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Excel add-in

The Excel add-in checks email addresses in Excel with your API key. It adds a cell function, =EV.VALIDATE(A2), that returns an address's status and reason, and a task pane that validates a whole column: up to 50 addresses as single checks, more as one bulk list.

Status: not available to install yet. The add-in is not in AppSource yet, and its files are not hosted yet, so it cannot be added from Excel today. Until then, the only way to run it is to sideload it as a developer from its source code, which is not published either (steps below). To validate a workbook today, upload the XLSX file as a bulk list in the dashboard, or use the API.

This page describes the add-in as it is built, so you know what to expect when it is listed.

The cell function

=EV.VALIDATE(A2) returns the address's status and its reason, spilled into two cells: valid accepted, invalid no_mailbox, and so on. Keep the cell to its right empty, or Excel shows #SPILL! until it is cleared. An empty cell gives two empty cells and sends nothing.

When something goes wrong, the status is error and the reason says what to do, such as "Add your API key: Home → Email validation → Settings." or "Your account is out of credits." Errors are not remembered: after fixing the cause, enter the formula again or press Ctrl+Alt+F9.

Formulas that arrive together, such as a filled-down column, are sent as one batch: each address once, at most 20 checks started a second and at most 100 waiting at once, within the rate limits of an account without a purchase.

Recalculation and charges

  • While the workbook is open, an address is never charged twice. Every result is remembered in memory, by address, until the workbook is closed. A recalculation, a copied formula or another cell with the same address is answered from memory, for free.
  • A reopened workbook checks again. When the workbook is closed, the memory is gone. When Excel recalculates the formulas after the workbook is reopened (a full recalculation with Ctrl+Alt+F9, or a file last calculated by another Excel version, which Excel recalculates on open), every =EV.VALIDATE checks its address again, and that check is charged again.
  • To keep results for good, copy the cells and paste them as values, or use Validate selected column, which writes values instead of formulas.
  • unknown results (free) and errors are not remembered, so a later recalculation checks them again. Settings → Forget remembered results empties the memory.

Validate a column

  1. Select the column of addresses, or some of its cells, and click Validate selected column in the task pane (Home → Validate emails).
  2. If the first cell is a header such as Email or Email address, the two result columns get the headers Validation status and Validation reason. Results go into the two columns to the right of the addresses.
  3. The pane shows the plan: how many rows get a result, whether they are checked one by one or as one bulk list, and the most the run may cost. Click Start.
  • Up to 50 addresses to check are single checks. More go as one bulk list, of at most 100,000 addresses (4 MB); for more, upload the file in the dashboard.
  • A list is never paid for twice. The add-in keeps the list's id (never an address) until its results are written, so if Excel closes or the connection drops, the next run on that column collects the same list instead of creating a new one.
  • Your data is safe. Rows that already hold a status are skipped and an address in several rows is checked once. Other data in the result columns is never overwritten without asking: the button then reads Overwrite and start. A row you edit during the run is left alone.
  • Cancel before the list starts deletes it, with nothing charged. After the start, it stops the list: checks it already did are charged, its unused credits are returned.

When it is done, the pane shows the counts per status and the credits used.

Try it for free

Add test addresses adds a sheet of addresses on sandbox.email-validation.org. Each test address returns the result its name says (accepted@sandbox.email-validation.org is valid, no_mailbox@sandbox.email-validation.org is invalid, and so on), costs nothing and contacts no mail server.

Settings

  • API key. Create one on the API keys page with the permissions Validate addresses, Bulk lists (for columns of more than 50 addresses) and Read balance and usage (for Test the key). Give it a daily credit cap so the workbook can never spend more than you expect. A key with allowed origins must list the origin the add-in is served from, or it is refused.
  • Where addresses are checked: US or EU (see Region).
  • Test the key checks the key and shows your balance. Forget remembered results empties the cell function's memory.

Costs

1 credit = 1 validated address, as with any validation request. These are free:

  • Every result with status unknown
  • Checks that exceed their time limit (10 seconds by default; unknown, reason timeout)
  • API errors
  • Malformed addresses rejected before any check
  • Test addresses on the sandbox domain

The pane states the most a column may cost before Start and the credits used after. Results remembered while the workbook is open, copied from other rows or already in the sheet are never sent again; formulas in a reopened workbook are, as above. Prices and packs are on the pricing page.

Region: US or EU

Settings → Where addresses are checked chooses https://api.email-validation.org (US) or https://api-eu.email-validation.org for EU data residency. Both use the same keys and credits, and the choice applies to the cell function and the task pane.

Privacy

  • Your key is kept in the add-in's own storage on your computer, never in a workbook, and is sent only to the API host you chose. Settings show only its last four characters.
  • Addresses are sent only to that host, in the body of a POST request (never in a URL), and only when you validate a column or a cell holds =EV.VALIDATE. The add-in logs nothing, keeps results only in memory and sends nothing anywhere else.
  • Bulk lists are kept and deleted as the privacy policy says for bulk lists.

Requirements

Excel on the web, or Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 or later on Windows and Mac (the SharedRuntime 1.1 requirement set). Older versions of Excel do not offer the add-in.

Sideload it (developers)

These steps are for developers who have the add-in's source code (the integrations/excel folder of our source), which is not published yet. Customers will add the add-in from Excel once it is in AppSource.

Office loads an add-in only over HTTPS, so you serve its files from your own computer. With Node 24, from the root of the source:

npx office-addin-dev-certs@3.0.1 install      # once: a localhost certificate this computer trusts
node integrations/excel/scripts/manifest.ts   # writes integrations/excel/dist/manifest.xml for https://localhost:3000
node integrations/excel/scripts/serve.ts      # serves the add-in at https://localhost:3000 (Ctrl-C stops)

Open https://localhost:3000/ in a browser once: it must load without a certificate warning. Keep the server running while Excel uses the add-in.

  • The certificate trusts a development certificate authority on the whole computer: npx office-addin-dev-certs@3.0.1 uninstall removes it when you are done.
  • Use a key made for testing, with a daily credit cap: other development add-ins served at https://localhost:3000 share the add-in's storage. If the key has allowed origins, add https://localhost:3000.

Excel on the web

  1. Open a workbook in Excel on the web in the same browser.
  2. Home → Add-ins → More Add-ins (or Advanced…) → My Add-ins → Upload My Add-in.
  3. Browse… → integrations/excel/dist/manifest.xml → Upload.
  4. Home → Validate emails opens the pane.

Windows

  1. Run the three commands above on the same computer.
  2. Make a folder (for example C:\EVAddin), share it (Properties → Sharing → Share…), and copy integrations\excel\dist\manifest.xml into it. Note its network path (\\<computer name>\EVAddin).
  3. In Excel: File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings… → Trusted Add-in Catalogs. Put the network path in Catalog Url, click Add catalog, tick Show in Menu, click OK and restart Excel.
  4. Home → Add-ins → More Add-ins (or Advanced…) → Shared Folder → Email validation → Add.

Mac

  1. Run the three commands above on the Mac (macOS asks for your password to trust the certificate).

  2. Copy the manifest into Excel's add-in folder, then quit and reopen Excel:

    mkdir -p ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef
cp integrations/excel/dist/manifest.xml ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef/

  3. Open a workbook: Home → Add-ins (or Insert → Add-ins → My Add-ins) → Developer Add-ins → Email validation.

Updated · Maintained by the email-validation.org team