Add-ins for Word and Excel (beta)

Install the plausibility checks as a Word add-in, and the checks, spreadsheet checks, tools, cell functions and R as an Excel add-in.

Two add-ins, each installed by hand from one small file while they wait for Microsoft’s add-in store. Both run on your computer; nothing you enter leaves it.

Word: the checks from Check a result and the equation checker, in a panel beside your document.
Excel: the same checks, reading your selected cells; spreadsheet checks for formula mistakes and impossible values; the tools, using your cells and writing results to new sheets; cell functions such as =RA.CCC() and =RA.CARBONSTOCK(); and R, to send your cells to R as a data frame, run your analysis and bring tables and plots back into the workbook.

Download the Word add-in (manifest.xml) Download the Excel add-in (manifest.xml)

The Excel add-in needs current Excel: Microsoft 365, Excel 2021 or later, Excel on a Mac, or Excel on the web.

The steps below are written for Word; for Excel they are the same, in Excel.

On the web (easiest)

Open a document in Word on the web, or a workbook in Excel on the web.
Go to Home → Add-ins → More add-ins → My add-ins → Upload My Add-in.
Choose the file you downloaded and press Upload.

In Excel, Add-ins is on the Home tab too (in older versions, Insert → Add-ins → Get Add-ins → My add-ins → Upload My Add-in).

On a Mac

In Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G and go to ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Documents/wef (create the wef folder if it isn’t there). For Excel the folder is ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef.
Copy the downloaded file into that folder.
Restart Word or Excel, open a document or workbook, and go to Home → Add-ins.

On Windows

Put the downloaded file in a folder and share it (right-click the folder → Properties → Sharing → Share). Note its network path, such as \\MY-PC\addins.
In Word or Excel, go to File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings → Trusted Add-in Catalogs.
Paste the network path into Catalog Url, press Add catalog, tick Show in Menu, and press OK.
Restart Word or Excel, then go to Home → Add-ins → More add-ins → Shared folder.

R in Excel

The R tab of the Excel add-in (open Checks or Tools on the Home tab, then the R tab at the top of the panel) sends the selected cells, or the whole sheet, to R as a data frame called df. Run any R code on it; to_excel(x) writes a table back to a new sheet, and each plot opens in a plot window where you can resize it, redraw it at a higher resolution, copy it, save it as a PNG or insert it in the sheet. It can run in two ways:

Built-in: R runs inside the panel (with webR), so nothing needs installing. The first run takes a little while to load R, and packages such as ggplot2 download the first time you use them.
My R: the panel runs its code in your own R on your computer, with your packages, your functions and your workspace. Anything it creates is in your R session too.

To connect your own R:

In R or RStudio, run:
```
source("https://rafikiardhi.earth/excel/rafikiardhi-connect.R")
connect()
```
It installs the small httpuv and jsonlite packages if they are missing, and prints a one-time code.
In Excel, open the R tab, choose My R, enter the code and press Connect.
If Excel asks whether the add-in may reach devices on your local network, choose Allow. That is how the panel reaches the R on your own computer.

The link only listens on your own computer (127.0.0.1), only answers this add-in, and needs the one-time code. disconnect(), or closing R, ends it. Run connect() again for a new code, and run the source() line again after an update to get the newest version.

For a whole organisation

A Microsoft 365 administrator can give it to everyone at once: upload the same file in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Settings → Integrated apps → Upload custom apps.

Free, and with a licence key

In both add-ins, the equation checker and every check with typed or pasted values are free, and stay free.

In Word, a licence key unlocks the rest: Check the highlighted text (the add-in reads the numbers from a sentence, paragraph or table into the matching check), Check the whole document, adding the findings as comments, and exporting the results.

In Excel, the All add-ins licence unlocks reading values from your selected cells, Check the whole workbook, cell comments, writing results to a sheet, the spreadsheet checks, the tools, the =RA. cell functions and R (built-in and your own).

Keys are on the membership page: $10 a year for the Word add-in, or all add-ins, Excel included, for $20 a year ($15 for members). Contributors get them free.

To unlock, open the add-in (in Excel, the Checks tab), click Unlock at the bottom of the panel, paste your key and press Unlock. Members also find their key on their account page.

Updates

You only install it once. The add-in loads from this website, so new checks and fixes appear the next time you open it.

Privacy and terms

The add-in reads and checks everything on your computer; nothing you select, type or paste is sent anywhere. In the R tab, the built-in R downloads R and its packages, but your data stays in the panel; with My R, your data goes only to the R on your own computer. If you unlock it, only your licence key is checked with our members service. See the privacy policy and the terms of use.