Recently Microsoft announced Python support for Excel. This is a BIG news for everyone using Excel to analyze data or find insights. In this article, let me give you a proper introduction to the Python in Excel feature and how to use it.
If you prefer video, check out my Excel for Python is here video.
What is Python for Excel feature?
You can now write Python code natively in Excel cells and return the output as either Python objects or Excel values. For example, you want to perform quick statistical analysis of your sales data in the range A1:D10. You can use the below Python code to do this now.
=XL(“A1:D10”, headers=True).describe()
How do I enable Python for Excel?
This “preview” feature is only available with Excel 365 beta users as of September 2023.
If you have Excel 365, you can go to File > Account to enable “insider” program. More details on eligibility and instructions are here – https://insider.microsoft365.com/en-us/join/windows
After you’ve joined the program, update your Office from File > Account page.
After the update, if you have Python for Excel, it will show up in the formula ribbon, as depicted below.
If you don’t have it yet, just wait a few weeks. It will show up eventually.
How to use Python in Excel:
A Quick Tutorial
Open Excel and load any of your data files. Alternatively, if you need sample data, copy paste the below table into Excel.
| Sales Person | Product | Country | Date | Sales | Boxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gigi Bohling | Manuka Honey Choco | India | 20-Jul-23 | 8162 | 742 |
| Barr Faughny | White Choc | Canada | 16-Aug-23 | 2485 | 355 |
| Marney O’Breen | Peanut Butter Cubes | India | 14-Jul-23 | 10255 | 733 |
| Wilone O’Kielt | Mint Chip Choco | India | 2-Jul-23 | 16800 | 800 |
| Gunar Cockshoot | Orange Choco | New Zealand | 2-Aug-23 | 2842 | 203 |
| Andria Kimpton | Baker’s Choco Chips | Canada | 18-Jul-23 | 9373 | 427 |
| Beverie Moffet | Fruit & Nut Bars | India | 14-Jul-23 | 6573 | 598 |
| Mallorie Waber | Baker’s Choco Chips | India | 24-Jul-23 | 3598 | 150 |
| Barr Faughny | Spicy Special Slims | Canada | 11-Jul-23 | 5138 | 571 |
| Dennison Crosswaite | White Choc | Canada | 22-Jul-23 | 1547 | 258 |
| Ches Bonnell | 99% Dark & Pure | New Zealand | 16-Aug-23 | 12901 | 993 |
| Andria Kimpton | Organic Choco Syrup | USA | 16-Jul-23 | 7161 | 651 |
| Gunar Cockshoot | Fruit & Nut Bars | New Zealand | 19-Jul-23 | 11935 | 1492 |
| Beverie Moffet | After Nines | India | 18-Aug-23 | 5089 | 268 |
| Gunar Cockshoot | Peanut Butter Cubes | USA | 11-Jul-23 | 9247 | 578 |
| Andria Kimpton | Peanut Butter Cubes | India | 22-Jul-23 | 10731 | 826 |
| Gigi Bohling | After Nines | Australia | 4-Jul-23 | 9730 | 609 |
| Gunar Cockshoot | Eclairs | USA | 1-Aug-23 | 3150 | 287 |
| Karlen McCaffrey | 99% Dark & Pure | USA | 6-Aug-23 | 2247 | 205 |
| Roddy Speechley | Peanut Butter Cubes | USA | 1-Jul-23 | 2765 | 213 |
| Brien Boise | Caramel Stuffed Bars | India | 3-Aug-23 | 7112 | 647 |
| Wilone O’Kielt | Organic Choco Syrup | UK | 27-Aug-23 | 3787 | 345 |
| Dennison Crosswaite | Peanut Butter Cubes | Canada | 29-Aug-23 | 2674 | 168 |
| Gigi Bohling | White Choc | India | 14-Aug-23 | 378 | 54 |
| Karlen McCaffrey | Raspberry Choco | Australia | 7-Jul-23 | 7217 | 401 |
| Marney O’Breen | Spicy Special Slims | New Zealand | 19-Aug-23 | 735 | 147 |
| Mallorie Waber | Organic Choco Syrup | UK | 3-Jul-23 | 4690 | 427 |
| Karlen McCaffrey | Manuka Honey Choco | India | 24-Jul-23 | 8008 | 572 |
| Wilone O’Kielt | Spicy Special Slims | Australia | 18-Jul-23 | 12586 | 2518 |
- Once you have some data in Excel, press CTRL ALT SHIFT P to enable Python mode. If you get a “welcome to Python screen” complete the tour and then press the shortcut again.
