Copilot in Excel — How to Get Started

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI-powered assistant integrated across popular Microsoft applications like Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams. Excel leverages advanced language models, similar to ChatGPT, combined with your OneDrive or SharePoint data to simplify complex tasks. Whether you need to generate formulas, filter and sort data, or perform data analysis with actionable insights, Copilot in Excel handles these tasks seamlessly within the app.

What makes Copilot stand out is its ability to respond to natural language prompts directly in Excel—no need to switch between platforms.

With just a few queries, it suggests solutions and applies them directly to your workbook. This unique blend of AI and automation helps users save time and unlock powerful insights without leaving the familiar Excel environment. Below, I'll go into more detail about why you should consider using Copilot in Excel, and how to get started.

How does Copilot enhance Excel?

One of its standout features is the ability to generate formula columns. By describing your desired formula in plain English, Copilot translates it into Excel’s formula language, eliminating the need to write formulas from scratch. This is particularly helpful for beginners or those looking to speed up repetitive tasks. Additionally, Copilot offers conditional formatting suggestions, helping users highlight key data points, such as top values or numbers exceeding certain thresholds.

Copilot also assists with sorting and filtering data, though experienced users may find these tasks easier to perform manually. For data analysis, it can generate insights through PivotTables and charts, offering a quick way to identify trends and patterns. While it simplifies light analyses, advanced users may prefer manual PivotTable creation for more complex tasks. 

Copilot can translate a desired formula from plain English into Excel’s formula language, eliminating the need to write formulas from scratch.

By enhancing Excel’s existing capabilities with AI-driven natural language input, Copilot unlocks new possibilities, making data management, problem-solving, and creativity seamless and efficient.

How to enable Copilot

Getting started is straightforward, though it requires a few steps to ensure everything is set up correctly. Copilot is available only for Microsoft 365 users on both PC and Mac, with a separate subscription required. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you install, enable, and customize Copilot to suit your needs.

Step 1: Ensure you have the required subscriptions  

To use Copilot in Excel, you need two subscriptions:

1. Microsoft 365 Subscription – If you don’t already have one, Microsoft offers a 30-day free trial. After the trial, personal plans cost $70 annually or $7 monthly, and
2. Copilot Pro Subscription – This subscription also comes with a 30-day free trial. After the trial period, the plan costs $20 per month. For business users with Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise, there’s an annual Copilot Pro plan for $360.

Both trials require payment information, but you won’t be charged unless you keep the subscription after the free period.

Step 2: Sign up and configure your payment details  

• If your credit card’s billing address isn’t in the U.S., you’ll need to adjust the region during the sign-up process. Simply change the country or region in the Microsoft settings to match your billing address (e.g., Azerbaijan).  
• Once your payment information is entered, complete the sign-up process and confirm your subscriptions.

Step 3: Update your Microsoft 365 license  

1. Open Excel and go to File > Account.  
2. If you don’t see the Copilot button in the ribbon under the Home tab, select Update License.  
3. You may need to restart Excel for the changes to take effect.

Step 4: Set up OneDrive or SharePoint  

1. For Copilot to function, you must store your Excel files in OneDrive or SharePoint.  
2. Ensure AutoSave is enabled by clicking the AutoSave toggle. If prompted, save your workbook to OneDrive.

Step 5: Launch and customize Copilot  

1. Once enabled, the Copilot button will appear on the Home tab.  
2. You can customize the tool based on your workflow. For example, it can be used to automate formula creation, apply filters, highlight key data points, or generate visual insights with PivotTables and charts.

By following these steps, you can unlock the full potential of Copilot, gaining access to AI-driven tools that streamline workflows and improve productivity.

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Benefits of using Copilot in Excel

By automating complex tasks, Copilot’s benefits are many. This tool saves time by allowing users to focus on higher-value work. Copilot acts as a personal Excel assistant, and it handles frequent, time-consuming processes like formatting, filtering, data visualization, and others, leading to increased productivity.

1. Formula automation

Copilot streamlines complex data tasks by automating formula creation. Instead of manually writing formulas or searching for functions online, users can describe their needs in plain language, and Copilot will generate and apply the formula directly. From simple functions to advanced formulas like XLOOKUP or SUMIF, Copilot simplifies the process, eliminating errors and saving users hours of effort.

