Introduction
I just love Microsoft Excel, don’t you? It’s one of my favourite applications in Microsoft 365.
So versatile, such a powerful tool for organising, sorting and analysing data. Where would we be without it?
Excel is brilliant for creating databases, managing financial spreadsheets and taking the headache out of calculations, however complex. I love how you can play with formulas, customise worksheets, and generate graphs and charts.
Today’s Excel has the extra advantage of AI-driven support from Copilot, which is integrated into the application. It’s a smart time-saving tool but Assistants and other professionals still need to know Excel basics to avoid getting into a bit of a pickle with AI.
It’s the constant theme of this and other articles in my Empowering Productivity series.
How Does Copilot in Microsoft Excel Empower Productivity?
Copilot is an AI-powered assistant integrated into all Microsoft 365 applications. In the Excel application, it can help you deal with data more efficiently.
If you understand the essentials of Microsoft Excel it is easier to know when and where to best use Copilot.
Being mindful of sustainability and how AI is a high user of energy, here are some of the ways you can ask Copilot to help in Excel.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
Think about how you use Excel at the moment. Are there tasks that come up regularly – daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly, for example?
If the answer is yes, it’s almost certain that Copilot can assist, make your life easier and save you time. Highlight the task and ask Copilot to automate it (using macros).
Think about automating the task of formatting of cells, sorting data or generating reports, for example.
Formatting Cells and Data
For professional-looking spreadsheets, Copilot is your best buddy. It can help you to adjust font styles and sizes, apply conditional formatting and ensure data is presented with clarity.
Create and Customise Tables
Tables are a smart way to manage and organise data in Excel – and Copilot helps you create and customise good ones.
Copilot can pull in data from different sources: the web, files in SharePoint or OneDrive (e.g. Word docs, Excel files, PowerPoint slides and PDFs), emails or meetings notes, for example.
Tell Copilot the data you need and where to find it. It will find the data. You can then insert that data into a new sheet in your workbook (or copy it into the sheet you’re working on).
Let’s say you have a list of products priced in pounds and want to know what the equivalent is in other currencies. You can ask Copilot in Excel to find a list of exchange rates and ask it to apply those to the price list for comparison. Job done!
Manage and Organise Data (Highlight, Sort and Filter)
Excel is brilliant for working with data. Use copilot to bring focus to what’s most important to you in any table or worksheet.
Prompts like “What is the top selling item in the list”, or “Sort engagement rate from highest to lowest” or “Sort Items in the list from highest to lowest” Copilot will tell you what to do and then ask you if you would like to apply the sort. If you say yes, job done!.
Generate Formulas Faster
If writing formulas in Excel leaves you flummoxed or frustrated, Copilot can do the heavy lifting for you. Let it create new columns or rows that do calculations based on the data in a table or section of your worksheet.
For example, prompt Copilot to create a column that works the profit margin on items in a list and have it add the column to the table. Then get it to add a column showing the values in currency alongside the percentages. It saves you having to manually enter calculations for each row or column.
Copilot is also an education tool. It can help you to understand what each formula is used for and what it can do with your data.
Create Smart Visuals from Worksheet Data
Numerous rows and columns of numbers can be hard work on the eye, and make it more difficult to see the wood for the trees. The savvy Assistant turns to Copilot to create visuals, such as graphs or bar charts, from given data.
Sample prompts could be:
- “Create a bar graph showing the sales growth between Q2 and Q3”
- “Bold the top 3 values in the profit column”
- “Add a new column showing the percentage difference between column A and column C.”
With Excel’s AI-assistance, you can also take an image or chart and ask Copilot to give you more information about it – provide a data insight or turn it into a table, for example.
Gain Insights on Your Data (Numbers and Text)
Ask Copilot to analyse data and give you insights. It loves analysing data and can deliver these insights as a chart, PivotTable, summary, a highlight of trends or list of outliers.
If you’re using Excel to carry text-laden data, such as survey results or reviews, you can use AI-powered Text Insights to unlock valuable insights, patterns or themes.
For example, you could prompt Copilot to: “Review the customer feedback on this sheet and identify the main themes”
Collaboration with Data
From the above examples, you’ve seen how Copilot can assist you in your lone work. But it can also help with collaborative work.
If you are collaborating with a team on a project document, you can prompt Copilot for input in real-time. And ask it to share its suggestions ‘live’ with other team members. It’s like having an extra member of the team to support discussion and decision-making.
Why Knowing the Essentials of Microsoft Excel Remains Important Today
You might be forgiven, having seen how much Copilot can take care of, for thinking you can put your feet up and leave all your Excel worries to AI.
However, that’s not the case.
Copilot is not the ‘silver bullet’ for data management and organisation. It is really good, don’t get me wrong. But it cannot do everything for you. You still need to know what you’re doing for it to give you the best assistance.
With Excel, you still have to get the fundamentals right. You need to know how to build a spreadsheet properly so that Copilot can analyse and work with it effectively. You still need to ensure the data being used (or being pulled in) is accurate.
You still need to double (and triple) check your work because you cannot afford to get the numbers wrong. And you still need to be able to troubleshoot.
Make sure you are up to speed with your Excel knowledge and all things Microsoft 365. Ensure you invest some time and support with Copilot. Get help from an experienced Microsoft application trainer to fill in any knowledge ‘gaps’ or pick up skills which will save you time over and over again in the future.
In this series of articles, I’ve already covered how to empower productivity with Copilot in Microsoft Word Today it was a focus on Excel.
Next up it’s the turn of how Copilot assists you in PowerPoint.
Until the next time
Cohort 2 is here!
After the amazing success of our very first Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot course, I’m so excited to open the doors again.
The feedback from Cohort 1 was incredible—people loved how practical and hands-on the sessions were, and many said they felt more confident and productive straight away.
If you missed out last time, now’s your chance to join us, learn how to make Copilot work for you, and be part of a friendly, supportive group that’s all about getting results.
This course will teach you how to leverage AI tools like Copilot to enhance productivity and efficiency in your daily tasks.
Don’t miss out—sign up today and stay ahead of the curve!
Visit the Course Page Now!