Do you have an Excel report or graphs that need to be emailed to various people every month? We can use Excel automation features to do this task quite easily.
The inspiration – A client request for Excel Email Solution
The idea for this came from a recent project I did for a client. They wanted me to build an Excel workbook which shows latest sales summary and then allows them to email the snapshot to the relevant people in one click.
Here is a snapshot of the solution I created for them (with dummy data):
- You select a product and see the dynamic report
- Pick the person who will receive the report (from drop-down list)
- Click on the “Send email” button to send the email
The ingredients – What we need
Here, I am using 3 main ingredients.
- A report created in Excel 365
- Office Scripts to generate the email contents and trigger the mail process
- Power Automate flow to send the email
Below is a schematic of the whole process.
The Recipe – How to send emails from Excel
The actual recipe is a bit detailed and harder to explain in text only format. So I made a video with the whole thing. Watch it here or on my YouTube channel. I have included the key steps as text below too.
Scripts & Instructions:
We can send either text or images as the email. In our case, I have both text content and images. The images come from a grouped object named Group 5.
GenerateReport Script:
Go to your “Automate” ribbon in Excel and click on “New Script” button.
In the script window, paste below script and customize the names as needed (refer to the video for explanation on the script).
function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook):myOutput {
// Your code here
let ws = workbook.getWorksheet("Report");
let repGroup = ws.getShape("Group 5");
const repImage = repGroup.getImageAsBase64(ExcelScript.PictureFormat.png);
const emailSubject = ws.getRange("c2").getText();
const sendTo = ws.getRange("I22").getText();
console.log(emailSubject);
console.log(sendTo);
return {repImage,emailSubject,sendTo};
}
interface myOutput {
repImage: string;
emailSubject: string;
sendTo: string;
}
Set up the Power Automate Flow
- Go to Power Automate website and login with your credentials
- Create a new instant cloud flow
- Set the trigger as “When HTTP request is received”
- Add “Run Script” step in Excel
- Add Send an email (v2) step
- Set up the flow as depicted below.
Obtain the Trigger URL
- Save your flow
- Now go back the “trigger” step (step 1 of your flow)
- Make sure you set the method to GET
- Expand and copy the URL.
Back to Excel to make one more Script
We are nearly done. We just need to add one more script & a button in our sales report so that we can initiate the flow from Excel.
Add one more script in Excel and use the below code.
function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook) {
// Your code here
const triggerURL = "___YOUR TRIGGER URL___";
let request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open("GET", triggerURL, false);
request.send(null);
}
- Save your script.
- From “Code Editor” click on the options menu for your script and use the “Add Button” to add a button on Excel worksheet.
- Whenever you click on this button, your flow will start.
Other ways to Automate this:
We can also use VBA to create & send emails automatically. I have previously written about that approach too. Read this article for VBA Excel Email Sender.
VBA vs. Office Script approach – which is better?
Both technologies offer automation. I have summarized the pros & cons of each technology below.
As of 2023 March, my preference is to use VBA for things like Email automation as it is easy to control and deploy.
VBA
VBA Pros:
- Works in any version of Excel
- Easy to learn, easy to code
- Lots of help & resources
- Very old and stable language base
- Works with Excel, Office & Windows Objects & API
VBA Cons:
- Can't use with Web / Mobile version of Excel
- Not easy to integrate with Cloud platforms (Power Automate, Sharepoint etc.)
- Security problems
Office Script
Office Script Pros:
- Works on Web / Mobile versions too
- Integrates with cloud platforms (Power Automate etc.)
- Future ready technology
Office Script Cons:
- No easy help or resources
- Hard language to learn and master
- Doesn't work in older versions of Excel
- Can't use all objects of Excel. Will not work with Windows API etc. too
- Needs costly subscription plans to use
- Runs on server, thus no control and susceptible to downtimes etc.
Thanks to Mark Proctor
I got the idea for URL trigger from Mark Proctor. Thanks Mark for the fantastic work 🙂
Got questions?
Do you have any questions reg. this implementation. Post a comment so that our community can help you.
27 Responses to “How to Embed Youtube videos in to Excel Workbooks?”
Thank you!!
The trick is to get that URL for video. Some videos have this feature disabled... hmm...
very cool. how did you record what you do on Excel? it didn't seem like you was using a camcorders.
This is a great tip. Is it possible to insert a PDF on an excel worksheet? I usually receive quotations in pdf format, and would like to show the quote on a worksheet, rather than using hyperlinks. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Your instructions didn't work for me, ether in Excel 2010 or 2007, and I tried several times, following the instructions very carefully and to the letter.
