# Build, edit and download Excel models Slaide Help · Create and edit · Last checked: 2026-10-11 · 6 min read URL: https://help.slaide.de/spreadsheets-and-excel-models > Ask Slaide for an Excel model, for example a budget or a financial plan, and it builds a workbook with working formulas. You edit values and formulas in a grid in the editor and download the .xlsx file from its attachment. Slaide does not write charts, PivotTables or macros into Excel files, and an Excel file you upload stays your original. ## How do I ask Slaide for an Excel model? Slaide builds an Excel model when your request involves real calculation: budgets, forecasts, price calculators, financial plans or comparisons with inputs. Only your inputs are typed numbers. Everything derived from them is a formula, and the AI checks the formulas for errors while it builds. - **Goal and period**, for example a 12-month plan or a forecast over 3 years. - **Inputs you already know**, such as prices, volumes, growth rates and costs. Where something is missing, Slaide labels the assumption it had to make. - **Results you need**, for example monthly profit, break-even or a summary sheet. **Example request:** > Build an Excel model for a coffee shop: an Assumptions sheet (price per cup, customers per day, rent, staff costs), a monthly profit and loss for 12 months and a Summary sheet. Use formulas so I can change the assumptions. > **Note:** If Slaide shows a plan first, choose **Excel workbook** in the format menu at the top right to get a workbook without pages. ## How do I edit the cells myself? 1. **Open the workbook**. Slaide shows the grid by itself when it first builds a workbook. Later, switch with the tabs above the page: **Document** and the workbook's file name. 2. **Select a cell**. Click it. The bar above the grid shows the cell address and its value or formula. Hold Shift and click to select a range. 3. **Change it**. Just type, press Enter or double-click, then enter a value or a formula that starts with =. Enter confirms and moves down, Tab moves right, Esc cancels and Delete clears the cell. 4. **Leave the rest to the AI**. Select cells and press **Ask AI** to hand them to the chat as a task. New sheets, rows, columns and all formatting are the AI's job. > **Note:** While the AI is working, the grid is read-only and shows AI editing. Your changes are saved automatically. ## Which formulas does the grid calculate? The grid recalculates as soon as you confirm a cell with Enter or Tab, or click away, so changes show up right away. The downloaded file contains the formulas themselves, and Excel recalculates them when you open it. - Common functions work: SUM, AVERAGE, IF, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and finance functions such as NPV, IRR and PMT. - References to other sheets work, for example =Assumptions!B2, and so do named cells. - An error value such as #DIV/0! shows in red. Select the cell to read its formula, or ask the AI to repair the model. > **Limit:** Formulas that fetch data from outside the workbook, such as web functions or links to other Excel files, are not allowed. Slaide saves such a cell as plain text. ## How do I download the .xlsx file? 1. **Wait for the AI to finish**. While the AI is working, the menu on the workbook's chip is locked. 2. **Find the workbook in the message box**. Under the text field, the workbook appears as a chip with its file name. 3. **Open its menu and download**. Click the three dots (**Options**), then **Download**. > **Tip:** The Excel file is not in the Export menu. Slaide rebuilds the file after every change, so download it after your last edit. The other formats are in [Files and exports](https://help.slaide.de/files-and-exports). ## What can Slaide not do in an Excel file? | In Excel | What Slaide does instead | | --- | --- | | Charts | Not written into the file. Charts live on your pages. The model can hold a chart-ready summary table or data bars. | | PivotTables and slicers | Not created. Slaide builds a summary with SUMIFS and COUNTIFS formulas, which follows the data like a PivotTable. | | Macros (VBA) | Not written. Excel files with macros (.xlsm) are not accepted as uploads, so save them as .xlsx first. | | Very large data | A workbook holds up to 24 sheets with up to 10,000 rows and 256 columns each, and up to 200,000 cells in total when you save grid edits. | > **Tip:** Want a chart? Ask for it on a page of your document, based on the numbers in the model. ## How do I use my own spreadsheet for a presentation? 1. **Attach the file**. Click the plus next to the message box (**Attach**) and choose your .xlsx file, or drop it onto the message box. The limit is 30 MB per file. 2. **Check the figures**. Slaide reads the values of every sheet. Compare the numbers on your pages with your file. **Example request:** > Use the attached sales spreadsheet for a 6-page summary for my manager. Show the three biggest changes as charts and keep the numbers exactly as in the file. > **Note:** Your uploaded workbook stays your original. Slaide changes values and formulas in place, so charts and PivotTables in your file are kept. For a new layout or structure, it builds a separate workbook next to it. > **Limit:** The grid opens the first 12 sheets of a file. If one of them has more than 1,500 rows or 60 columns, the whole file is read as text only (up to 1,000 rows and 50 columns per sheet) and has no grid. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I upload my own Excel file and edit it in Slaide? Yes, as an .xlsx file. Slaide opens it as a grid when it fits, and you can change values and formulas. The formatting, charts and PivotTables of your file stay in the file. Old .xls files have to be saved as .xlsx first. See [Upload problems](https://help.slaide.de/file-will-not-upload) if the upload fails. ### Why does a cell show #NAME? or another error? Either the formula has a real mistake, such as a division by zero or a wrong cell reference, or it uses a function the grid cannot calculate. Select the cell to read the formula and correct it, or ask the AI to fix it. Excel recalculates every formula itself when you open the downloaded file. ### Can I undo a change in the grid? The grid has no undo button. Before you start changing cells, Slaide saves a version called Spreadsheet edit, at most one every two minutes. Restore it in the Versions tab. See [Versions and restore](https://help.slaide.de/version-history). ### Do the numbers on my pages follow the model? Yes, when the AI linked them to cells. Slaide then updates the linked numbers on your pages when you or the AI change the workbook. Numbers typed in as plain text, such as figures from web research, do not change.