How to use AI in Excel with Copilot

What you need to use Copilot in Excel

Before you get started, here’s what you’ll need, and why each piece matters:

• A Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium subscription.³ Copilot is included with these plans, and its AI features apply only to the subscription owner (usage limits apply).
• The desktop version of Excel. Copilot works in Excel on Windows and Mac. Some select features are available in mobile apps, but capabilities vary by platform.
• A workbook with data you want to work with. Sales numbers, content performance, expenses, client tracking—Copilot can help you make sense of it, clean it up, and present it clearly.

Once you’re set up, Copilot can help with analysis, organization, and building the Excel assets you’d normally spend time creating manually.

Get started with AI in Excel (fast!)

Here’s the quickest way to start working with Copilot in Excel:^1,2

1. Open Excel on your desktop.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account.
3. Create or open a workbook, then save it to OneDrive and turn on AutoSave. This part matters: Copilot works best when your file is cloud-backed. Saving to OneDrive ensures your workbook updates in real time and enables the full set of Copilot features.
4. Look for the Copilot icon in the ribbon.
5. Click the Copilot icon to open the Copilot pane.
6. Ask your first question.

Try prompts like:

• “Summarize this data and call out anything surprising.”
• “Create a chart showing sales by month.”
• “What changed most between this month and last month?”
• “Help me clean up inconsistent formatting in this column.”

Turn data into insights with Excel

Make better decisions backed by data and insights

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What you can do with Copilot in Excel

Copilot turns Excel into a more conversational workspace: part assistant, part analyst, part spreadsheet fixer. You can use it to understand your data, build what you need, and polish it for sharing—often in a fraction of the time.^1,2

Analyze and summarize your data without digging

Copilot can scan your sheet and surface key insights, whether you’re tracking revenue, project activity, inventory, or engagement metrics.

It can help you identify:

• Trends over time
• Spikes and dips
• Top and bottom performers
• Notable patterns or anomalies

Try prompts like:

• “What were my highest-performing weeks and why?”
• “Explain this spike in column D.”
• “What’s driving the drop in March?”
• “What should I pay attention to in this data?”

Quick tip: After a summary, ask “What would you investigate next?” to get a helpful next step.

Generate formulas without memorizing them

Instead of trying to remember the right function (or spending time searching for examples) Copilot can create formulas from plain language.^1,2 Tell Copilot what you want to calculate, and it can generate the formula and explain it.

Ask for help with:

• Growth calculations
• Conditional totals (SUMIFS)
• Date logic and comparisons
• IF/AND/OR rules
• Lookups and matching

Example prompts:

• “Create a formula to calculate month-over-month growth.”
• “Explain this formula in simple terms.”
• “I want to flag rows where spend is over budget—what formula should I use?”

Try this: If you’re not sure what the right formula is, start with: “Here’s what I’m trying to calculate…” and describe the outcome.

Create pivot-table-style summaries just by asking

Pivot tables are powerful, but they’re also one of the most common Excel pain points. Copilot can help you summarize and group data without you manually setting up pivot tables or slicing fields.^1,2

Try prompts like:

• “Show total sales by region and quarter.”
• “Group these results by category and create a summary table.”
• “What are the top 5 products by revenue?”
• “Summarize expenses by vendor and month.”

Clean up messy data in one ask

Messy sheets slow everything down. Copilot can handle cleanup tasks that normally take multiple steps, especially when you have inconsistent entries.^1,2

It can:

• Remove duplicates
• Standardize formatting
• Fix inconsistent capitalization
• Split or combine columns
• Turn ranges into clean tables

Try these prompts:

• “Turn this range into a clean table and format it.”
• “Remove duplicates and sort by newest first.”
• “Standardize the formatting in column D.”

Smart move: After cleaning, ask “Is there anything else in this sheet that looks off?” to catch remaining inconsistencies.

Format and present your spreadsheet easily

Copilot is also great for making a sheet readable and shareable.^1,2

Try prompts like:

• “Format this as a professional table with clear headers.”
• “Highlight overdue items in red and completed items in green.”
• “Make this worksheet easier to read for a presentation.”
• “Apply consistent number formatting across these columns.”

This is especially helpful when you’re preparing reports, client trackers, or budget sheets you need to share.

Tips for getting better results with Excel AI

Want Copilot to feel like a true collaborator? These habits help you get better outputs faster:

1. Use plain language. Explain the task like you would to a coworker.
2. Point to specific columns or ranges. “Use column C” or “Rows 2–200” improves accuracy.
3. Ask follow-ups. Copilot remembers context, so you can refine without restating everything.
4. Share your goal, not just the task. “Help me identify what drove the change” is better than “Summarize.”
5. Iterate in small steps. Ask it to shorten, expand, simplify, or visualize.
6. Keep your data clean (or ask Copilot to clean it). The clearer the dataset, the clearer the results.

Real-life ways you can use AI in Excel

Copilot in Excel fits into your daily work once you start using it.^1,2 Here are a few moments where it really earns its keep..

When you’re reviewing performance

If you’re looking at last month’s numbers and trying to understand what changed, Copilot can surface the biggest drivers quickly, so you can focus on the “why,” not the manual scanning.

When you need to update someone quickly

Copilot can turn a sheet into a clear summary or chart you can share with a manager, client, or team. It’s a fast way to package insights into something presentable.

When you’re cleaning and standardizing data

Whether it’s inconsistent capitalization, mismatched date formats, or messy categories, Copilot can help you standardize your sheet so analysis and reporting are reliable.

When you’re testing ideas or planning ahead

If you’re considering a budget change, pricing adjustment, or capacity shift, Copilot can help you model scenarios quickly, so you can compare options before committing.

Copilot helps you turn data into decisions with AI

Copilot in Excel helps you move from raw numbers to real answers, fast. It can analyze trends, generate formulas, summarize data without heavy setup, clean inconsistent entries, and improve formatting so your workbook is easier to use and share.

Ready to see what your spreadsheet can do? Try Copilot in Excel today with Microsoft 365.

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