structure in your sheet right away.

Tips

Give the column names and 2–3 rows of sample data
Say whether you use Excel or Google Sheets, because some formulas differ
If a formula is wrong, send the error message back to the AI to fix

Example questions to ask AI

"A formula to count customers who bought more than 3 times in column C"
"Why does my VLOOKUP show #N/A?"
"Convert the date 2026-10-29 to display as 29 Oct 2569"
"How do I create a Pivot table summarizing monthly sales by branch?"

A real-world example

A shop owner who tracks income and expenses in a sheet had AI add a category column, create monthly total formulas, and build a chart comparing income with expenses. In under an hour, they had a simple financial dashboard for the shop.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work with large data files?

To a degree. If the file is very large, extract only the part you need to analyze.

Is customer data in the file safe?

Always remove or replace personal information before uploading.

Summary

AI makes Excel far less intimidating. Start by asking about simple formulas, then move on to data analysis. Find more productivity tips in 10 Ways to Use ChatGPT.