Microsoft's Excel app on Android and iOS devices allows you to easily import spreadsheets and tables into the app using your phone's camera. The feature, which first debuted in 2019, enables Excel users to take a photo of a printed spreadsheet or table and immediately make it editable within the app.

Along with being able to import the printed spreadsheet with the Excel mobile app and then edit it on your phone, you can also access it at a later date and continue editing it using the Excel app for Windows or Mac

Here's a quick explainer on how to do it.

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Microsoft

How to use Excel app to photograph and import spreadsheets

Here's how to use the Excel mobile app to import a paper spreadsheet and edit it on screen:

  1. Open the latest version of the Excel app on your iPhone or Android.
  2. Open a new spreadsheet
  3. At the bottom of the spreadsheet, find the icon that has a camera over table.
  4. From the camera screen that opens, take a picture of what you want to transfer.
  5. Crop your image so that just the graphable information is visible.
  6. Click Done, and it'll take a second to import.
  7. There may be items for you to review. Click through them to ensure accuracy.

Voila! You've managed to cut the time you would've spent hand-copying that over by using this cool feature that takes less than a minute.

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Microsoft

When will this feature be available?

It rolled out to the Excel app on Android and iOS devices in 2019.