Over the past few months, we have seen how generative and natural language AI, like ChatGPT, has helped improve our productivity. So it was no surprise when Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot to its workplace.

However, Copilot differs from other AI products because it is directly integrated into all Office applications in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This new AI-powered assistant is designed to change how we schedule meetings and create documents and spreadsheets.

What Is Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a next-generation AI assistant integrated into Microsoft 365. This assistant will work with our emails and every Office 365 application.

According to the Microsoft press release, Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s GPT4, a generative pre-trained multi-modal large language model (LLM) created by OpenAI. Copilot also uses your data in Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps to help you be more productive.

So, how exactly does Copilot help you In Excel?

How Can Microsoft 365 Copilot Help Me in Excel?

Depending on the Microsoft 365 product, Copilot can improve productivity significantly.

Microsoft Excel, as you probably know, stores and performs calculations using Excel functions and Excel’s inbuilt data tools like Power Query. You can also build financial models and present this data in charts and graphs.

Microsoft Copilot in Excel is a spreadsheet assistant on steroids:

• Formula suggestions using Copilot will make it easier for beginners and advanced users to write complex functions.
• Formula debugging with Copilot will help with complex formulas rather than taking a chunk of your time figuring out what went wrong.
• Formatting assistance using Copilot will help you format your data by suggesting different font styles, colors, and data types matching your spreadsheet’s data.
• Data analysis using Copilot will give you get relevant charts suggestions for visualizing data
• Insights by Copilot will provide tips and suggestions based on the data present in the spreadsheet.
• Natural language queries with Copilot will allow you to ask relevant business questions like “What should be the projected revenue in Q3?”.
• Copilot will clean your unstructured, dirty data with Power Query faster if you provide it an objective.

How to Use Copilot in Excel?

You can activate Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel by clicking the “Copilot” icon in the toolbar of your spreadsheet application.

It is important to know that Copilot is currently only available to Microsoft Office Insiders. This is one of the many reasons you should join the Microsoft Office Insiders program users. However, it will soon be available to every Microsoft 365 user. So no action is needed from you as long as you have a valid Microsoft 365 subscription.

Copilot Your Excel Tasks

Copilot in Excel 365 is exciting because it will revolutionize how you work with your data in Excel. This feature will enable you to clean your data, get insights, create visualizations, and build financial models in minutes, all with the click of a button.

You can use Copilot in many other applications within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and get more productive at work.