Getting started with the Cx Assistant Excel add-in

What is the Cx Assistant Excel add-in

The Cx Assistant Excel add-in brings your project assistant into Microsoft Excel as a task pane. You chat with the assistant right next to your workbook: ask about issues, assets, and documentation in your project, and let the assistant read and edit the open workbook for you — write values and formulas, build sheets and tables, format ranges, insert charts, and more.

Everything the assistant does respects your project permissions: it can never see or change more than you can.

No project yet? The add-in also works without one. In personal mode the assistant works on the open workbook and on your own My Workspace files (see "How to use the add-in without a project").

How to install the add-in from the Office Add-ins store

Install Cx Assistant from the Office Add-ins store:

1. In Excel, go to Insert and click Add-ins (in Excel on the web, Add-ins is on the Home tab).
2. Search for "Cx Assistant".
3. Click Add.

After installing, an "Open Cx Assistant" button appears on the Home tab.

For a full step-by-step install guide with screenshots, see cx-assistant.com/en/install/excel.

How to open the Cx Assistant pane

To open the assistant:

1. In Excel, go to the Home tab.
2. In the Cx Assistant group, click Open Cx Assistant.

The task pane opens on the side of your workbook. The first time, a short get-started callout points you to the support page. If you are not signed in yet, you will see the sign-in screen first.

Signing in and creating an account

When the pane opens without an active session, you will see the sign-in screen:

1. Enter your email and password and sign in.
2. If two-factor authentication is enabled on your account, complete the 2FA challenge that appears.

Forgot your password? Use the forgot-password link on the sign-in screen.

New to Cx Assistant? You can create an account directly in the pane using the sign-up option — no need to leave Excel. After you sign up, we send a confirmation link to your email. Open the link to activate your account, then sign in. If the email does not arrive, use the resend option on the same screen.

You do not need a project to sign in. If you have no project yet, the pane opens in personal mode.

How to choose a project or My Workspace

After you sign in, the pane picks where the assistant works:

• If you belong to one or more projects, it opens in your first project.
• If you have no project yet, it opens in My Workspace (personal mode).

To change it:

1. Click the history toggle (the ≡ icon) in the top bar of the pane.
2. Open the selector at the top of the panel that slides in.
3. Pick a project, or pick My Workspace ("Your personal files").

The pane remembers your choice the next time you open it. The same selector also has a "Create a project" entry, which opens the Cx Assistant web app in your browser.

How to use the add-in without a project (personal mode)

You can use Cx Assistant in Excel without any project. This is personal mode: the assistant works on the open workbook and on your own My Workspace files only.

If you have no project, the pane opens in personal mode by itself. If you have projects, switch to it like this:

1. Click the history toggle (≡) in the top bar of the pane.
2. Open the selector at the top of the panel.
3. Pick My Workspace.

You know you are in personal mode when a banner under the top bar says "Personal mode — working with your My Workspace files only." The welcome screen also shows different quick prompts, such as "Improve the selection" and "What can you do here?".

To go back to project work, open the same selector and pick a project. Your chats are kept per project and per My Workspace, so the chat list changes when you switch.

Personal mode — what works and what needs a project

What works in personal mode:

• Everything the assistant does in the open workbook: reading, writing values and formulas, formatting, sheets, tables, and charts.
• Reading and summarizing files you attach to the chat, and files you uploaded to My Workspace — for example "Build a table from the datasheet I attached".
• Organizing your My Workspace files and folders.
• Engineering questions and web search.
• Questions about how Cx Assistant works.
• Notes and preferences you ask the assistant to remember.

What needs a project:

• Issues, RFIs, and assets — finding, creating, or updating them.
• Filling ranges with live project data, such as a sheet of open issues.
• Creating issues from rows in your workbook.
• Reading project documents.

In personal mode the assistant cannot see any of your projects. If you ask for something that needs a project, it tells you so and explains how to get one.

To create a project, click "Create a project" in the personal mode banner or in the selector. This opens the Cx Assistant web app in your browser — projects are created there, not in the add-in. A colleague can also invite you to an existing project. Afterwards, close and reopen the Cx Assistant pane and pick the project in the selector. If the project is not listed, sign out and sign in again.

Quick prompts on the welcome screen

When you start a new chat, the welcome screen offers quick prompts to get going with one click.

In a project:

• Create issue
• Open issues
• Issues summary

In personal mode (My Workspace):

• Improve the selection
• Summarize a file into this document
• What can you do here?
• How do I create a project?

Click one to start a conversation on that topic, or type your own question in the composer at the bottom of the pane.

Requirements — which versions of Excel are supported

The add-in works in Excel on the web and in Excel desktop on Windows and Mac with a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Technically, the add-in needs Excel API 1.4 or newer, which recent Microsoft 365 builds provide. A few newer features — like merged-cell awareness when reading ranges — need newer Office builds; on older builds they degrade gracefully while everything else keeps working.

Where to get help and support

You have several ways to get help:

• Ask the assistant. It can answer questions about how Cx Assistant works.
• Send a support ticket: click the history toggle (≡), click the ⋮ button in the footer of the panel, and choose "Help & support". Pick a reason, add details, and submit.
• Visit the public support centre at cx-assistant.com/en/support/excel.

The support dialog also links to the support centre if you prefer browsing articles.