- Using your mouse or keyboard, select the data in your workbook. Excel should write the necessary XL() command to capture your data into Python as a dataframe.
- To see the dataframe you just built, press CTRL Enter. Excel will display a “Python Object” in the cell.
DATAFRAME: a dataframe is a python concept for storing data. They are like Excel tables. Each column of dataframe has one kind of data.
To see the output as values
instead of Python object
You can see the “actual” values of your Python code anytime. Just select the cell with Python output and either press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+M or right click on the cell and choose “Python Output” > Excel values option.
10 Python Coding Examples
Use these code samples to play with Python in Excel. Before starting.
- Copy the above table of sample data and paste it in Excel (in range A1:F30). Alternatively, download this file with the data.
- To type the code, enter python mode (CTRL ALT SHIFT P) or use the formula =PY( in a cell.
Example 0
Construct dataframe 👩💻
df = xl("A1:F30", headers=True)
Explanation & Output 💻
This will just create a dataframe named df and return that to the cell. You can either leave it or see the underlying data (which will be same as A1:F30) by changing the output style.
Example 1
Description of the data 👩💻
df.describe()
Explanation & Output 💻
This will generate a dataframe with statistical descriptions for all your number columns. Example output is shown below.
Example 2
Description of the data, all columns 👩💻
df.describe(include="all")
Explanation & Output 💻
This will generate a dataframe with statistical descriptions for all your columns. Perfect for situations when you have some text, dates and numbers in your data. Sample output shown below:
Example 3
Unique Product Names 👩💻
df["Product"].unique()
Explanation & Output 💻
This will generate a python array (ndarray) that has all the product names with duplicate values removed.
Example 4
Add “Sales per Box” calculated column to the dataframe 👩💻
df["sales per box"]=df["Sales"]/df["Boxes"]
Explanation & Output 💻
This will add a new column [“sales per box”] to the dataframe with the calculation logic: sales divided by boxes. You can use the same approach to add many other columns
Example 5
Add “Sales as percentage” calculated column to the dataframe 👩💻
total_sales = sum(df.Sales)
df["Sales as a percentage"] = df["Sales"]/total_sales
df
Explanation & Output 💻
First, we calculate the “total_sales” and keep it in a variable. Then we use that variable to calculate the sales as a percentage.
💡 TIP: Do you notice the different ways in which you can refer dataframe columns? You can use dot notation (ex: df.Sales) or bracket notation (ex: df[“Sales”])
HOMEWORK PROBLEMS
Can you add below columns to the df dataframe?
- Sales value rounded to nearest thousand.
- Month number of the sales date
- Flag each record as “Canada” or “Non-Canada”
Example 6
Group Sales by Date and Show a Pivot 👩💻
df.groupby(by="Date").sum()
Explanation & Output 💻
This creates a default groupby (similar to pivot in Excel) of your data by showing totals by date. This will sum() all the number columns in your dataframe. See the below sample output.
Example 7
Group Sales by Date but only show Sales & Boxes columns 👩💻
df.groupby("Date")[["Sales", "Boxes"]].sum()
Explanation & Output 💻
This creates a customized groupby with Sales & Boxes columns totals by Date. Use this pattern when you don’t want to summarize certain things (like Sales per box).
Example 8
Create a bar graph with Daily Sales 👩💻
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.bar(df["Date"], df["Sales"])
Explanation & Output 💻
We import the plotting library matplotlib.pyplot and use that to generate a bar graph with default settings.
Sample output is shown below:
Example 9
Create a bar graph with Daily Sales – another method 👩💻
df_groups = df.groupby("Date")["Sales"].sum()
df_groups.plot(kind="bar")
Explanation & Output 💻
This code uses the built-in plotting function of the pandas library to generate the bar graph. Notice how this doesn’t show missing dates.
Sample output is shown below:
Example 10
Filter the dataframe to show all records where the product has the word “Choc” 👩💻
df[df["Product"].str.contains("Choc")]
Explanation & Output 💻
This code generates a new dataframe that contains all rows where the Product column has the word “Choc” in it.
