DVDAddin compared with other Excel add-ins
A comparison between DVDAddin and the popular Excel add-ins — to help you pick the tool that fits your work.
How to read this page
The DVDAddin column is cross-checked against the Command reference (186 commands) and the catalogue of 47 UDF functions, so every row can be verified. The competitor columns are based on their public documentation and may change from version to version — check on the vendor's own site before you decide to buy.
TL;DR
| You need | Pick |
|---|---|
| General-purpose automation (300+ generic utilities) | ASAP Utilities or Kutools |
| Lean, hand-written VBA macros | Excel built-in + an .xlam add-in |
| Batch printing + Word merge + email + AI translation for CONSTRUCTION | DVDAddin |
| AI chat inside Excel (general purpose) | Microsoft Copilot for Excel |
| Data analysis | Power Query + Power Pivot (already included) |
DVDAddin does not try to replace Kutools/ASAP — it is specialised for Vietnamese construction professionals: acceptance records, construction diaries, Gantt schedules, rebar cutting, quantities and payment, spelling money amounts out in words, English–Vietnamese translation of construction terminology.
Feature comparison
Utility commands
| Feature | DVDAddin | ASAP Utilities | Kutools | Excel built-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of ribbon commands | 186 (140 on the DVD Addin tab + 46 on the DVD Cons tab) | 300+ | 300+ | (built-in) |
| Change case UPPER/lower/Proper/Sentence | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (you have to use PROPER/UPPER) |
| Capitalisation from context using AI | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Advanced row insert / delete | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Merge cells keeping the data intact | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (Excel loses the data) |
| Bulk find/replace with preview + regex | ✓ (every open workbook) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sheet table of contents + two-way hyperlinks | ✓ (sheet Mucluc) | partial | partial | ✗ |
| Vietnamese encoding conversion (TCVN3 / VNI ↔ Unicode) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Bullets, number / Roman / multilevel lists right inside the cell | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Data cleaning (trim, fix Vietnamese fonts, dates, phone numbers, fuzzy dedup) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Print & Export
| Feature | DVDAddin | ASAP Utilities | Kutools | Excel built-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batch printing driven by a driver cell | ✓ ⭐ | ✗ | partial (print several sheets/workbooks) | ✗ |
| PDF file name taken from a cell, changing on every loop | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Auto row height for merged cells before printing | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ (AutoFit does not handle merged cells) |
| Automatic page break at the signature block | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Merge all the PDFs of the loop into one file | ✓ (PDFsharp) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Mirror margins (two-sided printing / binding) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | partial (set by hand in Page Setup) |
| Store the print configuration inside the workbook itself | ✓ (hidden sheet DVDAddinSetting) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Word & Email
| Feature | DVDAddin | ASAP | Kutools | Office built-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merge Excel → Word, one file per row | ✓ (placeholder [TenCot]) | ✗ | partial | ✓ (Word Mail Merge) |
| Pick several Word templates at once for one data set | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Name the output file from a data column | ✓ | ✗ | partial | partial |
| Bulk email from Excel | ✓ (through Outlook) | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Every mail field (To/Cc/Subject/Body…) points at an Excel cell | ✓ | ✗ | partial | ✗ |
| Export a PDF on each loop and attach it | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Keep the Outlook signature, appended at the end of the message | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | (Outlook default) |
| Pull emails + attachments from Outlook into a sheet | ✓ | ✗ | partial | ✗ |
A difference worth knowing
DVDAddin sends mail through the Microsoft Outlook installed on the machine — there is no mode that sends directly through an SMTP server. On a machine without Outlook, the Send Email command cannot be used.
