# Getting Started

xlwings Lite is an Excel add-in that you install from the Office add-in store. It’s free for personal and commercial use, with no registration or login required.

## Prerequisites

All you need is a supported version of Excel. There’s nothing else to install, as Python runs inside the add-in.

### Windows

- Microsoft 365
- Office 2021 or later

### macOS

- Microsoft 365
- Office 2021 or later

Note that the version of macOS needs to be Ventura (macOS 13) or later.

### Excel on the web

- Excel on the web is supported as long as you’re accessing it with a reasonably recent version of a modern browser.
- It even works with the [free version of Excel](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web)

## Installation

1. Click on the `Add-ins` button in Excel. Usually, it is located on the `Home` tab, but if you are using an older version of Excel, it could be on the `Insert` tab.
2. Search for `xlwings`
3. Click on `Add` to install.

![image](images/installation.png)

This will add an xlwings Lite button at the right end of the `Home` tab and open the xlwings Lite editor on the right-hand side of Excel. If the editor doesn’t show or if you closed it, you can reopen it anytime by clicking the xlwings Lite button on the `Home` tab:

![image](images/xlwings_lite_button.png)

After installation, `main.py` already contains sample code, so you can get started right away: type `=HELLO("World")` into a cell to call a Python custom function, or click the green **Run Hello World** button (or hit `F5`) to run a script.

## Video walkthrough

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/amCCEbJ39W8?si=mCTVouJryiN20hpK" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## Corporate environments

In corporate environments, your Excel add-in store may be blocked. In this case, ask your IT or Office administrator to install xlwings Lite from the Office 365 Admin Center. Alternatively, your company may prefer to self-host xlwings Lite (see [Self Hosting](self-hosting.md)).

## Uninstalling xlwings Lite

To uninstall xlwings Lite, start again by clicking on the `Add-ins` button, then click on `More Add-ins` at the bottom of the appearing menu. Under `Manage your Apps`, you’ll find xlwings Lite. Click on the three dots to the right and select `Remove`.

On older versions of Excel, you have to go to `My Add-ins` instead of `Manage your Apps`, then hover over xlwings Lite, which makes the three dots appear.

## Next steps

- [Custom Functions](custom-functions.md): Define native custom functions (user-defined functions) that you call directly from a cell.
- [Scripts](custom-scripts.md): Automate Excel by running Python scripts at the click of a button.
- [Notebooks](notebooks.md): Write and run code cell by cell, as in Jupyter notebooks.
- [Dependencies](dependencies.md): Learn how to install 3rd party libraries like pandas, Polars, or DuckDB.