- Claude now works inside Microsoft Excel, reading, editing, and explaining every cell
- About a thousand users are testing Claude’s Excel skills before public rollout
- The AI assistant can fix formulas and generate new sheets in seconds
Anthropic has introduced Claude for Excel, a new service allowing users to work with the AI assistant directly within Microsoft’s popular spreadsheet software.
The new tool lets Claude read and modify workbooks, fix formulas, and create new spreadsheets from within a sidebar.
Every action is tracked and explained, enabling users to see the exact cells or formulas referenced in its process.
Limited beta release and financial data integration
Anthropic says about 1,000 testers will provide feedback before a wider release, and the rollout is a beta research preview for its Max, Enterprise, and Teams users.
The tool extends Anthropic’s earlier financial services initiatives, which already include connectors to market data providers such as Moody’s, LSEG, Egnyte, and Aiera.
These connections allow Claude to access live pricing data, earnings transcripts, and credit reports, offering real-time financial context during spreadsheet analysis.
The integration brings Claude into the same environment used daily by analysts and accountants, signaling a move toward deeper embedding within existing professional workflows.
Several major financial institutions already use Claude in their operations, including AIG, whose early deployment reportedly cut business review timelines by more than 5x while improving data accuracy to over 90%, and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, which recorded roughly 20% productivity gains, equal to 213,000 hours of work saved.
These are not pilot projects but large-scale implementations across risk and portfolio departments.
Although the figures come from company statements, they point to strong productivity claims in an industry often cautious about adopting new technology.
By linking Claude to Excel, Anthropic is entering territory already occupied by Microsoft Copilot.
Both systems use AI tools to help users handle complex spreadsheets, but Anthropic’s version adds links to specialized financial datasets and workflows.
These integrations could make Claude valuable to analysts who depend on precise, up-to-date data.
Yet questions remain about how well the assistant will perform in production environments and whether it can earn the same trust as Microsoft’s established productivity tools.
For now, Claude’s arrival shows growing competition over who will shape the next generation of AI-driven finance.
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