Clueless about how to write Excel formulas? Use Al

While both Excel Formulator and Excel Formulabot promise to translate your request into Excel code, only one will do it for free

- MARK HACHMAN

Over the past six months, we’ve learned how AI can be used for many tasks: creating art (fave. co/3IrcWds), powering a sophisticated chatbot (fave.co/3I7qDye), and so on. But what if you could use it to actually assist you in your job?

If your job is working with Excel, you’re in luck. A free site (with registration) does just that: Excel Formulator (fave.co/3kmv8gg). Excel Formulator takes your instructions, in plain English, and turns them into an Excel formula. “Pick the highest value in column C and assign it to the cell to the right of the cell labeled ‘Big Spender’” turns into =MAX(C:C) & "Big Spender". Copy the latter into the formula field into an Excel cell, and you’ve saved yourself some time—or, for those who don’t have a sophisticated knowledge of Excel, you now have a quick-and-dirty solution to an irritating problem.