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At $20 per month, Microsoft’s Copilot Pro integrates with Microsoft 365 to bring its AI-powered abilities to different apps in the suite. People who use Excel can use Copilot Pro to convert data into a table, create formulas, analyze data, sort and filter information, generate charts, and more. Here’s how this approach works.
First, you’ll need a subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal or Family. Priced at $70 per year, the Personal edition is geared for one person using as many as five devices. At $100 per year, the Family edition is designed for up to six people on as many as five devices. The core apps in the suite include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
Also: How to use Copilot (formerly called Bing Chat)
Second, you’ll need a subscription to Copilot Pro if you don’t already have one. To sign up, head to the Copilot Pro website. Click the Get Copilot Pro button. Confirm the subscription and the payment. The Pro version will take effect next time you use Copilot on the website, in Windows, or with the mobile apps.
Third, to use Copilot in Excel, you must meet certain conditions. Your Excel files must be saved in the .xlsx or .xslm format, while the data must be formatted as an Excel table (I’ll show you how to do that). Also, you can’t work with local files; your spreadsheets must be stored in OneDrive or Microsoft 365 SharePoint, and AutoSave has to be enabled.
How to use Copilot Pro AI for Excel
Launch Excel and open an existing sheet with data to analyze. To open a file stored online, click the File menu, select Open, and choose OneDrive or SharePoint. Browse through the folders and files containing your spreadsheets and select the one you want to use.
Also: How to use Copilot Pro to write, edit, and analyze your Word documents
Alternatively, create or open a local file. To save it online, click the File menu, select Save as, and then save it to a folder in OneDrive or SharePoint.
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Next, enable AutoSave if it’s not already turned on. Click the File menu and choose Options. From the Options window, select Save and then check the box for AutoSave files stored in the Cloud by default in Excel. While there, ensure the file format points to .xlsx if it’s a regular Excel spreadsheet. Click OK to close the Options window.
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For Copilot to work with your data, you must convert it into a table. Select all the cells you want to include and click the Copilot button on the Ribbon. A message might appear and ask if you want to convert this data range to a table. Click the Convert button and the data is formatted into a table with a header row at the top.
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After converting the cells into a formatted table, Copilot displays its sidebar on the right and suggests several requests at the top. Let’s say you have a table with numbers in each cell and want to add a column to total the numbers in each row. Select the suggestion for Add formula columns. At the prompt, describe your request. For example, you might type: “Add the numbers in each row and create a column to show the totals.”
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In response, Copilot creates the formula. Review the formula to make sure it looks right. If so, hover over the button for Insert column to preview the column and then click Insert column to add it to the sheet:
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
Next, you might want to apply a specific format to cells that meet certain criteria. Click the suggestion for Highlight. Let’s say you want to bold all cells containing a certain value. You might type: “Bold all cells with a value between $94 and $96.” Enter that text at the prompt and then submit your request.
Also: 5 ways college students can use Copilot for Microsoft 365
Copilot carries out your action with an explanation of what it did. If your request was carried out successfully, great. If not, you can click the Undo button and try again.
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You can ask Copilot to sort the data a certain way. Maybe you want to sort the values in a certain column in descending order? At the prompt, type: “Sort the data in column A in descending order.” Copilot carries out your request.
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Next, you might want to see only certain data in the table, which you can do by filtering. At the prompt, type something like: “Show items in column E with values of $40 or higher.” Copilot filters the table to show only the values that meet your criteria.
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Finally, you’re able to analyze the data. Click the Analyze button on the Ribbon. Scroll down the sidebar to view different insights already offered by Copilot.
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Click one of the suggested requests or enter one of your own. For example, you can ask Copilot to provide insights into particular data. Depending on the data, you can also insert a pivot table or chart to visualize specific values and information:
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET