ArcGIS for Office is an add-in for Microsoft Office that brings mapping capabilities from ArcGIS into Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. With ArcGIS for Office, you can create a geospatial view of your data by creating an interactive map that includes data from Excel and ArcGIS services—all without leaving the Excel environment. From Excel, you can share your Excel data to ArcGIS and add web maps you've created to PowerPoint. ArcGIS for Office brings mapping to PowerPoint by allowing you to include dynamic maps from Excel or maps from ArcGIS Online as slides in any PowerPoint presentation.
After you install the ArcGIS for Office add-in, the ArcGIS tab is available in both Excel and PowerPoint. Use this tab to create and manage maps. 
You can use ArcGIS for Office in the standard experience (without signing in to ArcGIS), or you can sign in to connect with your ArcGIS organization and access premium content and analysis tools.
Using ArcGIS for Office without an ArcGIS subscription
If you do not have an ArcGIS account, you can use a map-enabled worksheet in the standard experience.
The standard experience allows you to view and work with public ArcGIS content and a curated set of layers from ArcGIS Living Atlas. Standard users can also add x,y points from Excel, pan and zoom the map, and view pop-ups. Private layers and some map tools, including Analysis, are not available to standard users. To access all map tools and ArcGIS content, users must sign in to an ArcGIS account.
Capabilities in the standard experience and in the ArcGIS experience, depending on user type, are compared below:
| Capability | Standard experience | ArcGIS Viewer | ArcGIS Creator |
|---|---|---|---|
Basemap view | Set of four basic basemaps | Yes | Yes |
Public ArcGIS content | Yes | Yes | Yes |
x,y points | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ArcGIS Living Atlas content | Curated subset of content | Yes | Yes |
Boundary matching | No | Yes | Yes |
Geocoding | No | Yes | Yes |
Buffer/Drive time analysis | No | No | Yes |
Infographic cards | No | No | Yes |
Publish to ArcGIS | No | No | Yes |
Using ArcGIS for Office with an ArcGIS subscription
ArcGIS for Office works directly with your ArcGIS subscription to allow you to access geographic content to enhance your business data.
To access all map tools and content in ArcGIS for Office, you must have an ArcGIS user type that includes privileges to create, analyze, and share content in an ArcGIS Online organization or an on-premises ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. You can sign up for a free trial subscription of ArcGIS Online. It is assumed that the authentication method used to access ArcGIS has been properly configured by the ArcGIS administrator. Public ArcGIS Online accounts are not supported.
Credits in ArcGIS for Office
Credits are the currency of ArcGIS. You can use credits to access tools and premium content provided by Esri. Your organization's ArcGIS subscription includes some credits. The number of credits available to you depends on your user type and on your organization's credit budgeting. The number of credits you need depends on the processes you use, which have different associated costs.
Credit-consuming processes
Credit-consuming processes in ArcGIS for Office are listed below:
| Function | Use |
|---|---|
Geocoding | Add layers from Excel (Address). |
Demographics | Zoom and pan the ArcGIS Living Atlas Tapestry layer on the map. Zoom and pan with the infographics card on the map. |
GeoEnrichment | Zoom and pan layers that use the ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service (for example, U.S. states layers and U.S. ZIP Codes layers). |
Storage | Share a map. |
Analysis | Create buffer/drive times. |
Credit use
In ArcGIS for Office, you use credits mostly for geocoding and data enrichment. The ArcGIS World Geocoding Service turns an address or a place-name into x,y coordinates that can be mapped. The ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service provides localized information, such as demographic data, that you can put on your map using standard administrative boundaries including ZIP Codes, states, and counties.
The ArcGIS World Geocoding Service and ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service charge your credits based on the number of attributes you add to your dataset. For more information on how ArcGIS uses credits, see Understand credits.