What I found out is that, for some odd reason, copying the YouTube URL then adding the ?fs=1&hl=en_US to the end would not work at all for me.
But if I went to the Embed code in YouTube and copied value parameter (minus quotes) and pasted it into the movie property, the movie would play. The Embed code value parameter includes the link and the extra bit you included at the end. No need to copy that as an extra step.
Best feedback on here. Worked like a charm after removing extra YT code. Thanks..
@Gregory,
Thanks your instructions.
I have carefully followed the Instructions mentioned by you and still i am unable to do embed the video in excel.
Please help and your immedate reply will be higly appreceiable.
Regards
Sonu Monga
A Chartered Accountant
If you are using excel 2010 or higher. then there is nothing like Shockwave flash player.
In that case you have to use windows media player.
There is a control naming Windows Media Player in that list.
Insert that contol and then open properties and insert link in URL.
It will work.
@Gregory,
Thanks your instructions.
I have carefully followed the Instructions mentioned by you and still i am unable to do embed the video in excel.
Please help and your immedate reply will be higly appreceiable.
Regards
Sonu Monga
Chartered Accountant
It wouldn't play because you need to indicate the exact location of flash file....by 'Embedding' the file, you get the the exact URL, so it can be played....some videos can't be 'embedded' that's why it won't work....
My developer tools does not list a control for "Shockwave flash object". Where/How do I find it?
Hi Chandoo,
why don't use OCX Window media player ???
you can play your own local video or music
just indicate exact location (Full path or URL)
i.e :
C:\Users\Public\Music\Sample Music\Kalimba.mp3
C:\Users\Public\Videos\Sample Videos\Wildlife.wmv
with macro and userform :
Sub PlayMedia()
On Error Resume Next
UserForm1.WindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = ThisWorkbook.Path & "/" & ActiveCell.Value
' ----- or
' ----- UserForm1.WindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = Exact location
End Sub
Very cool. I also could not get the instructions to work, but was able to use Gregory's suggestion about the embed code. Thanks for posting!
Thanks Chandoo. This is very cool. I was able to make it work using the embed code copying from http: up to _US as you indicated. This is a great way to provide additional training or message as you package your deliverable.
[...] Trying to become a bit flashier with your dashboards? Maybe you’re just looking to include additional material. Take a look at this quick tool to embed YouTube videos in excel workbooks. [...]
Hi Chandoo,
Excellent tip. Very useful.
Is there anyway to link the path in the properties to a cell value so that the user can select the video from a drop down and then have the video play?
Thanks Myles.... to link the path to a cell, I guess you need to use macros..
nothing happend in Embed Youtube videos in to Excel Workbooks, it shows only white blank screen.
Hi Chandoo, How Do I put more than one URL in movie field?
Hi Chandoo,
very good tip.
But how do I start the embeded video in an xlsm file once the tab is selected or through VBA programming?
Appreciating your answer
Steve
Query:
I have created 4 sheets excel file, but when i print this file to PDF it generates two sheets one PDF and two Sheets one PDF … can i know the setting which i had to change. because i want all 4 sheets in one PDF
while Printing i did setting as "Print Entire Workbook"
Awaiting for your reply.
Help!! THis works great, but I'm trying to use VBA to change the URL, which I can do. The problem I am having is getting it to play via VBA.
The object has both .play and .playing = true properties, but neither will actually play the video after updating the .movie url. The correct video appears within the object, but I can't get it to play from VBA... which I really need it to do.. Thoughts?
Hello
Go to Developerr tab and select more control then find windows media player just click it.
after that you have to right click on the embeded object and select properties there you need to add your video file path.(dont forget to include extension like .avi, .mov etc.) in URL field. Then Press Alt+11 and deselct design mode. Once you close the module your video start playing.....
For the life of me, I cannot get this to work. I have followed Chandoos instructions to the letter and also tried using the embed code as Gregory suggested, all I get is a blank white box where the video should be. Is there any other reason that this might not work? Flash version perhaps? Quite frustrating.
Hi I was wondering if was a way after adding a video if one could save to HTML format and it would work?
Hi Chandoo,
This is very helpful, however, is there a way to auto-play the embedded youtube video as soon as somebody opens the excel file? Can you share the macro for the same?
Hi,
Very cool, how is it possible to start automatically the video when the excel sheet is open?
I would like to start the video when i open the worksheet :).
Best regards.
Hello
When trying this method, I got Flash-embedded videos are no longer supported. Is there a solution for this problem?