MORE HOMEWORK PROBLEMS
- Can you filter all the records that have either “Choc” or “choc”?
- Create a bar graph of this data to show total sales by each product
How does Python in Excel work?
You need internet connection to run Python code in Excel. All the code you write is executed in Microsoft Cloud. This also means your data travels on the network to Microsoft Cloud and returns with the result.
What happens if your code has an error?
If there is an error in your Excel Python code, you will see a new error message #PYTHON! in Excel.
You will also see #BUSY! when Excel is running your Python code (in Microsoft Cloud).
In case of an error in your code, Excel automatically opens the Python Diagnostics tab and displays more information there.
Execution order of your code
The python code you write in Excel will run in row-major order. This means, the code runs row by row, left to right. See this illustration to understand the process.
Resources to Learn Python 🐍
Now that you are familiar with Python in Excel, you may want to learn more. May I suggest using the below approach.
- See if you can enable use Python in Excel to get a feel of the technology.
- Install a proper Python IDE like Anaconda, VS Code or something else to learn & practice Python properly.
- Understand the Python programming concepts like variables, conditions, list comprehension, dataframes and EDA. Here is a good article on the process.
- Apply these concepts on your own / business data to solidify your understanding.
- If you need practice datasets, try Kaggle.
📺 Python Videos
Python in Excel (video by Chandoo)
[NEW]
How to use Python as an Excel Person – FREE Masterclass + 3 Projects
[300k+ views, 1.5 hours long]
End to End data manipulation with Pandas – 10 Examples
[35k views, 18 mins]
📚 Python Books
- Python Crash Course 2nd Edition by Eric Matthes – https://amzn.to/3PBzYRK
This is the book we all (Jo, kids & I) read and really loved it. The explanations and examples are easy enough to get started. There is enough variety to please everyone.
- Automate boring stuff with Python – https://amzn.to/3Py5T5w
More practical if you want to get things done with Python. I read it a few times and really like the practicality of the book.
- Python Data Science Handbook – https://amzn.to/3MFKOUK
Python is particularly useful for doing data science & building machine learning models. This is an area of focus for me in the next months. I suggest getting the Python Data Science book once you have strong foundation in the language.
Note: I am using affiliate link for these books.
💻 Microsoft Resources
As part of the Python for Excel launch, Microsoft also added many resources and example pages to their website. Check out these pages.
38 Responses to “Time to showoff your VBA skills – Help me fix ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert snafu”
I tried your code with 2003, it works.
But, I know Addpicture does not take URLs anymore with 2007 onwards, perhaps its the same with picture.insert as well.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928983/en-us
The above link gives the solution as "picture fill in a shape such as a rectangle".
Tried to recreate this, but it worked fine for me. I just took the image of the error you showed in the post. Is there more info that can narrow this down a bit?
Don't know if this helps?
http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=47101
Hi
Not sure if this is what you're after, but I just tried this
Sub Macro1()
ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif").Select
End Sub
Tied a button to it on the sheet and it seems to work; hope this helps a little
Ian
@All.. the issue is in Excel 2007. In 2003 ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert seems to work fine. Unfortunately, I have design this in Excel 2007.. that is why I posted it here..
v2
Sub Macro1()
Set n = ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif")
With Range("c12")
t = .Top
l = .Left
End With
With n
.Top = t
.Left = l
End With
End Sub
Ian
That didn't come out very well. This positions at c12, so can change easily:
Sub Macro1()
Set n = ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif")
With Range("c12")
t = .Top
l = .Left
End With
With n
.Top = t
.Left = l
End With
End Sub
Works OK in 2007
Ian
The above codes work fines to my EXCEL 2007. Thanks.
Chandoo:
Try 'ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert'
With ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert("C:\Example.png")
.Left = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Left
.Top = ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Top
End With
activesheet.pictures.insert "C:\Documents and Settings\Jon Peltier\Desktop\2007 stuff\insert_charts_2007.png"
Works for me in 2003 SP3 and in 2007 SP2.
Check the URL, and make sure you have internet connectivity.
What also works, and is newer (pictures.insert was supposedly deprecated in '97):
activesheet.shapes.addpicture "C:\Documents and Settings\Jon Peltier\Desktop\2007 stuff\insert_charts_2007.png", false, true, 200,200,100,100
Unfortunately you must specify dimensions (the last four arguments) and you don't necessarily know them. But the picture size is still related back to the original picture size, so you could use scaleheight and scalewidth to fix this.
Chandoo: I just re-read your post.
The code I posted works for me. However, I'm using a local picture. If you try to add a picture from the web, this won't work.
I remember solving this problem before by adding a rectangle shape first, then using the Shapes.AddPicture method to get a picture from the web.
I'll find that code and post it here.
Some more updates... The code "ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert (path)" works fine in Excel 2007 at home. Strange it failed miserably on my work laptop. Do you think this has got something to do with SP2 of MS Office 2007 or something like that?
@Ian, Jon: Thanks for the code snippets. I guess I will use my home installation of excel to do this.
Chandoo:
Try this on your work laptop:
Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle, 50, 50, 100, 200
ActiveSheet.Shapes(1).Fill.UserPicture _
"http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/images/dpwithPig6.png"
End Sub
FYI:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928983/en-us
I didn't mean to post code with a local file, because both approaches worked with an internet image as well. This is in Excel 2007 SP2.
activesheet.pictures.insert "http://peltiertech.com/images/2009-07/col_area_noblanks.png"
Jon: Looks like I have SP1 on my client machine! I wasn't paying attention.
Just checked my home computer where I have SP2, and you're right...looks like they fixed it.
I didn't even bother testing in SP1, though I could if anyone cares enough.
I'm afraid I don't have a solution, but I find it remarkable that after attaining a certain status in the Excel world, Chandoo does not need to post on an Excel discussion forum to get help for an Excel problem. Instead, he posts on his blog and all the gurus come rushing to his help.
Isn't Web 2.0 great?
Teylyn - I saw Chandoo's tweet first, and followed the link back to his blog.
@Mike.. thank you. I have seen the fill rectangle solution before posting the query here. For that matter, I have also tried the solution of embedding a browser control on a spreadsheet. both of these seemed a bit extreme. That is why I have asked it here.
But I guess I will end up using it if I had to build this in work laptop.
@Teylyn: I have thought of posting this in a forum. (Unfortunately I have not been to any excel group in the last 5 years. Last time I was active was when I built a jave based excel sheet construction solution using POI.HSSF classes of Apache... ) After searching for a few hours, I found several forum posts where others had same problem and the solution recommended (using .left and .top parameters) is not working for me. Incidentally most of these solutions are from a certain Jon Peltier 😛
I thought may be the problem is interesting for fellow blog readers. So I posted it here.
Hi,
Adapting the code in the question,
[code]
Sub InsPicture()
pPath = "http://chandoo.org/images/pointy-haired-dilbert-excel-charts-tips.png"
With ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath)
.Left = Range("a1").Left
.Top = Range("a1").Top
End With
End Sub
[/code]
Seems to work fine
Looks like it was a problem in 2007 up to SP1, which was corrected in SP2.
@Jon.. seems like the case. I just checked the version at work laptop. it is 12.0.6331.5000 (SP1).
Thank you so much every one. I really appreciate your time and suggestions in solving this.
Glad to help. I couldn't understand why something so straightforward wasn't working.
Hi All
Is there a way of inserting a motion clip eg animated gif or swf or flv?
Thks
You can insert animated GIFs by inserting them in a browser control through VBA. For other types of movies, I can guess you can insert them as clip art.
I WANT THE INSERT PICTURE BY USING COADING
so currently i was struggling same as you, chandoo, with the insert picture method in excel 2007/10 from an url and came along your thread here.
so i re-designed the code on the addshape method as mike was suggesting it and all of the sudden it works just fine.
thanks alot to you guys, you were a great help
a big salut from switzerland
Hi guys,
I need help copying and pasting an image with the path in a cell.
I leave the code.
And thank you very much!
Sub Copiarimg()
Dim pic As Picture
With ActiveSheet
Set pic = .Pictures.Insert(Range("f2").Value)
With .Range("e9:g22")
pic.Top = .Top
pic.Left = .Left
pic.Width = .Width
pic.Height = .Height
End With
End Sub
I've played around with the approaches in these comments, and the code below is what I've come up with. The ImagePath can be a local file or a URL. As Jon mentioned above, the trick is to set an arbitrary value for the width and height, then call the ScaleWidth and ScaleHeight methods afterward to reset the picture to its original size. Once the LockAspectRatio property is set, you can change the picture width and the height will automatically scale (or vice-versa).
