Microsoft Corp. has a new strategy to widen the adoption of Excel. The software giant this week rolled out a REST API for the tool that enables developers to open spreadsheets, perform calculations and use its visualization functionality in their custom applications.

The addition is motivated by the same reason that recently drove Redmond to release an embedded version of its Power BI service: Business users are relying on data in more and more parts of their work. As a result, removing the need to regularly switch between Excel and third party applications should help improve productivity and hopefully increase the spreadsheet tool’s popularity in the process. Third party developers, meanwhile, gain the ability to provide advanced data management features in their offerings without having to build them from scratch.

Redmond sees the new API finding use in a wide range of different industries. Collaboration and analytics providers can use the software to make Excel files more accessible to their users, while administrative applications could tap its number-crunching capabilities to streamline business calculations. The Sage Group plc, for instance, plans on integrating the software into its popular accounting toolkit to help financial professionals estimate expenses more easily. And that’s not even mentioning Excel’s data visualization capabilities.

The latter functionality should appeal mainly to developers who don’t require the advanced graph-making options in Power BI or can’t justify its cost, but still need a way to present their data in an easily visual form. Many large organizations will likely use the two tools side-by-side to accommodate different types of users.

In an effort to speed up adoption, Microsoft has released documentation and code samples for the new API that are designed to help developers quickly make themselves familiar with the interface. Seeing how Sage and a number of other vendors are already working to incorporate Excel into their software, the first integrations can be expected to hit the market in a few months if not sooner.

Image via Geralt