Summary
It’s the AI age, and most new features we’ll see on the software we use daily will probably be AI features—until the bubble eventually pops, at least. Now, Excel is getting a new Copilot function, and if you use it right, it could be pretty useful.
Microsoft Excel is adding a new Copilot function. I’m sure you know what Copilot is, so you can imagine what this function does. And it’s alsonot the only Copilot-based addition to Excelin recent times. But if you need some explaining, it lets you perform complex data analysis and content generation using simple, natural language prompts within a formula. You just type out the prompt in the formula the same way you would type out a prompt in a chatbot, and Excel will populate one or multiple fields to the best of its ability within the parameters you specified in said formula. Instead of giving you a text output, it will try to follow your instructions to look up and add info to your sheet.
Unlike existing AI add-ins or separate applications, this function is built into Excel’s core calculation engine. This integration means that any AI-generated results will automatically update whenever the source data in the referenced cells changes. The new feature operates like any other Excel formula. All you need to do is enter =COPILOT() into a cell with a series of arguments that define the task. The basic syntax is =COPILOT(prompt_part1, [context1], …), where “prompt_part” is the text instruction for the AI model, and the optional context is a cell or range of cells containing the data to be analyzed—in case you need Copilot to analyze some cells within your sheet, since it can otherwise just pull up stuff from its knowledge base. It can’t search the internet just yet, but it might get this capability in the future.
For instance, a user with a column of customer feedback could use the formula =COPILOT(“Classify the sentiment of this feedback as Positive, Negative, or Neutral”, A2:A100) to automatically analyze and categorize each comment. The function can also be nested within other traditional Excel functions like IF or LAMBDA, letting you put together neat stuff such as financial models and dashboards.
The quality of the output is highly dependent on the clarity of the user’s prompt. Direct action words like “summarize” or “rank” and providing examples within the prompt are recommended for achieving the best results. Of course, it’s AI, and it can make mistakes, so if the output isn’t quite what you’re looking for, you can tweak the prompt until you get the result you want.
This feature is now landing for Beta users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, and it will become available on the web version through the Frontier program as well. It will probably land for folks on the stable branch within the next few weeks or months.
