Microsoft Copilot Is Leveling Up Excel
As Microsoft continues to weave generative AI throughout Microsoft 365, Excel is quickly becoming one of the biggest beneficiaries. While Copilot is known for summarising meetings, drafting emails, and creating documents, its Excel superpowers shine in areas like data analysis, formulas, formatting, and even automation. Computerworld recently highlighted the coolest capabilities Copilot now brings to your spreadsheets — and we’ve broken them down Skynet‑AI style. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
Copilot transforms Excel into an interactive, conversational data assistant — one that can analyse, format, and manipulate your spreadsheets with natural‑language prompts.
1. Create or Fix Formulas From Plain English
Forget hunting through formula lists. Just tell Copilot what you want: “calculate quarterly revenue,” “find duplicate names,” or “show me the percentage difference.” Copilot suggests formulas and explains how they work. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
2. Summarise Your Data Instantly
Copilot can scan your dataset and generate high‑level summaries — trends, outliers, averages, surprising changes — without needing PivotTables or custom formulas. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
3. Ask Natural-Language Questions About Your Sheet
You can ask questions like “Which month had the highest expenses?” or “Which region underperformed?” Copilot analyses your data and gives exact answers. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
4. Create Charts Without Lifting a Finger
Need a bar chart, trend line, or pie chart? Just ask. Copilot not only builds the visual but can label, format, and style it for clarity. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
5. Clean Up Messy Data Faster Than Ever
Copilot can remove duplicates, fix formatting, split/merge columns, spot inconsistencies, and prepare datasets for analysis — a huge time saver if you work with imperfect data. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
6. Build PivotTables From Prompts
Copilot identifies the right fields and generates PivotTables automatically, helping you explore relationships and breakdowns without manual setup. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
7. Style and Format Your Workbook Automatically
Copilot can apply clean formatting, adjust column widths, colour‑code values, add highlights, and make your sheet presentation‑ready — all from a quick instruction. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
8. Explain What’s Going On in Your Spreadsheet
Not sure why numbers changed month to month? Copilot can analyse differences, call out variances, and explain what influenced key movements. Perfect for financial reports. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
9. Clean Up Columns and Text Data
From removing extra spaces to standardising dates or fixing inconsistent labels, Copilot handles tedious cleanup jobs automatically. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
10. Use Agent Mode to Let Copilot Edit Your Sheet Directly
Agent Mode gives Copilot permission to update the grid itself — adding formulas, inserting rows, transforming tables, or executing multi‑step tasks for you. This is where Copilot becomes truly hands‑on. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
11. Execute Multi‑Step Data Workflows
With Agent Mode enabled, you can ask Copilot to perform full workflows like: “Clean this data, build a summary table, highlight anomalies, and create a dashboard.” Copilot plans the sequence and does the work. [1](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4119411/11-cool-things-copilot-can-do-in-excel.html)
Final Thoughts
Copilot is quickly becoming one of Excel’s most powerful features. From formulas to forecasting, cleanup to visualisation, it’s transforming spreadsheets into interactive, intelligent workspaces. Whether you’re a casual user or a data pro, Copilot can save you hours — and make your work sharper and more insightful.