Excel is one of those programs that is generally present in most of today’s computers. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite and helps us work with all kinds of numerical data. Now we are going to talk about some software elements of the program, its add-ins or complements.
And it is that something that we must bear in mind, is that the applications focused on spreadsheets today are very practical on the PC. With them we can carry out all kinds of calculations, both in domestic and professional environments. In this way, from these programs we can keep our house accounting, create graphics, keep an account for an inventory, create forms, etc.
Then, if we focus on the more corporate environments, this is a program that even helps us to keep the accounts of an entire company. Well, the best known program to create and use spreadsheets is Excel , one of the applications that are part of Microsoft Office. How could it be otherwise, with this program we can open and create all kinds of spreadsheets from our PC . Of course, for all this we must have an Office license or subscribe to Office 365.
What are Excel add-ins or add-ins
Many consider this to be an extremely complex program, but it is all relative. And it is that its complexity is given to a large extent in how much we want to delve into everything it offers us. As we mentioned before, this is an application that can be very useful when performing basic calculations, or to keep accounts at home. But of course, for the accounting of an entire company, we have to go much deeper.
For all this, the program proposes a user interface full of cells in which we manually enter the data with which we work. At the same time we can use some of the many formulas available, graphs, images , tables, etc.
But along these same lines we want to focus on a specific section that perhaps many of you do not know. Specifically, we refer to the Excel add-ins that can get many users out of so much trouble. In fact, when we talk about these add-ins , we refer to an add-in or small external module that allows us to extend the functionality of Excel. These allow us to carry out certain tasks or execute functions that Excel does not natively.
As you can imagine, a good part of these elements that we are commenting on are there so that we can make the most of the program. Thus, we will have the ability to perform specific tasks that initially the Office program does not offer us.
How to install the Excel add-ins
At this point we will tell you that in the event that we decide to use any of these additional elements that we are commenting on, we have many at our disposal. These, as we told you before, we can add to our Excel projects in order to increase its functionality and perform certain specific tasks. At the same time, we must bear in mind that in addition to those already existing today, any advanced user can create other new add-ins.
Of course, for this it is necessary to have certain knowledge in programming and development, generally VBA. That way, those who need and can, will have the ability to create and add their own add- ins to Excel . However, ordinary users will have to settle for using third-party users.
Add-ins to install from Excel
Something that we must be clear about is that the Microsoft program itself, although it does not have them integrated at the outset, gives us the possibility of installing add-ons from the program. Therefore, we only have to go to the application interface as such and take a look at those offered here. For all this, the first thing we do is go to the Insert menu option, where we find a section on Complements .
In this section that we mention that focuses on Excel add-ins, we have two possibilities. On the one hand we can see those that we already installed over time in the application. We can do this by simply clicking on the My add-ons button to bring up a window with them.
But at the same time, as we told you before, we have the possibility to add new ones. These are what Microsoft itself offers us through its official store. As it is easy to imagine, for this we only have to click on the button called Shop that is presented in this same section. At that precise moment the add-ins that the Redmond firm makes available to us will appear. Of course, what we should know is that these are not installed, only available for us to select the one that interests us, and add it to the program as such.
Install third-party add-ins in Excel
At the same time, it is also interesting to know that many of these additional elements that we are talking about here, we can look for them in other sources. We already told you that many experienced users choose to create their own add-ins or add-ins for Excel. Then, on many occasions they share them with the rest of the world through the Internet, as is easy to imagine. Also, in most cases, completely free of charge.
At the same time, there are some websites or platforms that specialize in making this type of content available to us for the spreadsheet program . An example is one of the best known websites in this regard, which we can access from this link .
On this website we are going to find a good number of elements of this type so that we can choose the one that interests us the most in each case. In addition, these are cataloged in various categories to make it easier for us to find what interests us. Some are free, some are paid, or we have some in a trial version . To install them, we generally only have to access the add-in as such and download it. Many of them are executable files that are integrated into Excel as soon as we run it on our PC.