Writing formulas in Excel could be time-consuming and difficult - even for experienced users. Selecting the right function, referencing the correct cells, and ensuring the syntax is accurate can slow down your workflow and lead to mistakes. Many users spend extra time searching for explanations and examples, troubleshooting errors, or trying to remember the exact formula structure.
Formula completion in Excel is a new Copilot feature that is designed to solve these challenges. Powered by state-of-the-art AI models, formula completion proactively suggests and autocompletes formulas as soon as you type “=”. With formula completion you can create accurate formulas faster and with greater confidence, letting you focus on your data and insights instead of formula syntax.
How it works
When you type “=” in a cell, Excel analyzes the context of your workbook and suggests a formula completion suggestion, using the context of your worksheet - headers, nearby cells, formulas and tables. Alongside the suggestion you will see a preview of the result, as well as a short description in natural language of the formula’s intent:
In addition to providing suggestions for “=”, formula completion updates its suggestions in real time as more characters are entered (for example, “=M...”) until an appropriate match is found:
What can formula completion do?
Formula completion can suggest formulas of varying complexity for different data structures.
Need to calculate the Year over Year change in % for the latest financial statements? No problem:
Need help calculating the profit for each transaction, even if some of the required information is in a different range or table? Formula completion can do it for you:
Note: Currently, formula completion does not provide suggestions for formulas that reference other worksheets. Support for this feature may be included in future updates.
Struggling with remembering the right syntax for a REGEX that can help you extract ZIP codes? Easy as cake:
You can even get formula completion to help you with tasks that require dynamic array formulas:
Tips for getting the best formula completion suggestion
Here are some guidelines and tips for getting the best formula completion suggestion:
- If you type “=” and nothing appears right away, just wait a few seconds - Copilot’s suggestions may take a moment to load. It’s worth the wait! As Copilot generates the formula, a progress indicator will be displayed along the lower border of the cell:
- Formula completion works best when there are clear labels/headers that help clarify the required context. Adding descriptive labels in the header or nearby cell greatly assists the process:
- Struggling to find the correct formula? Try refining the context and include additional details in adjacent cells or headers for better results:
- Feeling that "=" doesn’t give you the expected formula? Begin typing additional characters, and formula completion will offer suggestions that correspond to your input:
Availability
At the time of this article, formula completion is rolling out for Copilot users on Excel Web for US-English only. Formula completion for Excel Desktop, as well as additional language support, will be available in a future release.
Note: Formula completion is still in its early days, so what’s available may change as we continue to improve the experience.
Opting out of formula completion suggestions
If you’d rather not see formula completion suggestions in Excel, an easy opt-out option will be available soon. You’ll be able to turn off suggestions for your current session whenever you like.
Feedback
We appreciate your insights regarding formula completion:
- Do you consider it beneficial for your work?
- Does it integrate effectively into your workflow?
- Are there any capabilities you feel are lacking that you would like to see implemented?
You can share your feedback with us via “Give Feedback”:
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