ExceLint is an Excel add-in that automatically finds formula errors in spreadsheets. It is a product of research from the PLASMA lab @ UMass Amherst and Microsoft Research.

by Dan Barowy (Williams College), Emery Berger (UMass Amherst / Microsoft Research), and Ben Zorn (Microsoft Research).

Installing ExceLint Add-in on your computer

ExceLint works as an add-in for all modern versions of Excel, including Mac, Windows, and online. You need to install the file manifest.xml following the appropriate instructions for each platform.

First, right-click on the following link and select "Save link as...": manifest.xml.

Next, follow the specific instructions for your platform:

• Windows: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/testing/create-a-network-shared-folder-catalog-for-task-pane-and-content-add-ins
• On-line: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/testing/sideload-office-add-ins-for-testing
• Mac: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/testing/sideload-an-office-add-in-on-ipad-and-mac#sideload-an-add-in-in-office-on-mac

Note: If you are hosting ExceLint locally (for further development), you need to install manifest-localhost.xml instead.

Talks on ExceLint

• ExceLint - Automatically Finding Spreadsheet Formula Errors, OOPSLA 2018 conference talk by Dan Barowy
• Saving the world from spreadsheets, Univ. of Washington PLSE seminar, by Emery Berger
• The next generation of developer tools for data programming, Microsoft Research Webinar Series, by Ben Zorn

Technical Details about ExceLint

The following technical paper describes how ExceLint works and includes an extensive empirical evaluation: ExceLint: Automatically Finding Spreadsheet Formula Errors, Daniel W. Barowy (Williams College), Emery D. Berger (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Benjamin Zorn (Microsoft Research). In Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages, Volume 2, Number OOPSLA.

Privacy

The ExceLint add-in does not collect personally identifiable information. See the privacy statement for more details.

Support

ExceLint is provided without any guarantee of support. However, we welcome bug reports and enhancement/feature requests.

Source Code & Development

Source code for the add-in may be found at its GitHub repository.

The ExceLint addin is written entirely in TypeScript. See the DEPLOYMENT.md file for details.

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CCF-1617892. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.