Learn AI Accounting Series (2026) | Claude in Excel: Auto-Categorize Expenses in Seconds
Stop manually categorizing expenses. Claude AI is now inside Excel —watch it auto-categorize 12 months of transactions and build a pivot table in under 3 minutes. No formulas. No VBA. Just plain English prompts. Note: Claude in Excel was in beta when this video was recorded. Check claude.ai for current availability. --- 📋 *PROMPT 1: Categorize Transactions* ``` Insert a new column called "Category" immediately after the Payee column (column I). Categorize each transaction based on the Payee name using these categories: Groceries: Grocery stores, supermarkets (Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco, etc.) Meals & Entertainment: Restaurants, fast food, bars, liquor stores Retail Shopping: Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot, general merchandise Software & Subscriptions: Apps, streaming, SaaS (Apple, Netflix, Zoom, etc.) Utilities & Telecom: Phone, internet, utilities (AT&T, etc.) Auto & Gas: Fuel, car washes, auto services Healthcare: Pharmacies, medical providers, veterinary Travel: Airlines, hotels, rideshare (Lyft, Uber) Professional Services: Contractors, cleaning, insurance Marketing & Advertising: Google Ads, social media ads Fees & Interest: Bank fees, interest charges Payment/Transfer: Venmo, cash back, adjustments Office Supplies: Office Depot, Staples Personal Care: Salons, spas, beauty services Reconciliation: ONLY these exact payees: [Beginning balance], [Change in balance], [Ending balance], [Negative transactions], [Positive transactions], [Reconciliation error], [Total transactions] Transfer: Payees like [to 1530] or [2356 to 1999] (account transfers) Other: Anything that doesn't fit above ``` 📋 *PROMPT 2: Create Pivot Table* ``` Create a pivot table on a new sheet called "Expense Summary" from the transaction data. Filters: Exclude rows where Category = "Reconciliation" OR Transaction Type = "OTHER" Layout: Rows: Category (sorted A-Z) Columns: Month (formatted as "Mon YYYY", e.g., Jan 2024) in chronological order Values: Sum of Amount Include: Grand Total column on the right Formatting: Currency format for all values, bold headers ``` --- 💡 *TIPS FOR BETTER SPREADSHEET PROMPTS* | Tip | Example | |-----|---------| | Name new sheets | "Create a new sheet called 'Summary'" | | Specify column letters | "The Date column is column E" | | Clarify date formats | "Dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format" | | State formatting preferences | "Format as currency with 2 decimals" | | Give examples for ambiguous cases | "Liquor stores = Meals & Entertainment" | | Specify sort order | "Sort alphabetically" or "Sort by total descending" | --- 🔗 *Links:* Claude AI: https://claude.ai BadBank AI (free tier): https://badbank.ai Anthropic: https://anthropic.com ⏱️ *Timestamps:* 0:00 - Hook 0:15 - The problem with categorizing expenses 0:35 - Badbank data 0:55 - Invoking Claude in Excel 1:15 - Prompt 1: Categorization 1:30 - Claude categorizing transactions 2:00 - Results 2:15 - Prompt 2: Pivot table 2:30 - Pivot table results 2:45 - How to get Claude in Excel 3:00 - Badbank + Cowork playlist 📺 *Related Videos:* Claude Cowork: AI Organizes Tax Docs in Minutes: • Learn AI Accounting Series (2026) | Claude... Tax Prep in 6 Minutes with AI: • Learn AI Accounting Series (2026) | AI to ... Amazon Expenses Made Easy: • Learn AI Accounting Series (2026) | AI for... Mac Users: Expenses in Numbers: • Learn AI Accounting Series (2026) | AI for... Full Playlist: • Learn AI Accounting Series (2026) 🔔 Subscribe to BadBank's Learning AI channel for more AI accounting tools! --- Links Website: https://badbank.ai X: https://x.com/badbankai YouTube: / @badbankai #ClaudeAI #Excel #Accounting #Bookkeeping #AITools #TaxSeason #BadBankAI