📊 Automate Excel + Google Sheets with AI Prompts (Simple & Beginner-Friendly Guide)

Excel and Google Sheets are powerful tools for work, business, and studies. But many people struggle to write formulas, or don’t know how to send automatic alerts. The good news? You don’t need to be a tech expert anymore.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to:

• Write Excel formulas using simple English
• Ask any AI tool to create smart scripts for Google Sheets
• Set up helpful automations like email alerts

Let’s get started — step-by-step and in simple language.

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✅ Why Use AI Prompts for Excel & Sheets?

• ✍️ You can type your problem in plain English
• 🧮 AI gives you formulas or scripts instantly
• 📩 You can send emails automatically when something changes in your sheet
• 🧠 It also explains how things work, so you can learn

Anyone can do it — managers, students, teachers, shop owners, and professionals.

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📤 Excel Formula with a Simple Prompt

🎯 Problem:

You have emails in column A. You want to extract only the website name (domain).

✍️ What to Ask an AI Tool:

Please give me an Excel formula to extract the domain from an email in A2.
Example: pranjal@example.com → Output: example.com

✅ AI Will Respond:

=RIGHT(A2, LEN(A2) - FIND("@", A2))

You can copy this formula into your Excel sheet. It will work!

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🧮 Another Example – Count Working Days

🎯 Problem:

You want to count how many weekdays (Monday to Friday) are between two dates.

✍️ What to Ask:

Please give me an Excel formula to count weekdays between two dates in A1 and B1.

✅ AI Will Respond:

=NETWORKDAYS(A1, B1)

This helps you when planning work schedules or timelines.

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📧 Google Sheets: Send an Email When a Row is Updated

🎯 Problem:

You have a Google Sheet named “Tasks”. When someone updates Column C (like task status), you want to get an email.

✍️ What to Ask:

Please write a Google Apps Script that sends me an email whenever someone edits Column C in my sheet named 'Tasks'. The email should contain the updated row details and time.

✅ AI Will Respond:

function onEdit(e) {
  var sheet = e.source.getActiveSheet();
  if (sheet.getName() !== 'Tasks') return;

  var editedCell = e.range;
  if (editedCell.getColumn() === 3) {
    var row = editedCell.getRow();
    var rowData = sheet.getRange(row, 1, 1, sheet.getLastColumn()).getValues()[0];
    var message = 'Row ' + row + ' updated. Data: ' + rowData.join(', ');
    MailApp.sendEmail('your@email.com', 'Update in Tasks Sheet', message);
  }
}

📌 How to use this:

• Go to your Google Sheet → Extensions → Apps Script
• Paste the code → Save → Give permission to send emails

Done! You’ll now get emails automatically.

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🧠 Helpful Prompt Template (You Can Reuse)

Whenever you need help, use this format:

Task: [What do you want?]
Sheet Name (if needed): [Example: "Leads"]
Column or Data: [Example: Column B is the phone number]
What should happen: [Example: Send me an email if number is added]

You can type this into any AI tool that supports natural language prompts.

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🔗 Use with Zapier (Bonus)

You can connect Google Sheets with other tools like WhatsApp or Gmail using a free tool called Zapier.

🎯 Example Prompt:

Create a workflow in Zapier to send me a WhatsApp message when a new row is added in my Google Sheet.

AI tools can help you set this up step-by-step.

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💡 Final Thoughts

“You don’t need to learn coding. You just need to learn how to ask.”

That’s the magic of using AI prompts for Excel and Google Sheets. Type your need in plain language. Let AI write formulas, create scripts, and automate your work.

📌 Try it today: Open your Excel or Google Sheet, find a task you do often, and ask your AI assistant to help automate it.