Neil for Office support

Need help? Email support@seal.run. For setup and common problems, follow the steps below.

1Before you start

Neil for Office is available from the Microsoft add-in store for Excel and Word. You need an authorised Seal account, access to your Seal workspace and Neil for Office enabled for your organisation. Contact Seal support if you need help confirming access.

Installing the add-in does not provide a Seal subscription or enable workspace access. You also need a compatible version of Excel or Word with Office add-ins enabled. Available operations depend on your Office version, subscription and configuration.

2Install Neil for Office

1. Open Excel or Word and choose Home → Add-ins. Choose More Add-ins or the Store tab if needed. Menu names vary by Office version.
2. Search for Neil, select the Neil add-in from Seal, and choose Add. Follow Microsoft’s installation prompts.
3. Open the document you want to use, then open Neil from Home or your installed add-ins.

If your organisation blocks store access or individual installation, ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to permit or deploy the add-in. If Neil for Office is already installed, continue below. You only need to install it once.

3Connect a document

1. Open the workbook or document you want to use. Open Neil from Home or Add-ins in Excel or Word.
2. Paste your Seal workspace link into the pane and sign in with your Seal account.
3. Open the intended Neil conversation in your browser using the same account and workspace. If the pane is linked to another chat, finish or stop its current task, then choose Use current browser chat in the pane. Wait for Chat linked.
4. Keep the pane open and send your request in the browser conversation. Open Neil in browser returns to the linked chat.

You do not need to select text or place the cursor in Word to connect it. For another document, open Neil in that document; there is no need to reinstall the add-in.

A newly opened pane links to the active Neil browser chat. It stays linked when you switch browser chats. To change the linked chat, open the intended conversation and choose Use current browser chat in the Office pane after finishing or stopping its current task.

4Review content and make changes

The connection starts in read-only mode. Try “Review the formulas in this sheet” or “Summarise this document”. To edit Excel, first choose Use as output for the intended workbook in the browser’s Excel connection control. Then choose Scope → Accept edits and send a new request. Other workbooks stay read-only. For Word, choose Scope → Accept edits and send a new request; no output selection is needed.

• Excel: read cells and formulas, format data, create pivot summaries on new worksheets and work with native charts and tables. For example: “Create a chart from the selected data.”
• Word: read and search text, change formatting, work with tables and lists and insert or replace text. For example: “Align the document text to the right.” New content appends by default; replacing a selection with plain text may change its formatting.

Some Office features are unavailable. Examples include Excel macros, Power Query, changing existing pivot structures and Word page layout, headers, footers or accepting individual revisions. Neil should explain when an operation is unsupported.

Review formulas, responses and document changes before relying on them. Save your document in Office; Neil cannot save it for you. Follow your organisation’s usual review and approval procedures.

Stop cancels the current request but keeps the connection. It does not undo changes already applied. Use Disconnect to stop further document access.

5Use Excel and Word in the same chat

Open Neil in each document and link each pane to the intended browser conversation. Wait for each pane to show Chat linked and keep the panes open. One chat supports up to five Excel workbooks and one Word document. Each workbook starts as a read-only source; choose one with Use as output when you want to edit it. Disconnecting one document leaves the others connected.

6Troubleshooting

Neil says the document is not connected

1. Check that the Neil pane is open in the intended document and uses the same account and workspace as your browser.
2. Open the intended browser conversation. If the pane is linked to another chat, finish or stop its current task, then choose Use current browser chat in the pane.
3. In the Office pane, choose Excel disconnected → Connect Excel document or Word disconnected → Connect Word document. Alternatively, close and reopen the pane. Wait for Chat linked before trying again.

The browser’s Check Excel connection or Check Word connection button only refreshes status. After closing an older pane, allow up to twenty seconds for its connection to expire. Uploading a file creates a separate copy; it does not connect your open Office document.

Edits are refused or a feature is unavailable

For Excel, select the intended workbook with Use as output. Check Scope → Accept edits and send a new request. Document protection and unsupported Office features can also prevent an operation. Include the exact error when contacting support.

A request stops or the document changes during a task

Check the document before repeating an interrupted request: some changes may already have been applied. If the document changed while Neil was reading it, ask Neil to inspect it again before editing.

Installation or sign-in fails

Confirm that you have access to the intended Seal workspace and that your organisation permits the add-in. Contact your administrator for installation restrictions, or Seal support for account and connection problems. If the error says “Too many clients already”, contact support; reinstalling the add-in will not resolve it.

7Privacy and document access

Content Neil reads becomes part of the conversation and is processed by Seal and its AI providers. It may include content beyond your current selection. Disconnecting stops future access but does not erase conversation history or undo edits. See our privacy policy for data handling and retention, and the Neil for Office EULA for terms of use.

8Contact support

Seal provides support for Neil for Office. Email support@seal.run with:

• Your workspace name and whether you are using Word or Excel.
• Your operating system, Office version and whether Office is running on the desktop or in a browser.
• What you tried, what you expected and the exact error or a screenshot.

Remove passwords, authentication tokens and sensitive document content from messages and screenshots. Any agreed support commitments or response times remain governed by your customer agreement.