2. Smart formatting

In addition to formulas, Copilot assists with conditional formatting, making it easy to highlight key information, such as flagging spending that exceeds revenue. It offers recommendations for sorting, filtering, and visualizing data, suggesting the most effective chart types—like PivotTables, bar charts, or line graphs—so users can uncover trends without needing advanced Excel skills.

3. Python integration

Copilot also extends Excel’s capabilities by integrating Python for advanced analytics. Through natural language input, users can generate and execute Python code within Excel, enabling powerful analysis, predictive models, and unique visualizations such as heat maps and violin plots. This feature unlocks data science potential without requiring Python expertise, while still providing flexibility for experienced users to edit and customize code directly.

4. Text analysis

Moreover, Copilot isn’t limited to numerical data—it also analyzes text-based information. This expansion helps users transform raw textual data into actionable insights through sentiment analysis, keyword extraction, and summaries. Marketing managers, for example, can use Copilot to quickly review product feedback and identify trends, saving time and driving better decisions.

6. Productivity boost

By means of automation, Python capabilities, and natural language processing, Copilot empowers users to reduce errors, enhance data-driven decision-making, and maximize productivity—all from within Excel’s familiar environment.

7. Integrates with other Microsoft 365 services

Copilot’s full potential is realized through its seamless integration with other Microsoft 365 apps. For example:

• Teams and Outlook: Export and share reports directly through chat or email.
• OneDrive and SharePoint: Store and collaborate on workbooks in the cloud with real-time access and AutoSave functionality.
• PowerPoint: Convert Excel insights into presentations with Copilot-generated summaries, charts, and tables.

By integrating automation, advanced analytics, and natural language input, Copilot in Excel enables users to maximize efficiency, reduce manual effort, and focus on higher-value work. This makes it an indispensable tool for individuals and organizations alike.

Overview of Copilot for Microsoft 365 - new course by Microsoft MVP Deb Ashby

Limitations of Copilot in Excel

While this powerful tool can enhance productivity, it is important to understand its limitations to use it effectively. Below are some key drawbacks users should be aware of, along with practical solutions to overcome them.

1. Limited to existing Excel capabilities

Copilot can only perform tasks that align with Excel’s predefined functionality. Although it automates many processes, it doesn’t introduce entirely new features beyond what Excel already offers. Additionally, Copilot currently lacks access to key tools such as Power Query and Python in Excel. 

2. Cell limit for analysis

Copilot can analyze up to 2 million cells, but larger datasets can slow down its performance. While it can still edit documents or create formulas beyond this limit, processing times may increase significantly, even with smaller files.

3. Challenges with unstructured data

Copilot works best with structured data in Excel tables. It struggles with cell ranges that lack headers or contain mixed data types, blank rows, or subtotals. For optimal performance, data should follow best practices with clear column headers and a consistent data type per column.

4. Risk of inaccurate or suboptimal solutions

As with any AI tool, Copilot may produce suboptimal or even incorrect outputs, and it cannot independently evaluate the accuracy of its results. Occasionally, it may provide misleading answers or misinterpret queries, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as "AI hallucination."

Additionally, since Copilot was trained on predominatly English sources, its results may not work as well where prompts or data are not in English (source: Microsoft).

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Understanding the above limitations will help you navigate Copilot’s capabilities more effectively. By properly preparing data, managing expectations around performance, and validating outputs, you can maximize the tool’s benefits while minimizing drawbacks.

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To sum up

Copilot in Excel offers a powerful way to automate tasks, simplify data analysis, and unlock new insights, saving users valuable time and effort. By leveraging natural language prompts and advanced automation, Copilot streamlines workflows, enabling users to focus on higher-value activities and make more informed decisions. Whether it's generating formulas, applying conditional formatting, or visualizing trends with PivotTables, Copilot transforms how users work with data.

To fully harness the potential of this tool and enhance your productivity, GoSkills offers Copilot for Microsoft 365 training. This comprehensive course equips you with the skills needed to master Copilot and integrate it into your daily tasks, whether you are an individual professional or part of a team. From basic functionalities to advanced data management techniques, the course provides practical, step-by-step guidance tailored to users of all skill levels. Join Microsoft MVP Deb Ashby as she takes you from Copilot basics to brilliance!

Get skilled-up in Copilot

Learn how to use Microsoft's newest sidekick in short, easy-to-understand lessons

Start learning