Python in Excel lets you run Python code directly in the Excel formula bar. For Excel users, this enables new and powerful analysis and visualization capabilities. For Python users, this makes your Python code easier to share with your Excel-using colleagues, and you can avoid jumping back and forth between Excel and Jupyter notebooks.

Take the following steps to use Python in Excel:

Python in Excel is rolling out to Excel users for Windows first, and then to other platforms at a later date.

Anaconda is integrating the Anaconda Distribution for Python within Excel. This provides the core Python functionality plus access to over 400 curated packages, enabling advanced data analysis and visualization directly within your Excel workbook.

Python is an ecosystem consisting of the core language and hundreds of thousands of third-party libraries, also referred to as packages, developed independently. A distribution, like the Anaconda Distribution for Python, is a subset of those third-party libraries collected into an installable software package.

In Python, the statement “import ” is used to bring additional functionality into your code. It allows you to access methods and tools provided by third-party libraries or packages.

To get the most out of Python in Excel, start with these packages:

These are a great starting point, with plenty of others to explore as you progress.

There are several ways you can write Python into the Excel grid:

Python in Excel uses curated packages from the Anaconda Distribution , safeguarding against malicious packages that are commonly found in community-led repositories. Anaconda’s curation ensures that the packages are compatible and work seamlessly together, providing a trusted source for Python. To read more about data security and Python in Excel, visit Microsoft Support .

A DataFrame is a representation of tabular data organized by rows and columns. The pandas Python library reads tabular data in many formats like Excel or CSV and creates a DataFrame object. The DataFrame can then be used to perform exploratory analysis or data processing in Python.

Visit pandas.pydata.org for more information

The VLOOKUP capability within Excel is used to merge two tables by at least one common column. Under a specified condition in the pandas library you can perform similar operations using the merge() or join() methods.

We do this to guarantee that we give you the latest results every time. If you would like to reduce the frequency of calculation, consider using partial mode or manual mode which will only recalculate each cell until you request it. You can change the mode by going to Formulas > Calculation > Calculation Options.

The Anaconda Toolbox provides tools to supplement and assist your Python in Excel work. By using Anaconda Toolbox, Python in Excel users can take full advantage of all the capabilities Microsoft Excel and Python have to offer, while learning Python along the way.

With more than 43 million users, Anaconda is the most popular operating system for AI, providing access to the foundational open-source Python packages used in modern AI, data science, and machine learning through a seamless platform. We pioneered the use of Python for data science, championed its vibrant community, and continue to steward open-source projects that make tomorrow’s innovations possible.

Anaconda and Microsoft have created a variety of resources to help you take advantage of all Python in Excel has to offer. Here are some resources to get you started: