✅ Free · 🔒 Private · 🚫 No sign-up
Excel Studio: the complete guide
Cromagnon Excel Studio is a free online spreadsheet editor that opens, edits and saves real Excel workbooks (XLSX and XLS) in your browser. It has working formulas, number formats, fonts, fills, borders, merged cells, filters, freeze panes, charts, pivot tables, conditional formatting and data validation, across as many sheets as you need.
Your spreadsheet never leaves your device. Budgets, payroll, customer lists and grades stay private, and the studio autosaves as you work and warns you before anything could be lost. There is no sign-up, no row limit set by us and no paid plan.
Below you'll find every feature, step-by-step tutorials for common spreadsheet jobs, tips, keyboard shortcuts and answers to the questions people ask about editing Excel files online.
- 100% free
- Real XLSX in and out
- Hundreds of formulas
- Charts and pivot tables
- No sign-up
- Files stay on your device
Features
Everything you can do in Excel Studio
Formulas
Hundreds of Excel formulas
SUM, AVERAGE, IF, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP-style lookups, COUNTIF, dates, text and finance functions that recalculate as you type.
Function suggestions
Start typing = and the formula bar suggests functions and their arguments.
AutoSum
Total the numbers above in one click, or pick Average, Count, Min or Max.
Explain formula
See what a formula does, step by step, in plain words.
Formula builder (optional AI)
Describe what you want in any language and get a formula, using your own AI key.
Show formulas
Press Ctrl + ` to see the formulas instead of the results.
Named ranges
Give a range a name and use it in formulas.
Goal seek
Find the input value that makes a formula reach the result you want.
Format
Fonts, fills and borders
Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, font and size, fill and text colour, all, outside or no borders.
Number formats
Currency, thousands separators, more or fewer decimals, percentages and dates.
Merge and centre
Merge cells for titles and headers.
Wrap text and alignment
Left, centre and right alignment, and wrapped text in tall cells.
Format painter
Copy the look of one cell to others.
Conditional formatting
Colour cells by rules (greater than, less than, text contains), with colour scales, data bars and icons, in a rule manager.
Clear formatting
Return selected cells to plain values.
Data tools
Sort and filter
Filter buttons on the header row, and sort any column.
Freeze panes
Keep the header row and first columns in view while you scroll.
Find and replace
Across the sheet, with match case.
Data validation
Dropdown lists, whole numbers, decimals, text length and dates, with your own error message.
Remove duplicates and blank rows
Clean a list in one click, and trim stray spaces.
Split and merge columns
Split a column on a separator, or join two columns.
Fill blanks and fill series
Fill empty cells down, or drag the fill handle for 1, 2, 3… and Mon, Tue…
Transpose
Turn rows into columns and back.
Data health
Count used rows and columns, empty cells, formulas and duplicate rows at a glance.
Analyse and present
Charts
Bar, line, pie and scatter charts placed on the sheet, with a title and legend; export them as PNG or SVG.
Pivot tables
Group by a column and summarise values on a new sheet.
Quick stats
Count, sum, average and median of the selected cells.
Compare sheets
See differences between two sheets.
Sheet splitter
Split one sheet into several by the values in a column.
Notes and links
Add notes to cells and turn cells into links.
Files and workbooks
Open XLSX, XLS and CSV
Formatting, formulas and sheets are kept.
Save XLSX, CSV, PDF and JSON
Download a real Excel file, a CSV for other apps, a PDF to share, or JSON for developers.
Multiple sheets
Add, rename, duplicate and reorder sheets.
Templates
Start from a monthly budget, expense tracker, grade book, attendance sheet, invoice or loan / EMI calculator.
Autosave
Your workbook is kept in your browser as you work.
Tutorials
Step-by-step how-to guides
How to open and edit an Excel file online
- Press Open and choose an XLSX or XLS file, or drag it onto the studio.
- Click a cell and type, or type = to start a formula.
- Press XLSX to download the edited workbook.
How to make a budget in Excel Studio
- Open Templates and pick Monthly budget, or start with a blank sheet.
- Type your categories in column A and amounts in column B.
- Select the cell under the amounts and press AutoSum.
- Add a pie chart to see where the money goes.
How to remove duplicates in Excel
- Select the data (or just click inside it).
- Open Quick actions → Remove duplicate rows.
- Check the result, then save.
💡 Tip: Run Clean whitespace first: "Ali" and "Ali " only count as the same once the extra space is gone.
How to make a dropdown list
- Select the cells that need a dropdown.
- Open Data validation and choose List (dropdown).
- Type the choices, separated by commas, and add an error message.
- Click a cell to pick from the list.
How to create a pivot table
- Click inside your data.
- Open Pivot Table Creator.
- Choose the column to group by and the values to summarise.
- Press Add pivot sheet to get the summary on a new sheet.
How to highlight cells with conditional formatting
- Select a column or range.
