After years in development, the long-anticipated documentation suite for Grasshopper 3D has officially been released. Designed for use within Rhino 3D by Robert McNeel & Associates, the suite, developed by David Mans, introduces three plugins, Excel+, Word+, and PowerPoint+, that enable users to generate Microsoft Office files directly from the Grasshopper environment.
The plugins are engineered to run both on desktop and in Rhino Compute environments, thanks to their foundation on open-source libraries that write directly to XML. This approach eliminates the need for Microsoft Office installations, making the tools flexible for both local and cloud-based workflows.
Excel+
Excel+ has already gained traction among Grasshopper users. The plugin allows for seamless construction and deconstruction of Excel workbooks without relying on Excel itself. Users can open, save, and manage files or operate through memory streams, a feature particularly useful in compute setups and data-driven processes.
Excel+ provides fine-grained control over cells, ranges, worksheets, and workbooks, with full support for reading and writing data as well as formulas. The plugin is built on ClosedXML, a widely used open-source .NET library for Excel file management.
Word+
The Word+ plugin extends Grasshopper’s capabilities to the creation of Microsoft Word documents. Without requiring Word to be installed, users can generate rich text, tables, charts, and images. Like Excel+, it supports both file output and memory stream writing for compute-focused applications.
The plugin is based on OfficeImo, an open-source framework for Word document handling.
PowerPoint+
Rounding out the suite is PowerPoint+, currently in alpha release. This plugin introduces the ability to author Microsoft PowerPoint presentations directly within Grasshopper. Built on top of ShapeCrawler, it enables users to compose rich text, tables, charts, and images, saving them either as files or to memory streams.
While still in its early stages, PowerPoint+ lays the foundation for dynamic presentation creation within computational design workflows.
A Step Forward for Computational Design
The release of this documentation suite marks a significant step in expanding Grasshopper’s ecosystem beyond geometry and data visualization. By enabling the generation of Microsoft Office documents, the plugins bridge computational design with broader professional documentation workflows.
For many users, this integration eliminates the friction between parametric design environments and traditional office tools, opening new possibilities for reporting, presentation, and collaboration directly within Grasshopper.
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