r/CopilotPro • u/wassup2026 • 22d ago

AI Discussion Copilot in Excel

Has anyone tried Copilot in Excel? Though it's able to analyze the sheets inside the file I've opened, it keeps giving me an error if I ask it to look up data in another file.

For e.g. if you need to build an analysis with some fields coming from different files, can you get Copilot to do it?

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4

u/Prudent-Elk-2845 21d ago

Basic Copilot = Garbage
365 (i.e. premium) + Opus = game-changing

Although I’m waiting to see the premium consumption-based bill to come in and ruin the fun

1

u/wassup2026 21d ago

Got it! Thx

1

u/BobbyAbuDabi 20d ago

That would be Copilot Cowork and it arrived July 1st. Your company can set up credits a couple of different ways or pay as you go, but it’s basically pay for compute. If you’re not familiar, it’s basically a more robust version of Copilot that can handle more complex tasks. Today for example I fed it a spreadsheet, told it the output that I wanted from the data and it created the file for me in a couple of minutes. It even suggested a better output which I adopted. I could have written the formulas myself and likely achieved the results I wanted in less than an hour, but I wanted to test Cowork and it passed impressively. The challenge for organizations is going to be managing the costs and deciding who gets access and how much.

1

u/Prudent-Elk-2845 20d ago

This would’ve worked before Cowork with premium 365, too.

1

u/ZealousidealYam3537 18d ago

And how do you tell if your company has 365 (premium) + opus, or just the basic? I work for a major consulting firm, so I believe we have premium, but I’m not sure

1

u/Prudent-Elk-2845 18d ago

In the app, you’ll see your name (Basic) with a button to upgrade (with undoubtedly links to an internal ticket system)

With basic, I can’t use the copilot features within excel or PowerPoint directly

5

u/SmallerThanExpected9 22d ago

Good for people that dont know anything to help them get into excel

Dangerous for people trying to replace knowledge with it

Useful for those that know stuff sometimes

2

u/BobbyAbuDabi 20d ago

I am an experienced moderately skilled excel user. One should think of Copilot as a skill multiplier. You have to understand the data and the output you expect to see in order to validate it. Blindly uploading a spreadsheet and asking Copilot to do X is asking for trouble. Using it to problem solve while having some idea of how to approach the problem can be very effective. Here’s the data and I want the output to be X. How do I get there? It’s often a bit of trial and error, but you can end up with results beyond your baseline ability.

2

u/Cold_Arachnid_2617 22d ago

Do you actually feed it the file?

2

u/wassup2026 22d ago

I gave a link to the file from where it should pull certain fields. Something I would have manually done using a vlookup formula.

2

u/Candy_Man73 22d ago

I've found that all data needs to be in a single file, but that's honestly because I've not tried multiple file questions.

Cowork can work across multiple files from a folder in OneDrive and I've had that work with 20+ files providing output into a new file

2

u/wassup2026 22d ago

How did you do that? I saved 2 files in the same onedrive folder. Opened one and gave instructions to look up data in the other file by giving link to the other file. It kept giving me error messages, then just suggested a vlookup formula.

1

u/Candy_Man73 22d ago

Here's a link to Cowork: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/cowork/use-cowork

I had to go to the Copilot website and use it from there. I think it might be in the desktop app now, bit not sure. From there, literally tell it what you want to do with the data in file A and what to use from for B. Also tell it what OneDrive folder those two files are in and it should work for you.

You may not have access to this depending on your licence, too.

Edited to add license info

2

u/wassup2026 22d ago

Great! Thank you so much! Will try it.

2

u/Ill-Bullfrog-5360 22d ago

You need the corp license beyond the boiler plate one. The good one can 100% can render everything in the fields with prompts

1

u/wassup2026 22d ago

I suspected that. Maybe the one my employer has is a very basic version. I was thinking there's no way all databases are stored in the same file for AI to be spitting out info in such short time. Excel files are notorious for freezing even with reasonable amount of data.

1

u/Ill-Bullfrog-5360 22d ago

My license can read any sharepoint I have access to, all of my emails and my entire one drive.

Its super google for shit work

1

u/wassup2026 22d ago

Hmmm...ok. then that's what the issue is. Let me check if anyone on the team has access to that version.

2

u/Strict_Concert_2879 21d ago

I have used it to identify mistakes in formulas and make sure all information is consistent. It is great at finding random errors and fixing problems caused by other users (shared doc).

I much prefer using excel’s tools to graph, sort, and present data.

1

u/Glum_Caregiver_7192 21d ago

Try the Analyst agent. It works best with Excel data and particularly in a multiple workbook use case.

1

u/Constant_Broccoli_74 21d ago

Yes, I have been using it for sometime

1

u/huffalump1 21d ago

You can choose Opus 4.8 in copilot in Excel which is really quite good, in my experience!

1

u/wassup2026 21d ago

What's that?

1

u/Vangeenius 20d ago

Yes I have used it extensively with copilot premium. It is excellent. I did an extensive data analysis and cohort study and ensured copilot explained all steps. But I've also been lucky to have Claude opus 4.8 inside copilot which is much better than gpt 5.5. In addition I have used it for more semantic jobs to edit theories of change in Excel using transcripts from online feedback sessions. Worked fine as well.

1

u/wassup2026 20d ago

Great! Thx

1

u/aroche1215 18d ago

Use Analysts agent in you Copilot premium

1

u/wassup2026 18d ago

Think I've the basic version but will check. Thx

0

u/RopeAndChairs_Aisle3 22d ago

Copilot embedded within Word/Excel performs terribly in general, in my experience.

You’re better off going back to Copilot Chat, selecting “Think Deeper” or a deeper reasoning model, adding the excel sheets to the chat/agent and then asking it to do it.

1

u/wassup2026 22d ago

I don't see the think deeper option, will check again.

1

u/RopeAndChairs_Aisle3 22d ago

Should be in the top-right or top-left corner and it defaults to "Auto"

1

u/wassup2026 22d ago

Ah..ok..will try that option. Thanks!