AI in spreadsheets, October 2026: Claude in Google Sheets, Gemini canvas and Excel Agent Mode compared

For most people, data work still happens in a spreadsheet. In the last few months, all three big AI players have moved right into that grid. On 6 October, Anthropic opened Claude for Google Workspace in public beta, with Claude inside Docs, Sheets and Slides. Google's Sheets canvas turns a sheet into an interactive mini-app with Gemini. And Microsoft keeps extending Copilot and Agent Mode in Excel, plus a set of new array functions. This guide compares them for real analyst work.

The three options at a glance

Claude inside Google Sheets

Claude for Google Workspace adds a Claude sidebar to Docs, Sheets and Slides. In Sheets it can write formulas using the context of your document, build tables, and use other documents or spreadsheets you upload to create something new. An "ask before edits" mode shows each change before it is applied, which is the setting to use on any sheet that matters. Going the other way, new connectors let you paste a Google file link into a Claude conversation and have Claude edit it from there.

It is available to everyone on a paid Claude plan through the Google Workspace Marketplace, as a public beta. If your company manages Google Workspace centrally, your admin may need to allow the add-on first.

Gemini's Sheets canvas: mini-apps from your data

Sheets canvas is a different idea. Instead of editing cells, Gemini builds an interactive mini-app on top of your data, from a plain-language prompt. Google's own examples include a study tracker with reminders, a fantasy football roster with side-by-side stats, and a wedding seating chart where you drag guests between tables. The canvas lives as a tab in the spreadsheet, reads and writes the same data in real time, and you refine it by asking for changes.

Excel: Agent Mode, Copilot skills and new functions

Agent Mode in Excel is the most ambitious of the three. It plans and carries out multi-step tasks directly in the workbook: building a budget or forecast with adjustable assumptions, spotting anomalies and trends, fixing broken formulas with explanations, and creating PivotTables, charts and dashboards through conversation. You can let Copilot choose the model or pick one per prompt; Microsoft has offered models from both OpenAI and Anthropic.

Recent additions to Copilot in Excel, from the August and September updates:

Which one should you use?

Five prompts that work in all three

• "Explain what the formula in D2 does, step by step, then suggest a simpler version."
• "Find duplicate customers in this table, ignoring case and extra spaces, and list them on a new tab."
• "Add a column that flags orders more than 30 days overdue."
• "Build a summary of revenue by month and region, and add a line chart of the monthly total."
• "Check this sheet for inconsistent date formats and tell me which rows are affected before changing anything."

Want to go beyond spreadsheets? pandas for Excel users maps VLOOKUP, pivot tables and SUMIFS to Python. To clean a messy file or compare two versions privately, try Clean & Compare, and to turn a sheet into a dashboard, Data Canvas. Both run in your browser and never store your data.

Sources: 9to5Google, "Claude launches Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides integration" (6 October 2026); Google's "Build mini-apps with Gemini in Google Sheets" (13 August 2026); Microsoft's Excel release notes for August and September 2026 and the Agent Mode general availability announcement (January 2026). Plans and availability change often, so check each vendor's page.

Alessandro Ecclesie AgazziWritten by Alessandro Ecclesie Agazzi, analytics engineer in London. Updated 17 October 2026. About me