How to get started with Copilot

Hi everyone! We wanted to share some examples of how you can start using Copilot today while remaining in your workflow, and some improvements we’ve made to make it easier. For more information on how to take advantage of the capabilities of Copilot in Excel, check out the Get Started guide at http://aka.ms/Copilot/ExcelGetStarted

Using Copilot to get work done

Copilot can help you with many of the most common tasks that you perform in Excel, and even some of the less common ones. These can include help with creating charts, setting up conditional formatting rules, fixing a broken formula, or finding insights in your data. But we understand that it can sometimes be hard to know how to get started. To make things easier, here are some suggested prompts you can use to have Copilot look at your data and give suggestions for how these capabilities might be useful for you.

1. Adding formula columns

A common task in Excel while working with tabular data is to add a new column with formulas to transform the data in some way. If you want some ideas on what columns might be useful, use the prompt “Suggest a formula column”. If you like the suggestion, you can select the Insert Column button to add the column to your table

Copilot suggesting a formula column based on the user's data

2. Using conditional formatting

Conditional formatting is one of Excel’s most powerful yet underutilized tools for quickly identifying key information in a large data set, such as automatically adding color to cells containing a certain value. But unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, it can be tricky to determine what specific data is worth highlighting. With the prompt “Suggest conditional formatting”, Copilot can look at your data and recommend a few options to select from. And if you don’t like the formatting you’ve just applied, just click Undo and ask for more suggestions.

Copilot suggesting conditional formatting options based on the user's data

3. Creating PivotTables or Charts

Excel is the default data analysis tool for millions of users around the world. Two common ways to start analyzing data are by creating a chart or putting the data into a PivotTable. Fortunately, Copilot makes both these tasks extremely easy. Ask Copilot to “Summarize using a PivotTable” or “Summarize using Charts” to get started. You can even combine them into a single prompt, “Summarize using a PivotTable or Charts” and let Copilot decide. If you like the result, select the option to add it to a new sheet in your workbook.

Copilot suggesting a PivotTable based on the user's data

4. Explaining formulas

The next time you see a formula you don’t understand, just ask Copilot to explain it to you. Start your prompt with “Explain this formula: ” and type in or paste the formula in question. You’ll receive a detailed explanation of each step, so you’ll understand what’s happening and why.

 

Copilot explaining a formula

5. Using Python to perform an advanced analysis of your data

Thanks to Copilot, you can use the power of Python to perform more complex data analyses without actually needing any Python expertise. Just use the prompt “Get deeper analysis results using Python” and select the button to start Advanced Analysis mode. After looking at your data, Copilot will identify a number of analyses it can perform, generate the necessary Python code, and add the results to a new sheet in your workbook.

Get to Copilot faster

To help you use these and more prompts more easily, we’ve added a new Copilot button that lets you access Copilot from anywhere on the grid, so that you can stay in your flow. This button will appear next to your cell selection, and can be activated at anytime to see a list of suggestions, including the ones mentioned above. Selecting any of these options will open the Copilot side pane and automatically run that prompt as if you had typed it manually. And if you don’t need the Copilot icon, you can hide it until the file is reopened:

 

List of options when cell has a valid formula

Note: Depending on whether the selected cell has a valid formula or a formula error, you will see the corresponding option appear in the menu.

 

List of options when cell has a formula error

Coming Soon

We are adding a setting that will give you more control over when the Copilot icon is visible, and this should be available in the coming weeks. Here’s a sneak peek at how it will look (final design might change slightly):

Option to have Copilot icon show when highly relevant suggestions are available

Availability

Access to Copilot on the grid is gradually rolling out to consumer and business users, both in Excel for Windows (Build 16.0.18324.20000 or later) and Excel for the web.

Feedback

Please send your feedback to help us improve Copilot. The best way to do this is to select the Thumbs Up/Down buttons at the bottom of the Copilot response cards in the Copilot side pane.

Thumbs Up/Down buttons to provide Copilot feedback