Foundation Route

How to Generate Excel Formulas With AI

Stop spending 20 minutes on Stack Overflow for one formula. This 10-step route shows you how to get any Excel formula in 2 minutes by describing what you need.

10 steps ~1h 30min For all professionals Free

Excel formulas with AI work by describing your goal in plain language - 'I want to look up the value in column A and return the matching value in column D' - and getting back the exact formula for your spreadsheet. ChatGPT generates working VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, nested IF, SUMIF, and array formulas faster than any tutorial. The aidowith.me Tables, Plans & Checklists route covers this in 10 steps (~1h 30min). You'll use the route's formula request format, generate and test 8 common formula types, build a formula reference library, and work through a real cleanup scenario. Most users report cutting formula-related time by 60% after their first session with this approach. The library you build at the end of the route becomes a personal cheat sheet - covering your most common formulas so you never need to look them up again.

Last updated: April 2026

The Problem and the Fix

Without a route

  • Looking up an unfamiliar formula on Google takes 15-25 minutes and often gives you a generic example that needs adapting to your column layout.
  • Nested formulas (IF inside VLOOKUP, SUMIF with multiple criteria) are hard to build from examples - small syntax errors break the whole thing.
  • Copying formulas from Stack Overflow rarely works without grasping the logic - you need to fix it when your data structure differs.

With aidowith.me

  • The route's formula request format - column layout + goal in one sentence - produces exact, ready-to-paste formulas about 90% of the time.
  • Step 6 covers 4 complex formula types that are hardest to Google: nested IFs, dynamic array formulas, cross-sheet references, and date calculations.
  • You'll build a 12-formula reference library with your most common formulas - organized by task type so you can grab any one in 30 seconds.

Who Builds This With AI

Marketers

Content, campaigns, and briefs done in hours instead of days.

Sales & BizDev

Prep calls, draft outreach, research prospects in minutes.

Managers & Leads

Reports, presentations, and team comms handled faster.

How It Works

1

Build the formula request format

Work through the 3-part prompt that gets working formulas from ChatGPT: describe your column layout, state your goal, and specify any exceptions. Practice on 3 real formulas from your work.

2

Generate and test 8 formula types

Work through VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, SUMIF, nested IF, COUNTIFS, TEXT, IFERROR, and one array formula. For each, generate with AI, paste into Excel, and test on real data.

3

Build your formula reference library

Save your 12 most-used formulas with descriptions and example data. The route includes a Google Sheets template for the library that you can fill in as you go.

Get any Excel formula in 2 minutes

Join the waitlist at aidowith.me and get early access to the Tables, Plans & Checklists route. 10 steps, ~1h 30min, a formula library you'll use every week.

Start This Route →

What You Walk Away With

Build the formula request format

Generate and test 8 formula types

Build your formula reference library

You'll build a 12-formula reference library with your most common formulas - organized by task type so you can grab any one in 30 seconds.

"I spent 3 years Googling every formula I needed. This route shown me how to describe what I want to ChatGPT and it's changed how I work in Excel every single day."
- Operations manager, logistics company

Questions

ChatGPT reliably generates: VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, SUMIF/SUMIFS, COUNTIF/COUNTIFS, nested IFs, TEXT and date formulas, IFERROR wrappers, and basic array formulas. It occasionally gets complex nested formulas wrong on the first try - the route's testing step catches these cases before they cause problems. For those edge cases, one follow-up prompt asking ChatGPT to 'show me step by step' resolves about 90% of them.

Use the route's 3-part format: describe your column layout (columns A-D contain X, Y, Z), state your goal (I want to return the value in column D where column A matches my lookup value), and note any exceptions (return blank if no match). Paste this into ChatGPT and you'll get a working formula.

Yes, with minor differences. Most Excel formulas work identically in Google Sheets. The few exceptions - XLOOKUP isn't in Sheets; use VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH instead - are covered in the route's step 8. When prompting ChatGPT, just specify 'Google Sheets' and it adjusts the syntax automatically. The route's 12-formula library includes a Sheets-compatible version of every formula for this reason.