Hello @Ono Jacob ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A

If you're seeing only xlwings Lite, it likely means you're not using the full Microsoft 365 version that supports Python in Excel.

Xlwings is a standalone, free package. No subscription required.

Python in Excel is only available through Excel for Microsoft 365 subscription (not just Office 2021 or 2024). If you want the official “Python” button in the ribbon, you need an active Microsoft 365 subscription and the Insider build.

Refer to this site for more info on Python in Excel:

Introduction to Python in Excel - Microsoft Support

Refer to here for Microsoft 365 subscription:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/microsoft-365

I hope this help answer your question. Feel free to reply back to this post if you need further assistance.

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Answer from Xavier-D on learn.microsoft.com
🌐
PyPI
pypi.org › project › xlwings
xlwings · PyPI
xlwings Server: No local Python installation required, supports Excel on the web and Google Sheets in addition to Excel on Windows and macOS. Integrates with VBA, Office Scripts and Office.js and supports custom functions on all platforms.
🌐
Xlwings
xlwings.org
Python in Excel alternative: Open. Self-hosted. No limits.
Simply install xlwings Lite from Excel's add-in store and start writing Python code directly in Excel.
Discussions
I built xlwings Lite as an alternative to Python in Excel
Woah, gotta check this out. You should go with this post to /r Excel - I think many people will thank you for this (if it works as cool as you described). More on reddit.com
🌐 r/Python
55
209
March 31, 2025
Python and xlwings
I feel that after installing python I should be able to install xlwings but what I got was xlwings lite. And Python is not showing up on my ribbon tab. So must I subscribe to office 365 before I can view both python and xl wings together More on learn.microsoft.com
🌐 learn.microsoft.com
1
0
August 16, 2025
Can I create a table in excel with xlwings with python? - Stack Overflow
I am working in a report in excel and python, the main sheet contain a table. But every time I update the report the table format disappear and the table is converted to range. here is my code More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
pip - installing python xlwings module - Stack Overflow
I am trying to get the xlwings module working in python. I installed it yesterday, but have the following problem: When I update the package, it confirms that my version is the latest version, 0.24... More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
Videos
09:51
🌐 YouTube
Download and install xlwings and python for Excel VBA - YouTube
April 13, 2023
05:42
🌐 YouTube
xlwings Lite: a better way to use Python in Excel - YouTube
March 21, 2025
31:34
🌐 YouTube
Write Your Own XLWings Python Functions For Excel - Tutorial - YouTube
May 2, 2023
18:47
🌐 YouTube
Automate Excel with Python and xlwings Part 1: Install xlwings ...
March 26, 2019
26:55
🌐 YouTube
Python Machine Learning sous Excel avec « xlwings lite » - YouTube
December 22, 2025
354
🌐 youtube.com
Mastering Python xlwings: Add new data to your Excel file like ...
February 8, 2024
View all
View all
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Xlwings
docs.xlwings.org
xlwings Documentation
xlwings (Open Source) is a BSD-licensed Python library that makes it easy to call Python from Excel and vice versa:
🌐
GitHub
github.com › xlwings › xlwings
GitHub - xlwings/xlwings: xlwings is a Python library that makes it easy to call Python from Excel and vice versa. It works with Excel on Windows, macOS, and Excel on the web. · GitHub
xlwings is a BSD-licensed Python library that makes it easy to call Python from Excel and vice versa:
Author: xlwings
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/python › i built xlwings lite as an alternative to python in excel
r/Python on Reddit: I built xlwings Lite as an alternative to Python in Excel
March 31, 2025 -

Hi all! I've previously written about why I wasn't a big fan of Microsoft's "Python in Excel" solution for using Python with Excel, see the Reddit discussion. Instead of just complaining, I have now published the "xlwings Lite" add-in, which you can install for free for both personal and commercial use via Excel's add-in store. I have made a video walkthrough, or you can check out the documentation.

xlwings Lite allows analysts, engineers, and other advanced Excel users to program their custom functions ("UDFs") and automation scripts ("macros") in Python instead of VBA. Unlike the classic open-source xlwings, it does not require a local Python installation and stores the Python code inside Excel for easy distribution. So the only requirement is to have the xlwings Lite add-in installed.

So what are the main differences from Microsoft's Python in Excel (PiE) solution?

  • PiE runs in the cloud, xlwings Lite runs locally (via Pyodide/WebAssembly), respecting your privacy

  • PiE has no access to the excel object model, xlwings Lite does have access, allowing you to insert new sheets, format data as an Excel table, set the color of a cell, etc.

  • PiE turns Excel cells into Jupyter notebook cells and introduces a left to right and top to bottom execution order. xlwings Lite instead allows you to define native custom functions/UDFs.

  • PiE has daily and monthly quota limits, xlwings Lite doesn't have any usage limits

  • PiE has a fixed set of packages, xlwings Lite allows you to install your own set of Python packages

  • PiE is only available for Microsoft 365, xlwings Lite is available for Microsoft 356 and recent versions of permanent Office licenses like Office 2024

  • PiE doesn't allow web API requests, whereas xlwings Lite does.

