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Getting Started

Prerequisites

xlpro is designed to be installed at the user level. No admin rights necessary. Check if you meet the following requirements:

  1. Windows 10/11.
  2. Excel 365 or Excel 2021+.
  3. Visual Studio Code is installed.

Installation

xlpro installs at the user level without the need for admin permissions. Follow these steps to configure xlpro for your system.

You can find a walkthrough video in Hello World (Step by Step),

  1. Download and run the installer.
  2. Open Excel and you will see the xlpro ribbon is installed.
  3. Confirm the access to the VBA Object model is enabled.
  4. Confirm the configuration of VSCODE_PATH is correct.

That's all you need. Python can be installed on the fly. Refer to the video walkthroughs below for a step-by-step guide.

Hello World (Step-by-Step)

Use this visual guide to see how to install and correctly configure xlpro. This guide covers:

  1. xlpro installation.
  2. Enabling VBA Object Model access.
  3. Configuring the VSCODE_PATH setting.
  4. Downloading Python 3.13 via xlpro and initializing a new project.
  5. Creating your first custom function.
Syntax Highlighting

The key advantage of developing code in VSCode is to have access to a language server. This is the background service in IDEs which enables syntax highlighting, code completion, often called 'Intellisense'. This dramatically increases how quickly code can be written if used properly!

Enabling syntax highlighting for xlpro projects is simple, but requires a couple of steps to correctly configure. VSCode needs to know which Python interpreter xlpro is using for each project, and needs a trivial nudge to ensure it is looking in the right place.

Open the xlpro project in VSCode using the Develop button. In VSCode, open the Command Pallette (ctrl + shift + p) and find and click the option > Python: Clear Workspace Interpreter Setting.

Creating a new terminal in VSCode via Terminal > New (or ctrl + shift + ') should automatically activate the xlpro virtual environment if VSCode is looking at the right interpreter. 

xlpro-Showcase.xlsx.xlpro> & "C:/Users/Daniel Evans/.xlpro/envs/2025-08-22_Py-3.13.2/.venv/scripts/Activate.ps1"
(.venv) xlpro-Showcase.xlsx.xlpro>

You can see in this example it is calling a /.xlpro/envs/... path - this is the unique interpreter we just configured for this workbook. This is how you can easily pip install new packages or otherwise manage the interpreter.

If the above still didn't work for you, run the command pallette > Python: Select Interpreter option and select use Python from 'python.defaultInterpreterPath' setting; this will guarantee it is overridden.

Even once it is correctly configured, you may notice that the language server/syntax highlighting is not working. To resolve this: in the command pallette, run > Python: Restart Language Server to ensure the language server is looking at the correct interpreter

Showcase

Once you have the basics up and running, refer to this guide to see the bundled showcase example project in action. This guide covers:

  1. Viewing the curated example projects.
  2. Re-initializing existing xlpro projects.
  3. Showcase the capabilities of xlpro for complex functions, dynamic charts, and automations.

Next Steps

Got the examples working? Use these files as a template, or refer to the the Walkthrough to get used to the basics.

Want more detailed information? Refer to the Documentation page.