Perplexity is an AI model that searches the web before answering. Unlike regular language models, it knows fresh news, prices and facts, not just what got into its training data. With the !SEMTools add-in, Perplexity connects to Excel, and you can search for a whole list at once instead of one question at a time.
I’ll show you how to get an API key, set up the model, the search depth and the source language, and how to process prompts in bulk.
Why use Perplexity in Excel
Perplexity is needed where the answer depends on current data from the web:
- collect short company descriptions from a list of names or websites;
- find the official website, city or industry for each company;
- fact-check a list of statements;
- collect fresh news or changes for a list of brands, products, competitors;
- find product specs by product names.
For tasks that don’t need the web (rewriting, classification, translation), regular models are more convenient and cheaper: ChatGPT, DeepSeek or Gemini.
Install !SEMTools to use Perplexity in Excel
If your Excel doesn’t have the !SEMTools tab yet, first download and install the !SEMTools add-in. Follow the guide carefully and come back here. The Perplexity menu is on the !SEMTools tab: Web (Scraping, SEO, PPC) → APIs → Perplexity API.
How to get a Perplexity API key
The key is created in your Perplexity account, in the API settings. The API is paid: money is charged from your balance for every request, so top it up first. The cost depends on the model and the search depth; check the current prices in the Perplexity documentation.
Perplexity settings: model, search depth and language
In the Perplexity API menu, choose Settings (API key, model etc.). The form has four parameters:
- API key — your Perplexity key.
- Model: sonar — fast and inexpensive; sonar-pro — more accurate, works through sources more deeply; sonar-reasoning-pro — a reasoning model for complex questions that need several sources compared.
- Search depth (low, medium, high) — how much web content the model takes into account. The higher it is, the more accurate the answer, but the more expensive and slower the request.
- Source language — Perplexity will search sources in the selected language. The list has about 35 languages, from English and Spanish to Japanese.
Just in case: the key is stored right in the add-in file. If you share your .xlam file with a colleague, they’ll be able to use your API access and your balance.
Process web search prompts in bulk with Perplexity
Select the cells with prompts and run Process every prompt in selection. Each selected cell is a ready prompt. The add-in asks for a timeout between requests in seconds, sends the cells to Perplexity one by one and writes the answers in their place.
If you have a plain list of companies, turn it into prompts first: add text to all cells at the beginning, for example “Find the official website of the company, return only the URL: ”.
| Prompt in the cell | Perplexity’s answer |
|---|---|
| Find the official website of the company, return only the URL: Trader Joe’s | traderjoes.com |
| In which city is the company headquartered? One word: Patagonia | Ventura |
| Describe what the company does in one sentence: semtools.guru | It develops !SEMTools, an Excel add-in with hundreds of tools for processing text data. |
Perplexity may add source markers like [1], [2] to its answers. If you need clean text in the cells, ask for it in the prompt: “return only the answer, no source references”.
Every request is a web search, so Perplexity answers more slowly than regular models and costs more. Test the prompt on 5–10 cells first, and only then run it on the whole list.
In the free version of !SEMTools, the procedure processes about 2/3 of the cells and replaces the rest with “!SEMTools – available in full version”. No API request is made for these cells, so no money is spent on them.
Perplexity models via OpenRouter in Excel
Perplexity models are also in the OpenRouter catalog. In the OpenRouter.ai menu, choose Select model and find a model whose ID starts with perplexity/. This is handy if you already have an OpenRouter key and don’t want a separate Perplexity account, and the Process selected cells (input prompt) command lets you keep just the company names in the cells.
The settings for search depth and source language are only in the Perplexity API menu, though. When accuracy for each cell matters, use the native menu.
Why Perplexity isn’t responding in Excel: common errors
- A message about a missing token — the key isn’t saved. Open the settings, paste the key and save.
- “Error: 401” — the key is wrong or revoked.
- “Error: 402” or an error mentioning your balance — the API balance has run out.
- “Error: 429” — too many requests too fast. Increase the timeout between requests.
- An inaccurate or outdated answer — raise the search depth or switch to sonar-pro, and ask in the prompt to rely on official sources.
Search the web for a whole list right from Excel: websites, descriptions and facts for hundreds of companies, with answers in place and no manual copying.
!SEMTools solves this and hundreds of other tasks in a couple of clicks!
Summary: which tasks Perplexity in Excel is good for
I hope you found what you were looking for on this page and were able to connect Perplexity to Excel. It’s the best choice when the answer depends on fresh data from the web: company descriptions, websites, facts, news. For tasks without search, use regular models like Claude or Gemini: they’re faster and cheaper.
Other AI tools in Excel
!SEMTools works with more than one AI model. See also:
- ChatGPT in Excel: API key setup and bulk prompts
- Claude in Excel: Anthropic API and bulk cell processing
- Gemini in Excel: Google API and bulk cell processing
- DeepSeek in Excel: API key and prompt processing
- OpenRouter in Excel: hundreds of models with one key
- Ollama in Excel: local AI models, no data leaves your PC
- AI in Excel: all scenarios and connected models