Translate for Excel
Translate for Excel brings powerful machine translation directly into your workbook. Using state-of-the-art transformer models—from the efficient OPUS-MT to the high-quality Hunyuan model—you can translate text across dozens of languages without your data ever leaving your browser.
The add-in runs entirely locally, ensuring 100% privacy for your sensitive data.
Web Demo
No installation or Excel account required. Explore the pre-configured interactive model directly in your browser:
Quick Start
1. Open the taskpane
After installation, click Translate in the Home ribbon. The taskpane provides a list of available functions and experimental features.
2. Insert the function
You can insert the translation formula selecting it from the function list in the taskpane or by typing directly into any cell:
=BOARDFLARE.TRANSLATE(A2, "en", "fr")
Note that the cell you have selected when you select the function in the task pane is the cell where the formula will be inserted. If you want to change this, click Back in the taskpane, select a different cell, then click Insert.
3. Translate multiple cells
Select a range of cells and the add-in will translate them all at once for better performance.
4. Use the dropdowns to change the source and target languages
When editing the formula in the taskpane, or in the formula bar, you can use the dropdown menus to select the source and target languages.
Function Reference
TRANSLATE
Efficient machine translation using OPUS-MT transformer models. This model runs locally on your CPU and is ideal for quick, everyday translation tasks. For each cell, only the first 500 characters are translated.
Syntax
=BOARDFLARE.TRANSLATE(text, source_lang, target_lang)
| Parameter | Required | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
text | Yes | Range | - | A single cell or 2D range of text to translate. |
source_lang | Yes | String | - | The language code of the text to translate. |
target_lang | Yes | String | - | The language code to translate into. |
[!TIP] Either the
source_langortarget_langmust be English (en) for the standardTRANSLATEfunction.
Supported Languages
The standard engine supports translation between English and the following 20 languages:
| Language | Code | Language | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | af | Hindi | hi |
| Arabic | ar | Hungarian | hu |
| Chinese | zh | Indonesian | id |
| Czech | cs | Italian | it |
| Danish | da | Russian | ru |
| Dutch | nl | Spanish | es |
| English | en | Swedish | sv |
| Finnish | fi | Ukrainian | uk |
| French | fr | Vietnamese | vi |
| German | de | Xhosa | xh |
🧪 TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN (Experimental)
Uses Tencent's Hunyuan model for higher quality translations, particularly for Asian languages. This model has no input character limit. Due to the resource-intensity of the model, TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN is only available for insertion of values into your worksheet through the taskpane and cannot be used as an Excel formula. We may change this in the future. If this is a problem for you, please let us know.
How to use
- Select the TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN option in the taskpane.
- Select your text source range and target language in the taskpane.
- Click Insert Result to write the values into your sheet.
| Parameter | Required | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
text | Yes | Range | - | A single cell or 2D range of text to translate. |
target_lang | Yes | String | - | The full language name to translate into. |
[!WARNING] TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN is resource-intensive, requiring roughly 1.3GB of disk cache and 3GB of RAM while translating. Depending on your GPU hardware, performance may vary significantly. If you try this on low-end hardware, it may fail to load or crash your browser or Excel. For best results, we recommend using a modern browser with hardware acceleration enabled.
Supported Languages
The TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN function supports translation into the following languages:
| Language | Code | Language | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Arabic | Bengali | Bengali |
| Burmese | Burmese | Cantonese | Cantonese |
| Chinese | Chinese | Czech | Czech |
| Dutch | Dutch | English | English |
| Filipino | Filipino | French | French |
| German | German | Gujarati | Gujarati |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | Hindi | Hindi |
| Indonesian | Indonesian | Italian | Italian |
| Japanese | Japanese | Kazakh | Kazakh |
| Khmer | Khmer | Korean | Korean |
| Malay | Malay | Marathi | Marathi |
| Mongolian | Mongolian | Persian | Persian |
| Polish | Polish | Portuguese | Portuguese |
| Russian | Russian | Spanish | Spanish |
| Tamil | Tamil | Telugu | Telugu |
| Thai | Thai | Tibetan | Tibetan |
| Traditional Chinese | Traditional Chinese | Turkish | Turkish |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | Urdu | Urdu |
| Uyghur | Uyghur | Vietnamese | Vietnamese |
Examples
1. Translating Customer Reviews (English to Spanish)
Quickly localize a list of English customer reviews for a Spanish-speaking team.
