48 Best Excel Add-Ins That Will Make Your Life Easier

Most Excel users don’t realize there’s a whole world of spreadsheet add-ins just itching to make their jobs — and lives — so much easier.

There are add-ins to boost your productivity, and even add snazzy visualizations to make your spreadsheets stand out from the snoozefests you’re used to. Others can help you run your business more effectively, study smarter, and save time analyzing your data.

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To help you navigate all these awesome options, today we’ll be exploring the top 50 (mostly free) Excel add-ins together, broken down into 8 categories:

• Productivity
• Visuals
• Charts
• Study
• Finances
• Marketing
• Data Analysis
• Miscellaneous

You can quickly jump around to the add-ins you specifically need, but we highly encourage you to read our guide in its entirety so you can discover all the add-ins you’ve been missing out on.

Boost productivity

To start, let’s jump right in with the top 5 Excel add-ins to make you more productive.

1. If you’re looking to up your productivity game, become more organized, and crush all your business goals this year, the Power User Excel add-in has your name on it.
2. Keep in mind, Power User is better suited for freelancers in the marketing and consulting spaces. For those in finance, Macabacus has features designed with your specific business needs in mind.
3. Duplicate Finder and Deleter can help you save a ton of time by finding all your duplicate spreadsheets and automatically deleting them for you. This frees up both time for you and space on your drive.
4. With this mail add-in, you can choose to send bits and pieces of your spreadsheets or the entire shebang via email.
5. ASAP Utilities helps you accomplish more with Excel by giving you time-saving shortcuts. According to their site, the average user saves an average of 30 hours per year!

Visually jazz up your spreadsheets

Keeping your charts organized and easy to understand will also help you shave time off your busy day. Here are the best Excel add-ins to up your spreadsheet game.

6. Labeling your charts is one of the best ways to make your data easy to understand. Use this chart labeler Excel add-in and your charts will be way less confusing.
7. Insert a map right into your spreadsheets to plot locations and visualize data with this Bing Maps add-in.
8. And if you’re looking to add images instead, this Pickit Free Images add-in can help you. This add-in came in second place at the 2017 Office App awards in the Best Overall App category.  
9. For readers needing to add videos to their spreadsheets, reach for this Web Video Player add-in.
10. This Geographic Heat Map add-in helps you organize parts of the world using different colors so you’ll have a better understanding of where everything is spatially. This guide walks you through creating your first map.
11. If you need to merge a few of your tables, use this add-in.
12. Adding a pop of color here and there can also help keep your spreadsheets organized. This Colorizer add-in was designed to give you the flexibility to do just that.

Create unique charts not found in Excel

Ever want to take your Excel charts to the next level? Say hello to the add-ins that make those boring standard charts a relic of the past.

13. Radial charts help present data in a visually interesting way. If you’re already using a pie chart style, consider switching to this add-in to create a radial bar chart instead.
14. Bubble-style charts can also break up the monotony of traditionally styled charts.
15. Organizational charts are great for letting everyone on the team know who’s responsible for what. If you need one for your company, use this HierView add-in instead of wasting time creating your own.
16. Gauge charts can also help you visualize data like a speedometer and usually only measure certain levels of one data point. If this sounds like a chart you need, reach for this add-in.

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Study more efficiently and give better presentations

The next set of add-ins will help you study more efficiently and give your presentations the boost they need.

17. If staring at a blank page makes you zone out and off the screen, consider the Quick Notes add-in. This nifty tool uses a mosaic template to nudge you towards getting started.
18. For students who prefer creating flashcards to study, why not switch to a digital form that you can easily access, edit, and share? This Flash Card Assistant add-in will give your writing hand a much needed break while still giving your brain the exercise it needs to retain important information.
19. If you struggle with organizing huge amounts of data, let this Mind Map add-in make things easier to understand and stop beating yourself up.
20. When it comes time to give your next presentation, consider using a Lucid chart to make all your data visually appealing, easier to read, and grab your audience’s attention.
21. Putting your data into visuals can also help you comprehend large, complex topics.

