How Excel whole-sheet translation keeps formulas: a hands-on walkthrough

Introduction

In trade, purchasing, and finance, Excel needs translation as often as Word does: a purchase list for an overseas supplier, a quotation for a customer, an inventory sheet for headquarters. Almost every one of them has to be bilingual.

But spreadsheet translation has deeper pitfalls than a document—formulas, amounts, and formatting must all stay untouched. Copy cells into a translation tool and paste them back, and formula references slip. Excel's built-in translator works one cell at a time, and you still have to resize the columns afterward.

The Excel add-in in this walkthrough—TopCopilot AI, which treats the whole sheet as one piece. It offers two write-back modes:

Direct mode (Translation): the translation replaces the source, and the whole sheet becomes English only
Bilingual mode (Bilingual): the source stays, and the translation is written under it in the same cell, line by line

This walkthrough focuses on bilingual mode —in Excel, one Whole sheet and then one Start translate the whole sheet in one pass (57 cells in this walkthrough). Numbers, amounts, and formulas stay as they are, and you can check the translation cell by cell on the right.

The add-in translates between 14+ mainstream languages. The example below translates Simplified Chinese into English.

1. When you need it: which sheets should be translated as a whole?

The video uses a real Chinese sheet—2026 Annual Procurement Details, on a worksheet named "Order Details". Sheets like this are typical:

Many fields: primary category, secondary category, product, quantity, unit price, amount, status, owner, and notes
Chinese and English mixed: product names include iPhone 15, MacBook Air, and a USB-C charger, and the model names must not be mangled
Formulas: subtotals and the total come from formulas, so translation must not touch numbers or formulas
Needs a bilingual view: so both sides can check quantities, amounts, and status

By hand, translating 57 cells and then fixing the layout starts at half an hour. A general translation tool usually takes a whole-block paste, and the formulas and column widths come back scrambled.

2. Walkthrough: from opening the sheet to a finished translation

Step 1: Open the sheet and start AI Assistant

Figure 1: the original Chinese purchase sheet

After you open the Excel file, the top menu bar shows the "AI Assistant" tab. Open it. At the far left of the ribbon is "Whole sheet" (translate the whole sheet), with Selection (selected cells) and Quick translate beside it.

This walkthrough uses only the button on the far left: the whole sheet, in one pass.

Step 2: Set the translation options

Figure 2: the translation panel and Advanced settings

Click "Whole sheet" . The AI Assistant panel opens on the right:

Target language: English (target language: English)
Advanced (advanced settings) opens three areas:

SCOPE (translation scope)

This sheet: translates only the current worksheet
All sheets: translates every worksheet in the workbook

WRITE-BACK (write-back mode)

Translation: direct translation, with the translation replacing the source
Bilingual: bilingual, with the source kept and the translation written below

TRANSLATION STYLE (translation style)

Translation font: translation font (Automatic by default, following the source)
Translation size: translation size (Default by default, following the source)
Translation bold: translation weight (Match the source by default)
Translation color: translation color (default color / custom color)

This walkthrough uses This sheet + Bilingual, and leaves the rest on "Match the source".

Step 3: Select Start and translate the whole sheet

Figure 3: 57 cells, translation starting

select "Start" . The panel shows:

57 cells. Starting...

Scanning the document...

Don't edit the document during translation, or write-back may miss.

Important: do not edit the sheet during translation, or write-back may land in the wrong place.

The on-screen status also shows the order of work—scan the whole sheet, settle the terminology, then translate and write back cell by cell. This matters in a spreadsheet. Terminology is settled first, so the same term is not Office Supplies in column A and Office Products somewhere else.

Step 4: Live progress and bilingual write-back

Figure 4: translation reaches 20/57 (35%)

After translation starts, the panel shows 20 / 57 cells (35%). Bilingual text is already in the sheet—Chinese and English in the same cell:

Electronics → Electronics
Mobile → Mobile
Computers → Computers
Accessories → Accessories
Pending → Pending
In Progress → In Progress
Completed → Completed
Zhang Wei → Zhang Wei
Urgent → Urgent
In stock → In stock

In the cell, Chinese is on top and English is below—on write-back, the add-in adjusts that row's height, so both lines show in full. Nothing is clipped, and you do not drag the row height yourself. That is why a row looks taller while the sheet is translating.

Figure 5: translation reaches 40/57 (70%)

At 40 / 57 cells (70%) the Office Supplies area is finished too:

Office Supplies → Office Supplies
Paper → Paper
Stationery → Stationery
Consumables → Consumables
Signature pen → Signature Pen
A4 copy paper → A4 Copy Paper (the spec stays as written)
Printer ink cartridge → Printer ink cartridge

The Pause button in the lower-right corner pauses translation at any time—Cancel cancels this task.

Step 5: Translation finished

Figure 6: translation finished in 11.5 seconds

The panel shows:

Sheet translated — 57 paragraph shown, 11.5s

Done

57 cells, the whole purchase sheet—11.5 seconds. All done.

All 9 header fields are bilingual now: Primary Category / Primary Category, Secondary Category / Secondary Category, Product / Product, Quantity / Quantity, Unit Price / Unit Price, Amount / Amount, Status / Status, Person in Charge / Person in Charge, Remarks / Remarks.