AI & Translation
| Feature | DVDAddin | ASAP | Kutools | Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Translation through Google (no API key needed) | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ (basic) | ✗ |
| Translation through Gemini / ChatGPT | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (Copilot) |
| Construction-specific prompts when translating with AI | ✓ ⭐ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Choice of 4 AI providers (Gemini / OpenAI / Groq / NVIDIA) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ (Microsoft only) |
| AI assistant for questions and answers inside Excel | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
AI explains and fixes formula errors (#N/A, #VALUE!…) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | partial |
| OCR of images/PDF and table extraction into a sheet with AI | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Convert audio files to text | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Deduplicate before calling the API (fewer tokens) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Self-managed API key per service | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ (tied to the Microsoft account) |
| AI cost | Google translation is free; the AI commands use your own API key | — | — | per-user subscription |
Construction-specific
| Feature | DVDAddin | ASAP | Kutools | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw a Gantt with shapes right inside Excel + CPM calculation | ✓ ⭐ | ✗ | ✗ | (separate, paid software) |
| Export / import MS Project XML (P6 can read it) | ✓ PRO | ✗ | ✗ | (MS Project / P6) |
| EVM, S-curve, DCMA health check, baseline, lookahead | ✓ PRO | ✗ | ✗ | (MS Project / P6) |
| Spell money amounts out in Vietnamese words | ✓ (dvdVnd) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 1D optimised bar cutting + 2D panel cutting | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Construction diary + acceptance-records catalogue | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Work / material acceptance record templates | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| TCVN test plan, NĐ06/TT10 acceptance plan | ✓ PRO | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Interim payment, BoQ comparison, variation register | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Rebar weight, interpolation and lunar calendar functions | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Real-time exchange rate in a cell | ✓ (DVDFx) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (Excel Stocks, limited) |
Vendor & licensing
| Characteristic | DVDAddin | ASAP | Kutools | Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | 30-day trial → Standard or PRO plan, choose the term + number of machines | Free / Pro | Annual subscription | Per-user subscription |
| Payment | VietQR right inside the add-in | Card / international transfer | Card / international transfer | Microsoft contract |
| Author | Individual — Đặng Văn Đằng (Vietnam) | Holland | ExtendOffice | Microsoft |
| Interface language | Vietnamese + English | EN + many languages | EN + many languages | EN + many languages |
| Domain | Vietnamese construction | General purpose | General purpose | General purpose |
| Operating system | Windows only | Windows only | Windows only | Windows / Mac / Web |
| Source code | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed |
When to CHOOSE DVDAddin
✅ You work in construction / cost estimating / site supervision / QS in Vietnam.
✅ You need to print acceptance records, diaries and request forms in bulk from a single template.
✅ You need English ↔ Vietnamese translation that gets the construction terminology right (thép chờ → starter bar, bê tông lót → lean concrete…).
✅ You need money amounts spelled out in Vietnamese words right inside a formula.
✅ You need to draw a Gantt schedule in Excel, and even export it to MS Project / P6, without buying an MS Project license.
✅ You need the Excel → Word → Email or Excel → PDF → Email chain inside a single add-in.
When NOT to use DVDAddin
❌ You are not in construction → the whole DVD Cons tab (46 of the 186 commands) will go unused.
❌ You need 300+ generic utilities → ASAP Utilities is more complete.
❌ You need the file/pane management utilities that Kutools ships with.
❌ You want AI integrated across the whole of Office → Microsoft Copilot.
❌ You use Excel for Mac or Excel Online → DVDAddin only runs on Windows desktop.
❌ The machine has no Microsoft Outlook (you lose the email command) or no Microsoft Word (you lose the Word merge command).
❌ Your organisation forbids installing third-party add-ins.
Deep dive: DVDAddin vs Kutools
Kutools is the closest competitor when it comes to bulk operations. Head to head:
Batch printing
| Criterion | DVDAddin | Kutools |
|---|---|---|
| Loop driven by a driver cell | ✓ | ✗ (only prints several sheets/workbooks in one go) |
| File name changes on every loop | ✓ (taken from a cell) | ✗ |
| Auto row height for merged cells before printing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automatic page break at the signature block | ✓ | ✗ |
| Merge the PDFs after printing | ✓ | partial |
→ For template-based printing (acceptance records, diaries) → DVDAddin is clearly ahead.
