• Home

  • Automation with Zapier

  • Automation inspiration

Automation inspiration

4 min read

6 ways to automate Microsoft Excel

By Elena Alston · March 19, 2024

Microsoft Excel is certainly a powerhouse when it comes to data storage. And its capabilities go far beyond that of a simple spreadsheet. From analyzing finances to managing complex data sets of customer information, Excel can help businesses scale their operations. 

But if you're handling Excel on a regular basis, you might be looking to streamline certain processes, like that of transferring data from your other business-critical apps. 

That's where automation comes in. By connecting Excel to Zapier, you can connect to thousands of apps and automate the most important parts of your data management. That includes automatically logging form submissions, sending team updates, syncing data in real time across apps, and more. Here are six ways you can start digging into Excel automation.

New to Zapier? It's workflow automation software that lets you focus on what matters. Combine user interfaces, data tables, and logic with thousands of apps to build and automate anything you can imagine. Sign up for free to use this app, and thousands more, with Zapier.

Table of contents

  • Log forms and survey submissions

  • Send notifications for important updates

  • Update data across multiple spreadsheets

  • Use webhooks to connect Microsoft Excel to almost any app

  • Sync new leads in real time

  • Create tasks and projects

To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button. It only takes a few minutes to set up. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.

Log forms and survey submissions

Whether you've just asked your customers to rate your business or you're collecting responses from team members to host an event, forms apps—like Jotform and Typeform—are undeniably handy. 

But if you're using Excel to store and analyze those responses, you've probably experienced the dread that comes with transferring data between your two apps. You don't want to export hundreds of responses or waste time manually copying and pasting them into Excel. You have better things to do. (Who could blame you?)

Save time by using Zapier to automate this entire process. Your responses will get added straight to your Excel sheet from your forms app any time a new one is submitted. 

Add new Typeform entries as rows on an Excel spreadsheet

Add new Typeform entries as rows on an Excel spreadsheet
  • Typeform logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Typeform + Microsoft Excel

Add new Jotform submissions to Excel spreadsheet rows

Add new Jotform submissions to Excel spreadsheet rows
  • Jotform logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Jotform + Microsoft Excel

Add new Gravity Forms submissions to Excel rows

Add new Gravity Forms submissions to Excel rows
  • Gravity Forms logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Gravity Forms + Microsoft Excel

Add new Wufoo entries to Excel rows

Add new Wufoo entries to Excel rows
  • Wufoo logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Wufoo + Microsoft Excel

Add new SurveyMonkey responses to Excel spreadsheets

Add new SurveyMonkey responses to Excel spreadsheets
  • SurveyMonkey logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
SurveyMonkey + Microsoft Excel

Learn more: 5 advanced ways to automate your forms and surveys

Send notifications for important updates

The hard part is done: You've added vital customer information to an Excel sheet, and it's ready for sales. Maybe a customer has changed their email address, and you need to update your email list. Or perhaps you've logged important company information that you need to hand over to your stakeholders. 

The question is: How do you keep everybody in the loop whenever there's a new update or a new row? You can't be expected to check Excel 10 times a day, then send your team an email or Slack notification every time something changes. It would take over your life. 

Fortunately, you can use Zapier to set up automated alerts whenever new rows are added or updated in Excel. You can choose how to present each message so everybody receives the details they need to know at a glance—without logging in and out of Excel constantly. 

Add or update Mailchimp subscribers from new rows on Excel

Add or update Mailchimp subscribers from new rows on Excel
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Mailchimp logo
Microsoft Excel + Mailchimp

Send emails via Gmail for new Excel rows

Send emails via Gmail for new Excel rows
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Gmail logo
Microsoft Excel + Gmail

Post Slack channel messages from new Excel rows

Post Slack channel messages from new Excel rows
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Slack logo
Microsoft Excel + Slack

Send Microsoft Outlook emails with new Microsoft Excel rows

Send Microsoft Outlook emails with new Microsoft Excel rows
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Microsoft Outlook logo
Microsoft Excel + Microsoft Outlook

Send Microsoft Outlook emails for new updated rows in a Microsoft Excel sheet

Send Microsoft Outlook emails for new updated rows in a Microsoft Excel sheet
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Microsoft Outlook logo
Microsoft Excel + Microsoft Outlook

Learn more: How to build a custom notification bot for new leads

Update data across multiple spreadsheets

Do you store data across multiple spreadsheets? You're not the only one. Having multiple databases across different teams is pretty common, but it can make it difficult to keep information up to date, particularly when someone updates or edits a row. 