Sub AddPictureToRange(TopLeftCellAddress As String, ImagePath As String)
Dim pic As Shape
Dim l As Single, t As Single
Dim temp As Single
l = Me.Range(TopLeftCellAddress).Left
t = Me.Range(TopLeftCellAddress).Top
temp = 10# ' arbitrary value
Set pic = Me.Shapes.AddPicture(ImagePath, msoFalse, msoTrue, l, t, temp, temp)
pic.ScaleHeight 1#, msoTrue
pic.ScaleWidth 1#, msoTrue
pic.LockAspectRatio = msoTrue
End Sub
I need some help with inserting pictures. I have an excel file with a column of item numbers next to this row I want to insert a picture of this item. The pictures are coded with the item number so I tried to insert it with one of the codes above:
Sub InsPicture()
pPath = "http://img.bricklink.com/P/80/55236.gif"
With ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath)
End With
End Sub
That worked but I need to do that for every row separtly.
So I tried in the code
pPath = "http://img.bricklink.com/P/80/"&Text(a1;"#")&".gif"
But that gives errors.
Anybody ideas?
Hi Nicholas, I used your solution in a related problem in Excel 2003 and it worked flawlessly..thank you!
Hi Mike Alexander,
Your solution with some changes was helpful in my problem in XL 2007, thanks.
Hi,
thanks all. In addition, I had a problem with multiple pictures inserting (every new picture replaced the prior one). I've changed it a bit, may be helpful..
Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle, 50 , 50, 100, 200
ActiveSheet.Shapes(1).Fill.UserPicture _
"http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/images/dpwithPig6.png"
ActiveSheet.Shapes(1).Copy
ActiveSheet.Paste
End Sub
Try this instead:
Sub test()
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle, 50 , 50, 100, 200
ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture _
"http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/images/dpwithPig6.png"
End Sub
Thanks to everyone, this thread has been very helpful. However, image inserting still doesn't work quite as expect for me.
While I can get a picture inserted into an Excel 2010 worksheet using either:
1) ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture...
2) ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath), and
3) Shapes.AddPicture...
unfortunately the images all insert with a display size determined not by the actual pixel dimensions of the image but by the dpi resolution.
So for example, if I insert two copies of the exact same 600x600 pixel image, one with a 300dpi resolution and the other with 72dpi, they display at vastly different sizes on screen.
While this might be intended behaviour for Excel in order to maintain a WSYWIG printing layout, I actually need a way to insert the image based on the the actual pixel dimesnsions and ignoring the dpi resolution.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Kez
Not doing an intentional bump, but realised I posted in rely to one of the repsonses here instead of to the main thread, so reposting.
=====
Thanks to everyone, this thread has been very helpful. However, image inserting still doesn’t work quite as expected for me.
While I can get a picture inserted into an Excel 2010 worksheet using any of the below methods:
1) ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture....
2) ActiveSheet.Pictures.Insert(pPath), and
3) Shapes.AddPicture....
unfortunately the images all insert with a display size determined not by the actual pixel dimensions of the image but by the dpi resolution.
So for example, if I insert two copies of the exact same 600×600 pixel image, one with a 300dpi resolution and the other with 72dpi, they display at vastly different sizes in Excel on screen.
While this might be intended behaviour for Excel in order to maintain a WYSIWYG printing layout, I actually need a way to insert the images based on the the actual pixel dimesnsions and ignoring the dpi resolution.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Kez
Well, answered my own question 🙂
For those who might be interested, you can use this function:
Public Function GetPicDims(strFilePath As String, strFileName As String) As String
GetPicDims = CreateObject("Shell.Application").Namespace((strFilePath)). _
ParseName(strFileName).ExtendedProperty("Dimensions")
End Function
to get the dimensions of the image you want to insert. Then you can parse the return string and use the width and height values to add a rectangle shape of the appropraite size, like:
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape msoShapeRectangle 50, 50, iWidth, iHeight
which you then fill with the picture:
ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Fill.UserPicture "c:\temp\test.jpg"
This way the picture gets inserted using the pixel dimensions and the (print) resolution gets ignored.
If desired, the GetPicDims function can be made more generic to get other ExtendedProperties.
Regards
Kez