Merge to Word
| Criterion | DVDAddin | Kutools |
|---|---|---|
| Placeholder syntax | [TenCot] matching the column header | Word's standard MERGEFIELD |
| Several Word templates for the same data set | ✓ | ✗ |
| Date/number formatting inside the placeholder | ✗ (format it in the Excel cell beforehand) | ✗ (use Word switches) |
| Output: one Word file per row | ✓ | ✓ |
| PDF output | through the separate Word → PDF command | ✓ directly |
→ Roughly equal. DVDAddin makes the template easier to build (the placeholder is simply the column name); Kutools exports PDF straight away in one step.
AI translation
| Criterion | DVDAddin | Kutools |
|---|---|---|
| Free Google | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gemini / ChatGPT with your own API key | ✓ | ✗ |
| Construction-specific prompt | ✓ | ✗ |
| Deduplicate before calling the API | ✓ | ✗ |
| Write the result as "original + translation" in the same cell | ✓ | partial |
→ For construction technical text → DVDAddin is clearly ahead.
General-purpose utilities
| Criterion | DVDAddin | Kutools |
|---|---|---|
| Number of general-purpose commands | 140 (DVD Addin tab) | 200+ |
| Find/replace across files on disk | ✗ (open workbooks only) | ✓ |
| Automatic workbook backup | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fuzzy lookup function | ✗ (only the fuzzy dedup in Smart Data Cleaning) | ✓ |
| Exchange rate in a cell | ✓ | ✗ |
| Spell numbers out in Vietnamese words | ✓ | ✗ |
→ For general-purpose utilities → Kutools is more complete.
Conclusion
→ Using both is perfectly fine. DVDAddin for the construction + AI side; Kutools for generic utilities. The two add-ins sit in their own ribbon groups, so they do not fight over the interface.
About pricing
DVDAddin is sold as plan × term × number of machines, paid with a VietQR code generated inside the add-in:
- 30-day trial — unlocks every feature, including the 19 PRO commands.
- Standard — every command except the PRO group.
- PRO — adds exactly 19 commands: 16 schedule commands under DVD Cons ▸ Schedule (Constraints, Export XML / Import XML P6-MSP, AI Gantt Builder, Schedule Recovery, DCMA-style Health Check, EVM Report, Variance Dashboard, 2-Week / 3-Week Lookahead / custom range, Baseline, weekly Snapshot + Snapshot Trend, Manpower, Cash-flow), 2 QA/QC planning commands (Test Plan to TCVN, Acceptance Plan to NĐ06/TT10 — Decree 06/2021 on construction quality management + Circular 10/2021/TT-BXD) and AI Construction Estimate.
The exact price appears in the Buy License dialog once you pick the term and the number of machines — look it up there rather than hard-coding a figure in the documentation. For special arrangements (many machines, corporate contracts) contact dvdpm.net/dvdaddin.
The prices of ASAP Utilities, Kutools and Microsoft Copilot change from year to year and from market to market — check their own websites.
Coexisting inside Excel
DVDAddin sits on two dedicated tabs, DVD Addin and DVD Cons, and does not overwrite any other add-in's tab:
- ASAP Utilities — its own
ASAP Utilitiestab. - Kutools — its own
Kutools+Kutools Plustabs. - Microsoft Copilot — a button on the Home tab.
Installing several add-ins at once makes Excel start more slowly, because each one has to load when the program opens. If it feels slow, disable the add-ins you do not use in File → Options → Add-ins.
Related
- Command reference — the full list of DVDAddin's 186 commands.
- UDF functions — 47 functions added to Excel.
- Cheatsheet — shortcuts and function syntax on a single page.
- FAQ — questions that come up while considering a purchase.
- Roadmap — features under development.