Some members of the Microsoft 365 Insiders program can now try out the combination of Python, Excel and the Anaconda Python repository.

Ever wished you could do more with Microsoft Excel? Microsoft just announced the release of a public preview of Python in Excel, which would allow users to add Python code directly into a spreadsheet.

You type Python code directly into cells using the new =PY () function, which then gets executed in the cloud. The results are displayed in the worksheet.

Python and Excel can only really talk to each other through limited functions—xl () and =PY ()—that can only return code results, not macros, VBA code, or other data, Microsoft claims.