| Cell | English Review | Formula | Spanish Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
A2 | This product is fantastic! | =BOARDFLARE.TRANSLATE(A2:A4, "en", "es") | ¡Este producto es fantástico! |
A3 | I had a minor issue with shipping. | (spilled result) | Tuve un pequeño problema con el envío. |
A4 | Highly recommended to everyone. | (spilled result) | Muy recomendable para todos. |
2. Batch Localizing Product Descriptions
Translate an entire column of product descriptions from German to English.
| Cell | German Description | Formula | English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
A2 | Hochwertiges Material und Design. | =BOARDFLARE.TRANSLATE(A2:A4, "de", "en") | High quality material and design. |
A3 | Einfach zu bedienen und zu reinigen. | (spilled result) | Easy to use and clean. |
A4 | Lange Lebensdauer garantiert. | (spilled result) | Long lifespan guaranteed. |
Tips & Best Practices
Insert as Values
Use the Insert result instead of formula checkbox in the taskpane to paste translated text as static values instead of formulas. This prevents Excel from recalculating the translations due to unrelated workbook changes (e.g. inserting rows or columns).
Performance vs. Quality
- Use TRANSLATE for most tasks. It is fast and can be used as a formula for dynamic updates. However, note that when using the base model (OPUS-MT), it will load a separate model for each language pair, each roughly 500MB of disk cache and RAM.
- Use TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN when you need maximum accuracy, particularly for Asian languages, or are working with language pairs not covered by the standard model. Note that Hunyuan is only available through the taskpane and results are only inserted as static values. The TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN model uses roughly 1.3GB of disk cache and 3GB of RAM, and is the better option if you are translating several different languages as you only need to store one model instead of several.
Clearing Cached Models
If you want to free up local disk space or remove previously downloaded models, click the Clear Cached Models button at the very bottom of the Help & Support pane. This will safely delete all model files from your browser's local cache storage without affecting any other site data or Excel Online settings.
Bulk Translation
Instead of dragging a formula down, use a range reference like =BOARDFLARE.TRANSLATE(A2:A100, "en", "es"). The results will "spill" into the adjacent cells automatically. This is significantly faster because the underlying transformer model can process multiple sentences in a single batch.
Troubleshooting
The formula returns #VALUE! or #NAME?
Ensure the Translate taskpane is open. Try refreshing the page.
The first calculation is very slow
The add-in must download the model files to your browser's local cache on the first run.
- Standard (OPUS-MT): Roughly 500MB of disk cache and RAM per language pair.
- Hunyuan: Roughly 1.3GB of disk cache and 3GB of RAM (the better option if you are translating several different languages, as you only need to store one model instead of several).
Memory Issues
If your browser becomes unresponsive while using the Hunyuan model, you may be low on RAM. Hunyuan uses approximately 3GB of RAM while translating. Try closing other browser tabs or switching to the standard TRANSLATE function.
Language pair not supported
The standard TRANSLATE function requires either the source or the target language to be English. If you need to translate between two non-English languages (e.g., French to Spanish), use the Hunyuan model via the taskpane.
FAQ
How many cells can I translate at once?
There is no hard limit on the number of cells. For the standard TRANSLATE function, only the first 500 characters of each cell are translated. TRANSLATE.HUNYUAN has no input limit. Translating large ranges (hundreds of cells) may cause temporary browser lag while the transformer model processes the text. For large datasets, we recommend translating in batches or using the "Insert Result" feature.
Where are the models stored?
The models are stored in your browser's cache. They will remain there for subsequent use unless you clear your browser's cache or storage. For desktop Excel, you need to clear the Office cache.