A lot has changed since 2019 when I built the first iteration of the Excel styles add-in tool with Jon Peltier. AI tools have gotten genuinely impressive, and I use them regularly. But one thing I’ve noticed–and heard repeatedly from people I work with–is that AI isn’t especially great at applying your organization’s exact fonts, colors, logo placement, and export settings to an Excel chart. I’ve tried Claude and Co-Pilot directly in Excel, but neither seem to be able to handle the specific styling requirements different organizations want applied to their graphs and charts.
That’s what this add-in does. After a few years using it with just a handful of collaborators and clients, I’ve rebuilt and updated it. I’ve also been developing it with several organizations over the last several months with a set of meaningful improvements.
What it does
The core idea is the same as before: instead of manually reformatting every Excel chart to match your organization’s style guide, you install a custom tab on the Excel ribbon that does all of that automatically. Correct colors, correct fonts, title placement, logo in the right spot, a source/notes placeholder, and export options.
What’s new in this version:
- More chart types. I’ve added scatterplots and a set of small multiples to the original lineup of slope charts and dot plots.
- Greater flexibility. You now have more control over size presets, label placement, and more without waiting weeks for me to rebuild the whole thing.
- Backend changes. Under the hood, I’ve updated the VBA to improve compatibility and performance, which means cleaner installs and better behavior across Excel versions and operating systems.
Why this still matters
I’ve written and talked a lot about AI in data visualization. I use it. You probably do too. But these tools are not yet at the point where they are going to reliably apply your brand’s exact blue color to a bar chart, left-align your title at 16pt bold, and drop your logo in the bottom-right corner of every graph you and your team produces. The add-in does exactly that, and it does it the same way every single time.
Pair it with the Style Guide Builder
If your organization doesn’t already have a data visualization style guide, I’d suggest starting with my Data Visualization Style Guide Builder. It lets you define your colors, fonts, and chart type preferences and export a portable style guide in several formats. Once you’ve locked in your style, I can import those specifications directly into the add-in. It’s a clean one-two punch: define your style, then enforce it automatically in Excel.
How to get it
The add-in is sold as a customized tool–I configure it for your organization’s specific styles before you install it. If you’re interested, contact me and let me know your organization needs help making more engaging and consistent data visualizations.
Make a dot plot and slope chart automatically with the add-in
Make everything in your chart gray so you can add strategic highlights