Microsoft Excel is an amazing tool when it comes to creating sheets, keeping accounts, making major calculations or even running formulas. It is an all-in-one app designed for managing accounts and can be installed in your computer as an application.
However, there are certain tools that can further better your experience while using Excel spreadsheets and make it even more helpful. These add-ins can be availed via the Microsoft store right from the Excel or taken from a third-party that is authorised by the big brand.
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Add-ins for Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a huge app and most of the users do not realise that this app itself has a whole new world of add-ins that can make their user better higher and make life easier. In total, there are more than 2,000 add-ins for the complete package of Microsoft Excel, where some are made for multiple apps (like Excel, Word and PowerPoint) while some are made for dedicated apps (only for one app).
These add-ins are either paid, free or require special purchase for the given packages. However, even the free ones are very promising and do not compromise on the utility that they bring. Moreover, they can be downloaded and used on most versions of Office, be it 2013 or 2016, for PC or for Mac or even for iPads.
Feature comparison
| Name | Paid/Free | Work/school account acquiring | Supports both Windows and Mac |
Available for other Office apps |
| Stock Connector | Free | Yes | Yes (Including iPad) | No |
| Lucidchart Diagrams | Additional purchase required | Yes | Yes | No |
| Nintex Document Tagger | Free | Yes | Yes | PowerPoint, Word |
| Solver | Free | Yes | Yes | No |
| XLTools.net Calendar | Free | Yes | Yes | No |
| Wikipedia | Free | Yes | Yes | Word |
1. Stock Connector
Stock Connector is a very vital extension (or add-in) for Microsoft Excel. It is meant for the individuals or companies that deal with stock exchange and allows the linking of stocks and currencies to cells in any Excel spreadsheet. It supports all US stocks and ETFs, since the data is provided by IEX. Moreover, the crypto and FOREX are provided by Coinbase. In the free version, the data is a little delayed while refreshing by around 20 minutes. However, the premium version refreshes the data real-time.
The Stock Connector add-in is designed to be used on Windows, MacOS and iPad and the basic version can be had free of cost.
2. Lucidchart Diagrams
The Lucidchart Diagrams is custom-made for Microsoft Excel and is best known to provide a very easy way to insert various mind maps, flowcharts, mockups, etc. It is based on HTML visual collaboration tool, which makes making illustrative diagrams very easy. It has hundreds of templates, including wireframe, network diagrams, flowcharts, site maps, etc., and has hundreds of shapes that can be used.
The Basic plan of the add-in offers 100MB storage with standard shape libraries and unlimited number of objects for every document. It is available for Excel only. It can only be supported on Excel 2016 for Mac and Windows.
3. Nintex Document Tagger
The Nintex Document Tagger enables the users to create documents in Excel, Word and PowerPoint that are merged with tagged templates dynamically. It can be used for the creation of templates for compatible Nintex product. They are used to build a workflow that include the automatically generated documents. It can read and make changes in the document and can send data and report over the internet.
This add-in can be used in Word, PowerPoint and Excel and comes absolutely free of cost. It is compatible with Microsoft Office 2013, 2016 for Windows, 2016 for Mac and Office Online.
4. Solver
Solver helps in defining and solving the problems pertaining to optimisation in the Excel workbook. It can be used to find great ways to allocate and deal with less resource, minimise costs and maximise the profit. It can be used in a wide range of applications like marketing investment, finance, manufacturing and production, human resource and purchasing. All the methods of solving can be used, including Simplex LP Solver, Evolutionary Solver, Integer and Binary constraints, etc.
It is available free of cost and can be used for Excel only. It supports Excel for Windows, Mac and Office Online. That said, it can be used on iPad as well.
5. XLTools.net Calendar
Microsoft Excel can be a tricky app to use for newbies. There are little tasks that are time consuming, like inserting dates. There are different date formats and separators that need to be judged before inserting. However, with the XLTools.net Calendar add-in, date editing is easy. All you would need to do is click on a particular cell with date and it will be highlighted in the calendar. And to insert a date, you would just need to click on any cell and select the date from calendar.
The XLTools.net Calendar add-in is available of Microsoft Excel only and comes free of cost. It is supported in Excel for Windows, Mac and Office Online.
Conclusion
The various add-in tools for Microsoft Excel make life of the user extremely easy. Since a spreadsheet is generally considered to be a more accounting tool, insertion of flowcharts are a given.
Moreover, the Stock Connection makes Excel a worthy tool for people who keep a close eye on the economy and trade and insert the same in the reports made on the spreadsheet. XLTools.net Calendar makes the user experience very simple and easy as they can deal with dates of big files without a glitch and with utmost correctness.
