7 weird and exciting ways to use Excel

You’re probably familiar with using Microsoft Excel to crunch numbers, quickly create a schedule, or even help with project management. The software is insanely powerful, with built-in features and functions that help you do all kinds of work-related tasks. However, those features can be used in unusual ways beyond productivity needs, and VBA (Visual Basic) makes even more uses possible.

So, why not use Excel to play classic games, create animations, or make beautiful artwork? These seven novel ways to use Excel highlight the fact that the spreadsheet isn’t just for number crunchers.

7 Convert an image into a spreadsheet

Courtesy of conditional formatting, you can still view the image

This one was demonstrated by “stand-up mathematician” Matt Parker at the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, where Parker encouraged the audience to “use spreadsheets recreationally.” He converted a picture into a spreadsheet to showcase what the software can use just by taking advantage of conditional formatting.

There’s a bit more to the story, of course, since you don’t simply import your image into Excel and see it magically transform into numbered cells. Instead, a Javascript webpage takes your image and converts it to a mosaic spreadsheet, coloring the cells of the spreadsheet to match the pixels in the photo.

Using conditional formatting, the numeric values assigned to each pixel adjust the brightness. Convert your image, download the spreadsheet, and open it up. Zooming out, you’ll see your image in all its glory.

6 Create astonishing animations in a spreadsheet

Visualize an engine’s operation or animate a WWII dogfight

Circuit design engineer George Lungu found himself bored with his engineering work and decided to try finding cool ways to solve engineering problems he was facing or create attractive models of natural phenomena in Excel 2003.

Thanks to what he called the “ease of ‘programming’” using Excel’s formulas and VBA, he began creating animations in his spreadsheets. Lungu said most of his examples are readily understandable with just a high school background, but they can help build a better understanding of engineering.

To demonstrate the concepts in a fun way, Lungu created animations including what he called “UFO defense brigade,” which looks like WWI biplanes dogfighting across the screen. There’s also a roller coaster wireframe animation, a Christmas “cartoon,” and more.

5 Play classic arcade games

From Easter egg flight sims to Pac-Man, VBA allows you to game in your spreadsheet

If you want to blow off a little steam with a classic arcade game, you can do that in Excel, too. Various Excel tinkers have ported Pac-Man, Tetris, and other classic retro games into Excel. You’ll also find board games, Sudoku solvers, and other fun experiments.

Many of the older projects may not work reliably or at all in versions of Excel newer than Excel 2003, but others will run just fine. For example, an easy-to-play two-person version of four-in-a-row works just fine and can even detect when one side has won.

Simple Excel four-in-a-row game

Part of this started back in Excel 97; an Easter egg in the software would let you play a simple space flight simulator that you navigate with your mouse. Since then, others have answered the call to gamify the features and formulas within Microsoft Excel.

4 Map out stadium human art displays

Excel’s grid makes the perfect outline for creating artistic displays in stadiums or other seating arrangements

The English Premier League’s Newcastle United Football Club supporters found an exciting way to bring some pizzazz into the stadium using Excel. The Wor Flags fan group brought the seating map of the St. James’ Park stadium into Excel to plan a massive display during the soccer match.

Using each cell of the spreadsheet as a pixel, the group drew the display they wanted fans to create during a game collectively. Once the design is finalized, the fan club uses the COUNTIF function to determine how many foil squares they need for each color.

At the game, a group of volunteers used the shared spreadsheet to place the appropriate colored foils on each seat. It’s obviously very time-consuming, but I think we can all agree the outcome is pretty awesome

3 Use your spreadsheet as a drawing canvas

The ability to create a perfect grid makes this a cinch

If you want a fun and potentially helpful way to use Excel, look at it like a pad of graph paper with infinite pages. As long as you set your column width and row height to match one another, you have a drawing canvas with grid lines to aid your drawing.

While you can use the drawing tools in Excel to generate shapes, there’s also a lot you can do with just cell borders and fill color. Whether you’re rendering a floor plan, drawing a schematic, or designing needlepoint or cross stitch, the gridlines in Excel can help tremendously.

The other way to use the grid in Excel is a throwback to the early days of ASCII art. Someone actually created a music video in Excel for the AC/DC song Rock N Roll Train, and it’s pretty cool.

2 Express your artwork with AutoShape

They call him the Michelangelo of Excel—could you be the next?

When he retired, Tatsuo Horiuchi wanted to take up painting. What he didn’t want to do, though, was buy the supplies needed to express his artistic creativity the traditional way. He wanted to find a way to paint using his PC so he didn’t need to spend money on paints.

He also didn’t want to spend the money on an art program, and then he noticed the visually appealing charts and graphs others created in Excel. He decided to start experimenting with the AutoShape feature in Excel. He used the Line tool to draw trees and other types of objects, and he used the Bucket tool for shading.

Plenty more went into his endeavors, but Horiuchi has created some fantastic artwork using Excel. Initially, he printed his masterpieces on an inexpensive inkjet printer, and now he’s exhibiting his work at art shows and selling prints. His work even won first prize at the Excel Autoshape Art Contest in 2006.

1 Send automated emails

Do this responsibly unless you want to be flagged for spamming

Believe it or not, you can even use Excel to automate email sending. This could come in handy for a shared spreadsheet that you want collaborators to receive notifications for when it’s updated. Or maybe you have a spreadsheet of contacts you want to email all at once.

Using a few simple VBA scripts and creating an app password for Excel to access your Gmail account, you can make a macro in as little as a few minutes to automate those emails.

My only recommendation is that you do this cautiously and sparingly. If you mass email people who don’t appreciate your communication, you might just land yourself in trouble with the spam police.

Related

5 ways Excel can help automate or manage your day to day life

If you’ve been using Excel for spreadsheets, there’s a lot more that it can do for you in your daily life.

Excel’s more than just your budgeting tool

These seven examples make it clear that Excel is good for more than budget planning or data analysis. The drawing tools, customizable grid lines, and extensibility using macros and VBA make the tool capable of so much more.

While Microsoft may have hampered Excel’s performance, meaning many early examples don’t work anymore, there are still plenty of opportunities to use Excel recreationally. All you have to do is open your imagination and take advantage of every tip and trick you can find for using Excel.