Using Amalgam with Claude in Excel
Use Claude with Amalgam in Excel
Section titled “Use Claude with Amalgam in Excel”Connect Claude to your Amalgam Excel add-in so you can ask it — in plain English — to pull reports, sync resources, switch integrations, and navigate Amalgam without clicking around the sidebar.
Example: “Pull a Q1 P&L from our main QuickBooks integration.” Claude finds the right report, creates a sheet, sets the period filter, and runs it for you.
What you’ll need
Section titled “What you’ll need”| Requirement | Why |
|---|---|
| Claude Pro, Team, or Enterprise | Free Claude accounts cannot install custom skills. |
| Amalgam Excel add-in installed and signed in | Claude drives the add-in — you still need it running. |
| Excel for Windows or Mac (desktop) | Required for the add-in. |
Step 1 — Download the Amalgam skill
Section titled “Step 1 — Download the Amalgam skill”Save the file somewhere you can find it. You don’t need to unzip it — Claude accepts the zip directly.
Step 2 — Install the skill in Claude
Section titled “Step 2 — Install the skill in Claude”- Go to claude.ai and sign in.
- Click your profile (bottom left) → Settings.
- Open Capabilities → Skills.
- Click Upload skill and select the
amalgam-automation.zipyou just downloaded. - You should see Amalgam Automation appear in your skills list.
That’s it — the skill is now available anywhere you use Claude on this account, including Claude in Excel.
Step 3 — Turn on Automation Mode in Amalgam
Section titled “Step 3 — Turn on Automation Mode in Amalgam”In Excel, open the Amalgam sidebar:
- Click the hamburger menu (☰) at the top of the sidebar.
- Click Enable Automation Mode.
You’ll see a new sheet appear in your workbook called AMALGAM_CONTROLS (cyan tab). This is how Claude and the add-in talk to each other — you don’t need to interact with it directly, but don’t delete it while you’re working.
Tip: Automation Mode is per-workbook. Turn it on in any workbook where you want Claude to help.
Step 4 — Ask Claude something
Section titled “Step 4 — Ask Claude something”Open Claude in Excel (or Claude.ai with your workbook open) and try one of these:
- “List the QuickBooks reports available.”
- “Create a General Ledger report for our main QBO integration.”
- “Run the report I just made with no row limit.”
- “What integrations do we have for Brex?”
- “Switch this sheet to use the staging QuickBooks integration instead.”
- “Refresh the dropdowns on this resource sheet.”
Claude will narrate what it’s doing in chat and write the results into your workbook.
Things to know
Section titled “Things to know”- Sidebar clicks always win. If you click around in the Amalgam sidebar while Claude is working, your clicks take priority. Claude will re-check state and adapt.
- Don’t edit column A of an Amalgam-managed sheet. Column A holds the link between the sheet and your provider/integration. If it’s edited, the sheet has to be recreated.
- Reports are read-only output. Resources are writeable. Claude knows the difference and will use the right verb (
runvssync).
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”“Claude says Automation Mode isn’t enabled.”
Open the Amalgam sidebar’s hamburger menu and click Enable Automation Mode. The AMALGAM_CONTROLS sheet should appear.
“Nothing happens when I ask Claude.” Make sure:
- The skill is installed (claude.ai → Settings → Capabilities → Skills shows Amalgam Automation).
- You’re signed in to Amalgam in the sidebar.
- The
AMALGAM_CONTROLSsheet exists in this workbook.
“Claude is operating on the wrong sheet.” This usually happens after clicking a different worksheet tab while Claude is mid-task. Tell Claude: “Switch back to the [SheetName] sheet and try again.”
“It says I’m not signed in.” Sign in via the Amalgam sidebar, then ask Claude to retry.
“My company is on free Claude — can I still use this?” Not today — custom skills require a paid Claude plan (Pro, Team, or Enterprise). Free Claude accounts can still use the Amalgam sidebar manually.
Does this work in Claude Desktop / Claude Code / the Claude API? The skill is designed for use next to Excel. Claude in Excel is the only surface that can natively read and write your workbook cells, so that’s the supported path.
Is my data sent to Anthropic? The skill itself is just instructions — it doesn’t send data anywhere on its own. When Claude reads or writes cells in your workbook, that activity follows the same data handling as your normal Claude session. See Anthropic’s privacy documentation for details.
Can Claude make changes I didn’t ask for? Claude only writes to cells when you ask it to. The skill instructs Claude to confirm destructive actions and to never edit Amalgam’s internal metadata column.
How do I uninstall it? claude.ai → Settings → Capabilities → Skills → click the Amalgam Automation skill → Remove.