Use think-cell Assist in Excel

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think-cell Assist helps you work with data in Excel. Use Assist to analyze and transform data, and create charts and tables in PowerPoint.

Contents

Open think-cell Assist in Excel

To open the Assist side pane, on the Excel ribbon, select Insert > think-cell > Assist .

Find information, analyze data, and transform sheets

Use the Assist chat box to find useful information, analyze workbooks, or transform data. Assist can perform multiple tasks from a single prompt. A prompt is the instruction or question that you enter in the Assist chat box. For example, you can ask Assist to analyze a workbook, update values, and summarize the results.

To find information, analyze your workbook, or transform data using Assist, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Excel workbook that contains the data that you want to use.
  2. On the Excel ribbon, select Insert > think-cell > Assist . The Assist side pane opens.
  3. In the Assist side pane chat box, enter a prompt that describes what you need, then select Enter.
Find information

Use Assist to find information. Assist can search the web and generate explanations or suggestions to help you with technical concepts, Excel formulas, public information, or ways to present your data.

Example prompts
  • How can I create a pivot table?
  • What does VLOOKUP mean?
  • Explain the differences between EBIT and EBITDA.

Result: Assist replies to your prompt on the side pane.

Analyze workbook data

Use Assist to review data in a workbook and generate summaries, explanations, and insights. Assist can analyze data across one or more worksheets.

Example prompts
  • Summarize the main financial trends in this workbook.
  • Analyze the data across all worksheets and identify the three most important insights.
  • Explain the key differences between the regional sales sheets.

Result: Assist returns a summary, explanation, or set of insights in the side pane based on the workbook data.

Transform workbook data

Use Assist to change or enrich workbook data. For example, you can ask Assist to convert values, update or create rows and columns of data, or implement Excel formulas.

Example prompts
  • Convert all Euro values in this workbook to US dollars using today’s exchange rate.
  • Group the revenue in this sheet by industry and region.
  • Create a row calculating the profit margin.

Result: Assist creates a new worksheet named think-cell and adds the updated data in the worksheet.

Create charts and tables in PowerPoint

Use Assist to create charts and tables in PowerPoint from your worksheet data. Assist can use the original data, or data that it derived or transformed based on your previous prompts.

To create a chart or table in PowerPoint from your Excel data using Assist, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Excel worksheet that contains the data that you want to use.
  2. On the Excel ribbon, select Insert > think-cell > Assist . The Assist side pane opens.
  3. Enter a prompt that describes the chart or table that you want, then select Enter. Assist reads the Excel data and creates a new worksheet named think-cell that contains the chart data.

    Buttons for the chart type or table that you requested and other think-cell elements that fit your data appear in the chat box.
  4. Select the element that you want Assist to create. PowerPoint opens.
  5. In PowerPoint, place the element on a slide.

Example prompts

  • Create a table that summarizes the top five products by margin.
  • Plot sale price versus square footage as a scatter chart.
  • Show the percentage split between cost of revenue and gross profit per fiscal year as a stacked 100% chart.

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