What Can Copilot Do in Excel?

Microsoft 365 Copilot brings AI assistance directly into Excel, and it is one of the Copilot integrations that actually changes how you work rather than just adding a chatbot to the interface. For anyone who spends significant time building reports, analyzing data, or working with complex spreadsheets, Copilot in Excel can genuinely save hours. Here is a practical breakdown of what it can do and how to use it effectively, including the newest capabilities added in early 2026.

Who Can Access Copilot in Excel?

Copilot in Excel requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. It is not included in standard Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscriptions. If you have the Copilot license, Copilot appears as a button on the Home tab in the Excel ribbon.

Previously, most Copilot features in Excel required your data to be formatted as an Excel Table and saved to OneDrive or SharePoint. That requirement has been relaxed significantly. Copilot now works with locally stored workbooks on Windows and Mac, and supports both Table and non-Table formats for many features. If you were avoiding Copilot in Excel because of the Table requirement, it is worth revisiting.

Agent Mode: The Biggest New Addition

Agent Mode is the most significant change to Copilot in Excel in 2026. Rather than responding to a single prompt and waiting for you to continue, Agent Mode works alongside you to make multi-step edits to your spreadsheet, reasoning through the changes as it goes.

In practical terms, this means you can give Copilot a more complex goal and it will take several actions in sequence to achieve it, rather than needing you to guide each step. For example: "Clean up this dataset, remove duplicates, standardize the date format, and add a summary row at the bottom" is the kind of multi-step task Agent Mode can handle in one go.

To use Agent Mode, open Copilot from the ribbon, look for the Agent mode option in the Copilot panel, and describe your task. Copilot will show its reasoning as it works through the steps, so you can see what it is doing and stop it if it goes in the wrong direction.

Work IQ: Context from Across Your Microsoft 365 Data

Work IQ is a feature that automatically brings in relevant context from your emails, meetings, Teams chats, and other files when you are working in Excel. Instead of having to manually reference or upload supporting documents, Copilot can draw on that broader context to make more informed edits.

For example, if you ask Copilot to update a budget spreadsheet based on recent decisions, Work IQ can pull context from recent emails or meeting notes about those decisions without you needing to copy and paste anything. This works best when you have a Copilot license and your Microsoft 365 data is properly indexed.

Automating Complex Data Tasks

One of the most immediately useful things Copilot can do is handle data manipulation tasks that would otherwise require several steps or advanced formula knowledge. You describe what you want in plain English, and Copilot handles the mechanics.

For example, if you have a sales dataset, you can type "Remove duplicate rows based on the Order ID column" and Copilot will identify and remove them. Or "Add a column that shows the percentage of total revenue for each row" and Copilot will write the formula and apply it.

Other automation tasks Copilot handles well: sorting by multiple columns with specific priority, filtering for rows that meet complex criteria, flagging outliers in a dataset, cleaning up inconsistent text formatting, and splitting concatenated data into separate columns.

Data Analysis and Insights

You can ask Copilot questions about your data the same way you might ask a colleague who knows the spreadsheet well. Copilot reads the data and provides answers, summaries, or visualizations.

For example: "What are the top five products by total revenue this quarter?" or "Which sales reps are below their quota?" or "Is there a trend in customer complaints by region?" Copilot reads the underlying data, runs the analysis, and presents the results in a readable format, often with a chart or table alongside the explanation.

This is particularly useful for periodic reports where you need the same analysis run on updated data each month. Ask Copilot the same questions after refreshing the data and it recalculates from scratch.

Generating and Explaining Formulas

Copilot is excellent at writing Excel formulas based on a plain-language description. This is one of its most broadly useful capabilities because formula knowledge has always been a barrier for casual Excel users.

Describe what calculation you need and Copilot writes the formula. "Calculate the compound annual growth rate between 2020 and 2024 using these revenue figures." "Create a formula that returns Overdue if the due date is in the past and the task is not marked complete." "Write a VLOOKUP that matches employee IDs from this sheet against the HR data on Sheet2."

Beyond writing formulas, Copilot can explain formulas you already have. Click on a cell with a complex formula you inherited or do not fully understand, open Copilot, and ask "Explain what this formula does." Copilot walks through the logic step by step in plain language, which is useful for learning and for documenting what a spreadsheet does.

Creating Charts and Visualizations

Copilot can suggest and create charts directly from your data. Describe what you want to visualize and Copilot generates the chart and inserts it. "Create a bar chart comparing Q1, Q2, and Q3 sales by region." "Show me a trend line for monthly revenue over the past 12 months." "Generate a pie chart showing the revenue split by product category."

It can also suggest chart types based on the shape of your data if you are not sure what visualization would communicate the information most clearly.

The Model Selector in Excel

If you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium license or an enterprise Copilot license, you may have access to the model selector within Excel. This lets you choose which AI model powers your Copilot session in Excel, including options beyond the default GPT-5 model. Anthropic's Claude Opus is available as an option in some configurations.

For most users, the default model handles all Excel tasks well. The model selector is most relevant if you are doing unusually complex analytical work and want to experiment with different model strengths.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Copilot in Excel

• Format your data as a Table when possible. While Copilot now works with plain ranges for many tasks, Table format still unlocks the full feature set and gives Copilot clearer structure to work with.
• Be specific about what column or range you want Copilot to work on. "Analyze the Revenue column" is better than "analyze the data."
• For Agent Mode tasks, describe the end state you want rather than the steps. Let Copilot figure out the sequence.
• Review Agent Mode changes before accepting. Copilot shows its work so you can verify each step before it is finalized.
• Use the Explain formula feature as a learning tool. Over time it is a practical way to build formula knowledge while getting work done.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Copilot in Excel work with locally saved files now?

Yes. As of 2026, Copilot in Excel supports locally stored workbooks on both Windows and Mac. The previous requirement to save files to OneDrive or SharePoint has been removed for most features. You should still use OneDrive or SharePoint for files you want to share or co-author, but Copilot will work with local files for solo work.

Do I still need to convert my data to a Table?

For many Copilot features, no. Copilot can now work with plain data ranges for analysis, charting, and some formula tasks. However, Table format still gives Copilot the clearest structure to work with and enables the full feature set including Agent Mode. If your data is in a plain range and Copilot seems limited, try converting to a Table.

What is the difference between Copilot in Excel and regular Excel formulas?

Copilot does not replace formulas. It helps you write, apply, and understand them. The formulas it generates are standard Excel formulas that you can see, edit, and maintain. Copilot is an assistant that speeds up the formula-writing process, not a black box that replaces it.

Can Copilot in Excel access data from other files?

Copilot in Excel works with the data in the current workbook. It does not automatically pull in data from other Excel files. If you need to analyze data from multiple sources, consolidate it into one workbook first. Work IQ can bring in context from emails and meetings, but not from other spreadsheets directly.

Final Thoughts

Copilot in Excel has matured significantly since it first launched. Agent Mode, local file support, and Work IQ context make it substantially more useful than the early version, and the formula writing and data analysis capabilities were already strong from the start. If you have a Copilot license and have not seriously explored what it can do in Excel, it is worth an hour of experimentation. Throw your most tedious regular spreadsheet task at it and see how far it gets.

For detailed info, check out Microsoft’s official documentation for Copilot in Excel.