The food section is done too: Food → Food, Beverages → Beverages, Snacks → Snacks, Potato chips → Potato chips, Mineral water 500ml → Mineral water 500ml, Zhou Jie → Zhou Jie. Subtotal and Total come out as Subtotal / Total.

Step 6: Numbers, amounts, and formulas stay untouched

Figure 7: SUBTOTAL in the formula bar stays unchanged

This is where spreadsheet translation most often goes wrong, and it is the part this walkthrough checks most carefully.

Select the total cell F14, and the formula bar still shows:

=SUBTOTAL(9,F3:F13)

Before and after translation:

Quantity: 2, 1, 5, 20, 50, 4, 30, 12… kept as they are
Unit price: 5,999.00, 8,999.00, 99.00, 25.00… kept as they are
Amount: 11,998.00, 8,999.00, 21,492.00, 23,018.00… kept as they are
Totals: subtotals of 8 / 21,492.00, 74 / 1,370.00, and 42 / 156.00, and a total of 124 / 23,018.00, all still calculated by the formulas

In other words, the add-in translates text only—it does not recalculate or rewrite numbers and formulas. Proper names keep their spelling: iPhone 15, MacBook Air, USB-C Charger, and A4 Copy Paper.

Step 7: Check cell by cell on the right

Figure 8: check every cell in the list on the right

When translation finishes, the panel on the right becomes a cell-by-cell list. Each row shows Src (source) and Tr (translation), with a check mark:

Src Potato chips → Tr Potato chips
Src In Progress → Tr In Progress
Src Zhou Jie → Tr Zhou Jie
Src Food subtotal → Tr Food subtotal
Src Total → Tr Total

Key fields (names, status, notes) can be scanned right here, much faster than hunting through the sheet. At the bottom of the panel there is also Start over (start again) and Cancel.

Step 8: Switch among three views in one click

Figure 9: Translation / Bilingual / Original

After translation, three display switches appear at the top of the panel:

Translation: show the translation only
Bilingual: Chinese and English together
Original: show the source only

On the right, Apply to: This sheet sets where the view applies.

Figure 10: switched to the Translation view

select Translation, and the whole sheet turns to English only, ready to send to colleagues or customers overseas.

Figure 11: the English-only view

Headers, categories, products, status, owners, and notes are all English, while the numbers and amounts do not move.

Figure 12: the Original view restores the source in full

select Original, and the source text and formatting come back in full. The Chinese text, the colors, the column widths, and the formulas return to how they were before translation. To print the Chinese version, switch the view instead of deleting the translation.

Step 9: Set the translation color and style

Figure 13: a custom translation color

If you want the translation to stand apart from the source, open TRANSLATION STYLE and set Translation color to Custom color.

Figure 14: font, size, bold, and color can all be set

The color picker offers a palette, RGB values, and hex (the example in the figure is R:2, G:116, B:30). Font, size, and bold can be set on their own too, which helps when you need to match a company template or tell language versions apart.

In one sentence: translate, compare, and restore, all in one sheet.

3. What it does

Features	Details
Whole-sheet translation	One Whole sheet, then one Start, translates the whole sheet in one pass (57 cells this time)
Bilingual comparison	Chinese and English go in the same cell, source on top and translation below, and the row height grows to fit
Formulas and values kept	Numbers, amounts, and SUBTOTAL formulas stay unchanged, and totals keep calculating from the formulas
Proper names kept	Spellings such as iPhone 15, MacBook Air, A4, and USB-C are not mangled
Translation scope	Choose This sheet (the current sheet) or All sheets (the whole workbook)
Display switch	Switch among Translation / Bilingual / Original in one click
Cell-by-cell check	The right side lists Src / Tr for every cell, so you can check them one by one
Translation style	Font, size, weight, and color can all be customized
Speed	This run: 57 cells, whole-sheet translation in 11.5 seconds

4. Who it is for

Trade and purchasing: bilingual purchase lists, inquiries, and supplier comparisons
Finance and audit: bilingual archives of formula-based reports and expense lists
Project management: multilingual schedules, task lists, and risk registers
Cross-Border E-Commerce: English versions of product data, inventory, and freight-cost sheets
Company administrators: bilingual internal ledgers and asset lists

5. Practical advice

Back up the file before translating: the add-in does not change formulas, but save a copy first anyway
Do not edit during translation: otherwise the write-back can land in the wrong place
Check names and status values carefully: the Src/Tr list on the right is easy to scan line by line
Confirm the scope when there are several sheets: in a multi-sheet workbook, choose All sheets under SCOPE
Keep terms consistent with Glossary: import fixed translations ahead of time so the whole sheet agrees

6. Closing

The hard part of translating a spreadsheet is not "turning Chinese into English"—it is whether the sheet still works afterward: formulas still have to calculate, amounts still have to match, and column widths and formatting must not fall apart.

A good fit:

You are holding —a native Excel file (.xlsx)—purchase lists, quotations, inventory sheets, ledgers, and the like.
The sheet contains —formulas, numbers, and merged cells, and you still need to use them after translation.
For a bilingual check, or you want an English-only copy without rebuilding the sheet.
You want a draft quickly — this walkthrough: 57 cells, 11.5 seconds.

In short: it is built for native Excel sheets that still have to calculate and be sent when the translation is done. Back up first, do not edit the sheet mid-translation, and glance at names and status values yourself.