Hello everyone, and welcome back. Today, I will tell you about a new feature that Microsoft has just released for Excel users: Python in Excel. This feature allows you to use Python, one of the most popular programming languages, within Excel to do advanced data analysis and visualization. Sounds fantastic. Let me show you how it works and why you should try it.
Python is a powerful language with many libraries for data manipulation, statistical modeling, and visualization. For example, you can use pandas to work with data frames, stats models to perform regression analysis, and Matplotlib and Seaborn to create beautiful plots. These libraries can help you explore and understand your data better and create stunning reports and dashboards.
But what if you want to use Excel’s features, such as formulas, charts, and PivotTables. Excel is essential for many people who need to organize, manipulate, and analyze data. Excel also has built-in connectors and Power Query to quickly bring external data into your workbook.
Well, now you don’t have to choose between Python and Excel. You can have both in the same Excel grid with Python in Excel. This feature lets you access Python directly from the Excel ribbon without setup or installation. You can write Python code in a cell, run it, and see the output in another cell. You can also use Python plots and libraries within Excel formulas, charts, and PivotTables. This way, you can combine the best of both worlds and have a seamless workflow.
For example, let’s say you have some sales data in Excel that you want to analyze. Using the Seaborn library, you can use Python in Excel to create a scatter plot of sales versus profit. Then, you can use Excel’s trendline feature to add a linear regression line to the plot. You can also use Excel’s formula bar to calculate the correlation coefficient between sales and profit using Python’s NumPy library. And finally, you can use Excel’s PivotTable feature to summarize the sales data by region and product category.
As you can see, Python in Excel makes integrating Python and Excel analytics easy within the same workbook. You can also share your workbooks and Python analytics with others using your favorite tools like Microsoft Teams and Outlook. Your teammates can refresh the Python analytics for the most up-to-date information, even if they don’t have Python in Excel activated.
And don’t worry about your data security and privacy. Python in Excel runs on the Microsoft Cloud with enterprise-level security as an M365 connected experience. You can trust that your data is safe and protected.
Python in Excel is currently available as a Public Preview for those in the Microsoft 365 Insiders program Beta Channel. If you want to try it out, you need to join the program and install the latest Insider build of Excel. You can find more details on how to do that on this page. You can also sign up to be notified about future availability for Python in Excel on the page.
Microsoft says they are working hard to improve this feature based on your feedback. So, if you have any suggestions or comments, please let them know through the application or their feedback portal. You can also engage with their team on GitHub.
I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something new.
References
https://insider.office.com/en-us/join