Pluginofficial publisher

Excel Labs (Microsoft)

Plugin : A set of capabilities installed into an AI application or a host · requires excel

Experimental Microsoft add-in featuring the LABS.GENERATIVEAI function directly in cells.

Free and official, for experimenting with AI in formulas.

Official site

Overall score

7.1 /10

Security: one caveat, see the card

Utility

7.0

Reliability

6.0

Security

One caveat

Ease

1 click · Comfortable

Security reflects where data goes, requested permissions and incidents on record at the verification date. It is not a guarantee of zero risk: check the deployment mode and the connections you enable.

What it does, concretely

Excel Labs addresses a concrete need: testing generative AI directly inside spreadsheet cells, without leaving Excel and without waiting for an official integration into Microsoft 365 Copilot. The add-in is a Microsoft Garage project, Microsoft's official channel for experimental features designed to gather user feedback.

In practice, the add-in provides three features accessible from a side panel: the LABS.GENERATIVEAI function, the Advanced Formula Environment, and a Python editor. The LABS.GENERATIVEAI function works like any Excel formula: type =LABS.GENERATIVEAI("your question") in a cell, and the response from an OpenAI model appears directly in that cell. The function can also reference other cells in the workbook to build dynamic prompts.

Excel Labs is aimed at curious Excel users who want to experiment with AI in their spreadsheets, analysts who want to automate text analysis or data classification, and advanced users who build complex LAMBDA formulas. It works on Excel 2016 or later on Windows, Mac, and on the web, without installing any additional software.

However, this add-in is not suitable for professional environments where data confidentiality is critical: the content of the relevant cells is sent to OpenAI's servers. It is also not suited to users looking for a stable, long-term solution, as experimental features may change, be discontinued, or be removed at any time.

What it offers

·The LABS.GENERATIVEAI function sends a prompt from an Excel cell to an OpenAI AI model and returns the response directly into the worksheet.
·The function accepts optional parameters directly in the formula: temperature (creativity level), max_tokens (maximum response length), and model (choice of OpenAI model).
·The function can reference other cells in the workbook to build dynamic prompts from existing data.
·The Advanced Formula Environment allows users to create, edit, and reuse complex formulas and LAMBDA functions with syntax highlighting, inline errors, and IntelliSense.
·The Advanced Formula Environment supports importing LAMBDA function libraries directly from GitHub Gists.
·The Python editor provides a notebook-like interface for viewing and editing multiple Python cells in Excel (requires access to Python in Excel).
·The feature gallery lets users choose which experimental feature to activate from a centralized panel accessible via the Home tab.

Our tips

Set the temperature parameter to a low value (e.g. 0.1) in the side panel settings to get more predictable and consistent responses for data analysis tasks.
Use the global Settings panel to define the default model and output length for the entire workbook, then override these values on a case-by-case basis directly in the formula using optional arguments.
Combine LABS.GENERATIVEAI with other native Excel functions (such as TEXTSPLIT or TRANSPOSE) rather than asking the function to return a table directly: results are more reliable this way.
Reference a cell containing the prompt rather than hard-coding it in the formula, making it easier to modify and reuse across multiple rows of a table.
Keep your OpenAI API key secure and do not share it: it is entered once in the 'Configure API Key' section of the panel and grants access to a usage-billed service.

Watch out

The add-in is explicitly experimental: features may change, be discontinued, or never be permanently integrated into Excel.
Use of LABS.GENERATIVEAI is subject to OpenAI's terms of use and rate limits; with a free account, requests are limited to 3 per minute, and intensive use incurs costs through the OpenAI API.

In practice

Price: Free
Commercial use: Commercial use: yes
Available on: excel
Host: excel
FR interface: No

Security and data

Rating: Security: one caveat, see the card
Your data: Data with the vendor
Maintenance: Active

Links and repository checked on 25 October 2026 · added on 1 March 2023

How to install Excel Labs (Microsoft)

1. Open Excel (version 2016 or later on Windows, Mac, or on the web). 2. Click Insert > Get Add-ins to open the Office Store. 3. Search for "Excel Labs" in the search bar, then click Add. 4. Once installed, click the Excel Labs button in the Home tab to open the feature gallery. 5. To use LABS.GENERATIVEAI, select this feature in the gallery, then enter your OpenAI API key in the "Configure API Key" section of the panel. Caution: never enter confidential or personal data in your prompts, as cell content is sent to OpenAI's servers. 6. In any cell, type =LABS.GENERATIVEAI("your prompt") and press Enter to get the response.

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