This is exactly how mistakes and missed updates can happen, as manual updates take time, precision, and an eagle eye for detail. To keep your spreadsheet data consistent across all sources, you can automatically update your data across spreadsheets whenever a change happens, no matter how small. 

Copy new rows between Excel spreadsheets

Copy new rows between Excel spreadsheets
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Microsoft Excel

Add new Excel rows to Google Sheets

Add new Excel rows to Google Sheets
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Google Sheets logo
Microsoft Excel + Google Sheets

Add new Google Sheets rows to Excel

Add new Google Sheets rows to Excel
  • Google Sheets logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Google Sheets + Microsoft Excel

Learn more: How to automate spreadsheets and make them work for you

Use webhooks to connect Excel to almost any app

Have data in one app that you need to send to Excel, but Zapier doesn't support the app? Don't panic because you can use webhooks to achieve the impossible.

In simple terms, webhooks let your apps speak with each other—sending detailed information back and forth whenever new items occur in the first app. 

This Zap, for example, will catch payloads inside your app, which Zapier's webhooks will catch. Zapier then automatically enters that data into a new Excel spreadsheet row for you.

Create a spreadsheet row in Microsoft Excel from a webhook

Create a spreadsheet row in Microsoft Excel from a webhook
  • Webhooks by Zapier logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Webhooks by Zapier + Microsoft Excel

Sync new leads in real time

Do you keep a backlog of all your existing leads in case your other systems fail? Or perhaps your sales teams like to store new prospects in a spreadsheet for future reference without digging into a CRM. 

If you use social media ads (like Facebook or LinkedIn) to source new leads, it's a good idea to automatically add them straight to Excel in real time. That way, you can keep all your lead data in sync for your different teams. 

Forget copying and pasting—these Zaps will do the heavy lifting for you: 

Add new Facebook Lead Ads leads to Excel

Add new Facebook Lead Ads leads to Excel
  • Facebook Lead Ads logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Facebook Lead Ads + Microsoft Excel

Add new Google Ads leads to rows in Microsoft Excel

Add new Google Ads leads to rows in Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Microsoft Excel

Add new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads to Excel as rows

Add new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads to Excel as rows
  • LinkedIn Ads logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
LinkedIn Ads + Microsoft Excel

Create tasks and projects

Do you use Excel to plan out projects and workflows? It's also very likely that your team uses a project management app to track and manage tasks once you kick off work. But you don't have to refer back to Excel every time you set up a project manually—you can get Zapier to do the heavy lifting for you. 

This means that whenever you add a new row

to your Excel spreadsheet, Zapier will automatically create a task or project for you in your project management app with that specific information. This lets you and your team tackle every new item that comes in straight away.  

You can forget the tedious admin that goes with setting up projects, ensuring no task slips through the cracks. Instead, you and your team can get straight to the bulk of your work. 

Create Trello cards from new rows on Excel

Create Trello cards from new rows on Excel
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Trello logo
Microsoft Excel + Trello

Create Notion database items for new Microsoft Excel rows.

Create Notion database items for new Microsoft Excel rows.
  • Microsoft Excel logo
  • Notion logo
Microsoft Excel + Notion

Add completed Todoist tasks to Excel

Add completed Todoist tasks to Excel
  • Todoist logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Todoist + Microsoft Excel

Do more in less time

No matter how you use Excel, pairing it with Zapier ultimately helps you save time and focus on your most important work. 

But using automation to log form submissions, send team notifications, update multiple spreadsheets, and create projects can streamline your IT processes, serving you with better ways to move your work forward at growth speed. 

And this is only the beginning: You can easily develop tailored solutions for you and your team when you automate Excel.

New to Zapier? It's workflow automation software that lets you focus on what matters. Combine user interfaces, data tables, and logic with thousands of apps to build and automate anything you can imagine. Sign up for free.

Related reading:

  • How to add leads from Facebook Lead Ads to Excel

  • How to connect Google Sheets with Excel

  • Add new Jotform responses to Excel

  • How to automatically copy rows between Excel spreadsheets

This article was originally published in August 2022. It was most recently updated in March 2024.

Get productivity tips delivered straight to your inbox

We’ll email you 1-3 times per week—and never share your information.

tags
mentioned apps

Related articles

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

Sign up
See how Zapier works
A Zap with the trigger 'When I get a new lead from Facebook,' and the action 'Notify my team in Slack'