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Ask Flex / Excel and AI

Ask Flex

Is there an AI Excel formula checker?

"Is there an AI Excel formula checker? Mine says #VALUE! and I can't see why."You asked Google. Flex answered.
Flex the robot at his sunny office desk scratching his head at a big spreadsheet on his screen where one cell flashes a red error, while little Clawd peeks out from behind the monitor holding up a sticky note with an equals sign on it
Flex's short answer

Paste the broken formula into a chat AI, along with the error and what you wanted it to do. It finds the mistake, hands back a fixed formula, and tells you what was wrong.

✱ Flex's tips

Formula, error, what you expected.

1

Copy the whole formula

From the equals sign to the last bracket.

2

Include the error

#N/A, #VALUE! and #REF! mean different things.

3

Say what you expected

"It should be 450. It says 0."

4

Ask what went wrong

So you spot it next time.

Try this in your own Claude or ChatGPT

This Excel formula isn't working: [paste the formula, with any private names or numbers swapped for made-up ones]. It shows [the error, or the wrong answer]. It should [what you expected]. My columns: [list each column letter and what's in it]. Tell me what's wrong in plain words, give me the fixed formula, and tell me how to check it.

Before you paste work stuff into any AI, check what your company allows.
Free tool

The Formula Finder

Pick what you're trying to do, in plain words. Get the formula, what it means, and how to check it.

Find my formula
Flex the robot at his sunny office desk scratching his head at a big spreadsheet on his screen where one cell flashes a red error, while little Clawd peeks out from behind the monitor holding up a sticky note with an equals sign on it
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✱ What people ask
Is there an AI Excel formula fixer?

A chat AI does it. Paste the formula and the error.

Is there an AI Excel formula explainer?

Yes. Paste any formula and ask what each part does. Good for sheets you inherited.

How do I use AI to solve Excel problems?

Say what you see, what you expected, and what's in your columns.

✱ More from this pile: Excel and AI
From Nikki's blogFlex tells you how. Nikki tells you what it felt like. Read it on Clawd and Me. Read it →

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