- Open Conditional formatting and choose a rule, such as Greater than 1000.
- Pick the fill and text colours and add the rule.
- Use the rule manager to change or reorder rules later.
How to freeze the top row
- Click the cell just below the rows and right of the columns you want to keep.
- Press Freeze panes.
- Scroll: the header stays in view.
How to convert Excel to CSV or PDF
- Open the workbook.
- Choose the sheet you want.
- Download it as CSV, or as PDF for sharing.
Tips and tricks
Get more out of Excel Studio
Ask in your own words
Not sure which formula you need? The formula builder turns a request like "total of column C where B is Paid" into a formula (with your own AI key).
Explain someone else's formula
Inherited a workbook full of formulas? Explain formula walks through what each one does.
Drag to fill
Drag the small square at a cell's corner to continue numbers, weekdays, months or a formula down a column.
Check before you send
Data health shows empty cells and duplicate rows before you share a file.
Keep headers visible
Freeze the top row on long lists so you always know which column is which.
Chart in two clicks
Pick two filled columns and a chart preview appears; insert it on the sheet when it looks right.
Work faster
Excel Studio keyboard shortcuts
Shortcuts don't fire while you are typing in a text box, except Ctrl + S. On a Mac, use ⌘ instead of Ctrl.
Privacy
Private by design: your files stay on your device
Spreadsheets are often the most private files people have: salaries, bank exports, customer lists, grades. Excel Studio opens and saves them inside your browser. The workbook is never uploaded to Cromagnon.
Autosave keeps your work in your own browser storage so you can come back to it; clear it any time.
The optional AI formula builder and AI formula explanations are the only features that send anything: your request, the column headers and the first three rows, so the formula fits your sheet. They go only to the AI provider whose key you added yourself, and only when you press the button. Everything else, including Explain formula step by step, works without AI.
Comparison
Excel Studio compared with typical online tools
| Cromagnon Excel Studio | Typical online spreadsheets | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ✅ Free, every feature | Free with limits, or a subscription |
| Account | ✅ Not needed | Required |
| Where the file is processed | ✅ On your device | On their servers |
| Opens and saves real XLSX | ✅ Yes | Usually, after import |
| Charts, pivot tables, conditional formatting | ✅ Yes | Yes, sometimes on paid plans |
| Formula explanations | ✅ Yes | Rare |
| Ads | ✅ None | Sometimes |
Made for everyone
Who uses Excel Studio?
Office workers
Reports, trackers and lists, opened and saved as real Excel files.
Small businesses
Budgets, stock lists, price lists and simple invoices.
Students
Lab data, charts and statistics for assignments.
Teachers
Grade books with formulas and conditional colours.
Freelancers
Time sheets and income tracking without a paid office suite.
Anyone on a shared or school computer
Edit a spreadsheet without installing anything.
Troubleshooting
Common problems and how to fix them
A formula shows an error
Use Explain formula to see which part fails. Check for text in number cells and for references to empty or deleted cells.
Numbers are treated as text
Clean whitespace, then reapply a number format. Numbers pasted with spaces or symbols often arrive as text.
My file has macros
Macros (VBA) are not run in the browser. The data and formulas open normally.
The file is very large
Everything runs on your device, so very big workbooks depend on your computer's memory. For huge plain data files, CSV Studio is faster.
I need the old version back
Undo with Ctrl + Z, or reopen your original file; Excel Studio never changes the file on your disk until you download a new copy.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Excel Studio really free?
Yes. Every feature is free, with no sign-up and no paid plan.
Can I open and save XLSX files?
Yes. Open XLSX or XLS and save a real XLSX that opens in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.
Are my spreadsheets uploaded?
No. Workbooks are opened, edited and saved in your browser on your device.
Do formulas work?
Yes. Hundreds of Excel functions recalculate as you type, and you can see formulas with Ctrl + `.
Can I make charts and pivot tables?
Yes. Insert bar, line, pie and scatter charts, and build pivot tables on a new sheet.
Does it support conditional formatting and dropdowns?
Yes. Conditional formatting rules, colour scales, data bars and icons, and data-validation dropdown lists are all included.
Do macros run?
No. VBA macros are not run in the browser, but the rest of the workbook opens normally.
Can I convert Excel to PDF or CSV?
Yes. Download any sheet as CSV or PDF, and the workbook as JSON.
Does it autosave?
Yes. Your workbook is kept in your browser as you work.
Is there a row limit?
We don't set one. Very large files depend on your device's memory; CSV Studio handles huge plain data best.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes, in any modern browser. A bigger screen helps for large sheets.
What are the keyboard shortcuts?
Ctrl + Z undo, Ctrl + Y redo, Ctrl + B/I/U for bold, italic and underline, and Ctrl + ` to show formulas. On a Mac use ⌘.
Ready to try Excel Studio?
It's free, private and needs no sign-up.
⬆ Back to Excel Studio