Manage and simplify finances

The next bunch of Excel add-ins makes the chore of managing your finances less overwhelming.

22. If simplifying finance spreadsheets is what you’re after, this financial reporting add-in wants to help. It even lets you keep track of your spending thanks to real-time updates.
23. For readers who need to manage their checkbooks, skip the old fashioned method and use Checkbook assistant instead.
24. You can also build and test your trading strategies before spending a dime on actual trades with this Excel add-in.
25. And if you’re looking to create trade systems or conduct a technical analysis, this Analyzer XL add-in promises to help you do just that.
26. The Analystix financial analysis add-in simplifies calculations such as weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
27. To optimize your portfolio without the help of a professional, grab this add-in.
28. You can also use this one to download price data on different securities.
29. Applying for and understanding how a loan works can be tricky. Luckily, this Loan Assistant add-in should simplify the process for you.
30. The same confusion can happen any time you try to convert different currencies. But with the help of this currency conversion add-in, all the hard work is done for you so you can enjoy your trip.

Optimize marketing and branding

Hoping to improve your marketing and branding efforts? You don’t want to miss this next group of Excel add-ins.

31. It’s a pain to keep setting up your branding colors every time you need to create or use a spreadsheet. This add-in saves your company’s colors so you don’t have to waste time doing this task repeatedly.
32. SEO Gadget is an Excel add-in that helps you organize all your SEO data in one central location so you can instantly see how your site is performing. If you're looking to up your SEO game, check out these actionable SEO tips for startups.
33. And if you need SEO tools to actually get the job done, this add-in is for you.
34. Use the Excellent Analytics add-in to import your Google Analytics marketing data into a spreadsheet.
35. You can even create QR Barcodes in Excel thanks to this add-in.

Analyze data more efficiently

If you’re also looking to analyze your business as a whole (and not just your marketing efforts), the next set of add-ins has you covered.

36. The Analysis ToolPak was designed with engineers in mind. It will help you develop statistical analyses that go well beyond the basics.
37. This Solver add-in helps you uncover solutions that fall within the constraints of the problem at hand.
38. If you’re simply trying to analyze your data, enable the PowerPivot add-in built into Excel 2016 and 2013. Or install this version if you’re using Excel 2010.
39. The OAK (Operis Analysis Kit) add-in has a set of tools that allow you to better analyze the structure and formulas in your workbooks.
40. Forecasting is also made simple with the help of the data mining Forecast Wizard add-in.
41. PowerApps helps you connect the dots between data points and gives you the ability to share these findings with your team.
42. Another similar tool lets your team datamine more efficiently. It helps everyone recognize patterns within tasks so the job takes less time.
43. This risk analysis add-in uses Monte Carlo simulation to help you assess your risks.

Miscellaneous Excel add-ins

Curious about all the other add-ins we haven’t categorized yet? The next add-ins will help you in a variety of different ways.

44. If your chess club needs help ranking its members, use this free Excel add-in to do just that.
45. And if you’re looking to create a place to keep all of your favorite directories and workbooks, use this Bookmarks add-in.
46. Looking for a way to hunt down economic information quickly and efficiently? Use the FRED Excel add-in to significantly cut down your research time.
47. Work with multiple documents within a single window with the Office Tabs add-in.
48. And if you’re ever struggling to come up with a bunch of random numbers, this tool can help you waste less time.

Start using Excel add-ins today

By taking advantage of one (or more) of these Excel add-ins, you’ll not only save a ton of time in your super hectic day, you and your spreadsheets will become ultra-effective, mega efficient all stars.

Whether you’re looking to create a better presentation or study smarter for finals, this list has every add-in you could possibly need. To up the ante further, check out our compilation of the best Excel templates.

So feel free to share this resource with everyone you know struggling with their spreadsheets and they’ll thank you for improving their productivity as well!

Wanna take your spreadsheet game to the next level? Try our Excel in an Hour course to learn fundamentals skills that will save you time and boost your productivity.

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