Top answer
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Woah, gotta check this out. You should go with this post to /r Excel - I think many people will thank you for this (if it works as cool as you described).
2 of 5
16
I am a big fan, Thank you for making it 😊
🌐
Xlwings
docs.xlwings.org › en › stable › installation.html
Installation - xlwings Documentation
The dependencies are automatically installed via conda or pip. If you would like to install xlwings without dependencies, you can run pip install xlwings --no-deps.
Find elsewhere
🌐
Xlwings
docs.xlwings.org › en › 0.22.2 › api.html
Python API — xlwings dev documentation
# This code runs unchanged from Excel via RunPython and from Python directly import os import xlwings as xw def my_macro(): sht = xw.Book.caller().sheets[0] sht.range('A1').value = 'Hello xlwings!' if __name__ == '__main__': xw.Book('file.xlsm').set_mock_caller() my_macro()
🌐
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › working-with-excel-files-in-python-using-xlwings
Working with Excel files in Python using Xlwings - GeeksforGeeks
April 28, 2025 - Xlwings is a Python library that makes it easy to call Python from Excel and vice versa. It creates reading and writing to and from Excel using Python easily. It can also be modified to act as a Python Server for Excel to synchronously exchange ...
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Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › answers › questions › 5525380 › python-and-xlwings
Python and xlwings - Microsoft Q&A
Top answer
1 of 1
1

Hello @Ono Jacob ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A

If you're seeing only xlwings Lite, it likely means you're not using the full Microsoft 365 version that supports Python in Excel.

Xlwings is a standalone, free package. No subscription required.

Python in Excel is only available through Excel for Microsoft 365 subscription (not just Office 2021 or 2024). If you want the official “Python” button in the ribbon, you need an active Microsoft 365 subscription and the Insider build.

Refer to this site for more info on Python in Excel:

Introduction to Python in Excel - Microsoft Support

Refer to here for Microsoft 365 subscription:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/microsoft-365

I hope this help answer your question. Feel free to reply back to this post if you need further assistance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

🌐
Xlwings
xlwings.org › pricing
Pricing
Write add-ins, custom functions (UDFs), and macros with Python in Excel. Run locally or on your infrastructure with all the packages you need.
🌐
Xlwings
xlwings.org › products
Products
xlwings allows you to leverage the power of Python from and with Excel:
🌐
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 62193695 › can-i-create-a-table-in-excel-with-xlwings-with-python
Can I create a table in excel with xlwings with python? - Stack Overflow
import xlwings as xw book = xw.Book() ws = book.sheets.active ws.range("A1").options(index=False).value = my_Data_table
🌐
Medium
srinath-sridharan.medium.com › xlwings-your-wings-to-fly-higher-with-excel-and-python-installation-and-usage-included-dccc90525395
xlwings — Your Wings to Fly Higher with Excel and Python (Installation and Usage included) | by Srinath Sridharan | Medium
December 18, 2023 - In the realm of data analysis and automation, combining the power of Excel and Python can be a transformative experience. Microsoft Excel excels at managing spreadsheets, while Python is a versatile programming language. The bridge between these two worlds? Enter xlwings.
🌐
Medium
srinath-sridharan.medium.com › when-did-we-stop-teaching-students-to-imagine-73995c86f8a5
When Did We Stop Teaching Students to Imagine? | by Srinath Sridharan | Apr, 2026 | Medium
April 22, 2026 - When Did We Stop Teaching Students to Imagine? Part 1: The Crisis We probably never explicitly taught imagination. But somewhere along the way, we stopped making space for it. The 1966 photograph …
🌐
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 68134845 › installing-python-xlwings-module
pip - installing python xlwings module - Stack Overflow
Name: xlwings Version: 0.24.0 Summary: Make Excel fly: Interact with Excel from Python and vice versa.
🌐
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 59003885 › xlwings-add-in-cannot-find-python
excel - Xlwings add-in cannot find python - Stack Overflow
I got stuck trying to set up the Xlwings Excel add-in ribbon. Once I've tried almost any kind of combination, I don't know how to set them up! I'm using Anaconda and the referred directory is: C:...
🌐
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 51489380 › how-to-run-python-script-that-contains-xlwings-package-in-command-prompt
How to Run Python script that contains xlwings package in Command Prompt - Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 1
3

Moving comments down to answer...

Sounds like PyCharm had been setup to use a virtualenv, so you found a link where you found that you need to activate the virtualenv

From there, that's where any PyCharm ran a pip install into, and from which you can run python and try to import any modules.

If you don't activate the environment, you would need to run your scripts by giving the full path to the Python executable - C:\path\to\venv\python script.py

To backup a list of installed modules from a virtualenv, you can do pip freeze > requirements.txt

Then pip install -r requirements.txt will restore those into any freshly created virtualenv

🌐
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 28587857 › python-xlwings-very-basic-step-how-to-get-scripts-to-work-inside-excel
PYTHON / XLWINGS - Very basic step: how to get scripts to work inside excel - Stack Overflow
Python looks for files on certain paths according to the module-search-path-docs. Per default, the xlwings VBA module adds the path of the Workbook to this path (i.e. it expects the source file to be in the same directory as the Workbook). This is happening (or can be changed to where your python file is) on this line in the VBA settings PYTHONPATH = ThisWorkbook.Path and is explained here.
🌐
Microsoft
marketplace.microsoft.com › en-us › product › office › wa200008175
xlwings Lite | Microsoft Marketplace
In a little more detail, xlwings Lite is based on Pyodide, which is a Python distribution for WebAssembly (Wasm).
🌐
Medium
medium.com › @amarharolikar › -8541eff4eb73
Python workflows inside Excel with xlwings Lite (free) — powerful | by Amar Harolikar | Medium
March 29, 2025 - Another superb addition to analyst and data scientist’s toolkit — xlwings Lite. From Felix Zumstein, creator of xlwings — the powerful and widely used Python package for Excel automation.