Automate your tasks with the Automate tab—now in Excel for Windows and Mac

Blog Post

The Automate tab is growing beyond your web browser and onto your desktop! Starting today, the Automate tab is now available for all eligible enterprise users in Excel for Windows and Mac. Previously, this tab was only available in Excel on the web.

With this new tab, create and modify scripts that automate your repetitive tasks using Office Scripts. Enhance your workbook by connecting popular applications like Microsoft Teams or SharePoint to build workflows with Power Automate. Combine these productivity technologies to have Power Automate schedule your Office Script. This tab represents the first stage of uniting automation solutions across platforms. We’re eager to hear your feedback!

How it works

Here‘s how to view and run scripts.

Open any workbook in Excel for Windows or for Mac and select the Automate tab. 
Select a script from the gallery or from the All Scripts task pane. 
Click the Run button on the script’s detail page to run the script.

Here’s how to make a new script. 

Open any workbook in Excel for Windows or for Mac and navigate to the Automate tab. All the scripts in your workbook are available, as well as our samples.
Make your own script by selecting the New Script button. 
To modify an existing script, select Edit on the script’s details page, or select the pencil icon by hovering over any script in the All Scripts task pane.

Follow these steps to connect your automations to other applications.

In Excel on the web, for Windows, or for Mac, open an Excel workbook. 
Select Automate > Automate a Task. 
Select the template you want to use. 
Sign in, provide the required information, and then select the Create button.

Learn more

Want to get started with streamlining repetitive tasks? Check out our documentation below:

Take a tutorial on reading workbook data with Office Scripts in Excel
Learn how to call scripts from a manual Power Automate flow

Explore how to get started with Power Automate

Share your feedback  

We'd love to hear your feedback as you try out our feature! Give us feedback through the Feedback button located in the Help tab. Include the phrase "Office Scripts" or “Power Automate” to ensure the feedback gets properly routed to our team! 

Updated Nov 09, 2023

Version 5.0

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49 Comments

Does the Automate Work Button only work in Excel from the web?
I have E5 license, Power Power Apps Premium, and Power Automate per user plan.
- On E3 desktop for Win it works
  
  However, icon is active only for the file saved on SharePoint or OneDrive
Hi,
I'm trying to explore the Automate feature, but got an error "We can't start this add-in because it isn't set up properly" no matter what I clicked in the "Automate" tab.
I tried going to the Add-ins page - I did see an "automation" in the Add-ins manager, but no idea what to select because it's a very very long list of "Automation servers available"
Appreciate any help with this, thanks.
P.s Product info page on my account says "Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise", so I don't think it's a licensing issue
P.s.s so I tried this from Excel web and it worked. So would like to know how to make it work on the desktop app as well.
Racheed , please check first paragraph in this blog: "... available for all eligible enterprise users in Excel for Windows and Mac". This functionality is not available on non-business subscriptions.
Hi team, I have Microsoft office 365 Personal, but still can't find the automate tab, any assistance please?
SergeiBaklan the desktop recorder is 100% available for current channel! MEC will take a bit longer.
MichelleRanMSFT , do you mean Current channel is not covered on 100% so far?
Hi Satvik480! The action recorder for desktop is currently rolling out (you can see the roadmap here: Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365). At minimum, you should be able to access it if you're a part of Office Insiders. Let me know if you have any questions!
Hi skilner and unicorn_wrangler, sorry to hear you're having trouble accessing the Automate tab - have you contacted support? If so and they haven't been able to help, then could you provide a session ID (on desktop, go to File > Account > About Excel; on web, go to File > About)?

Additionally, if you're on a local Excel file, Power Automate won't be available since it only works with cloud documents.
The 'Automate a Task' button is greyed out for me

I have an E3 license and am running this version of Excel Desktop:

Please let me know how to activate this button.
Hi,
I have been trying to use the record action tab on desktop. I can see the automate tab and new script tab but it doesn't give me an option for record action. However, my web excel lets me do the record action. The sheet I want to work on is very large to open in web excel. Can you please advise what should I do to get record action tab in deskstop?
Thank you