AI in Excel now centres on Copilot, alongside tools such as Analyze Data and Python in Excel. Many Microsoft 365 business subscriptions include Copilot Chat in Excel without the paid add-on, although your tenant settings decide whether it appears. The add-on lets Copilot edit the workbook for you. It also adds priority access and automatic grounding in your organisation’s data. Whichever you have, the workbook’s structure sets the quality of the answers.
Table of Contents
Which AI features does Excel have built in?
Four features do most of what people call AI in Excel. Copilot works in a side pane and, on the paid add-on, edits the workbook. Analyze Data answers plain-English questions about a table. Flash Fill copies a pattern you type. Python in Excel runs analysis inside a cell. A fifth, the COPILOT function, was retired on 14 September 2026.
Workbooks that used the retired COPILOT function need a clean-up. The function was only ever a preview, offered through the Frontier and Microsoft 365 Insider programmes, according to Microsoft’s COPILOT function page. Rebuild any result you still need with an ordinary formula or a Copilot prompt you re-run each time the data changes.
Analyze Data is older and easy to overlook. It is available to Microsoft 365 subscribers and answers natural-language questions with visuals such as charts or PivotTables you can insert, as Microsoft’s Analyze Data guide explains. Its tips ask for a table without double header rows or merged cells.
Python in Excel sits at the heavy end. The version included with a Microsoft 365 subscription runs on standard compute, according to Microsoft’s Python in Excel licensing FAQ. The paid Python in Excel add-on buys premium compute and manual or partial calculation. Our Python in Excel guide covers how to turn it on and what it cannot do.
Excel is one of several Microsoft 365 apps with AI inside it. Our AI for business guide maps the others and where each one earns its place.
Is Copilot in Excel free without a Microsoft Copilot licence?
Often it is, in a limited form. Microsoft’s Copilot in Excel FAQ counts a business or enterprise subscription eligible for Copilot Chat as one route to Copilot in Excel. Without the paid add-on, the M365 Copilot (Basic) label means standard access to Copilot in Excel. The add-on adds editing, priority access, automatic organisational grounding and model choice.
Microsoft shows which version you have with one of three labels inside Excel and the Copilot app, described in Microsoft’s overview of Copilot. Microsoft has since renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot to Microsoft Copilot, but the labels in its Excel FAQ keep the old name.
In Excel the line that matters most is editing. Microsoft’s Copilot service description lists Copilot Chat in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for both M365 Copilot (Basic) and M365 Copilot (Premium) users. Edit with Copilot, the feature that changes the workbook for you, needs the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.
The table below compares what each label gives you in Excel, using Microsoft’s own descriptions.
| What you get in Excel | Copilot Chat (Basic) | M365 Copilot (Basic) | M365 Copilot (Premium) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot in Excel | Not included | Copilot Chat in Excel, with standard access | The full experience, with priority access |
| What Microsoft lists for Excel | Nothing in the app | Analyse data, generate insights, create formulas and visuals | Everything in Basic plus deeper integration across Microsoft 365 |
| Edit with Copilot (formerly Agent Mode) | No | No | Yes |
| At times of high demand | Not applicable | Access can be temporarily restricted | Designed for faster responses and more consistent availability |
| Your other files and email | Not applicable | Only files you upload with a prompt or reach through a pay-as-you-go agent | Drawn in automatically through Microsoft Graph |
| Choosing Claude or GPT models | No | No | Yes. Claude is on by default for most tenants outside the EU, EFTA and UK |
| Cost on top of Microsoft 365 | None | None | A per-user add-on licence |
Check the label before buying anything. Copilot Chat (Basic) means your plan or your organisation’s settings keep Copilot out of Excel altogether.
Standard access has a catch worth pricing in. In periods of high demand it may be temporarily restricted, according to Microsoft’s note on standard and priority access. A finance team that builds month-end reporting around Copilot should know the tool can slow down on the day it is needed most. Our Copilot Chat vs Microsoft 365 Copilot comparison works through who on a team needs the paid add-on.
What is Agent Mode in Excel and how do you get it?
Agent Mode is the old name for Edit with Copilot, which lets Copilot change a workbook directly by working through a multi-step task. Microsoft announced it as generally available on Excel for the web on 9 December 2025. Microsoft’s service description puts it behind the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.
The Agent Mode announcement from Microsoft also opened it to Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers, a plan for individuals rather than Microsoft 365 Business Premium. By 10 March 2026 Microsoft’s Copilot release notes listed the feature as Edit with Copilot in Excel, formerly Agent Mode.
To use it, open Copilot from the icon in the lower-right corner of Excel. Microsoft’s Get started with Copilot in Excel guide says Copilot opens in edit mode by default. If the pane is set to chat or plan, switch it to Allow editing, then describe the task in your own words.
Three modes are set out in Microsoft’s Copilot in Excel FAQ:
- Edit mode changes the workbook directly from your request. Microsoft describes this in-workbook experience as best for complex, multi-step tasks that go beyond a simple formula or a single PivotTable.
- Plan mode comes up with a plan before Copilot edits the workbook.
- Chat mode keeps Copilot’s responses contained within the chat. You apply anything it suggests yourself.
Without the paid add-on, shown as M365 Copilot (Basic), expect chat only.
Work on a copy of any workbook someone else relies on. Microsoft’s AutoSave guide recommends File > Save a Copy before you make changes, since AutoSave is on by default for files in OneDrive and SharePoint Online and saves every few seconds. Copilot’s saved changes are visible to anyone with access to the file, co-authors included. Undo and version history are the way back.
One setting trips people up. Copilot editing only works when Calculation Options are set to Automatic. Some large workbooks sit on Manual, or on Automatic except for data tables, to stay responsive. Switching to Automatic in desktop Excel applies to every workbook you have open, so close the others first and expect a full recalculation.
How do you use AI in Excel for data analysis and formulas?
Describe the result you want and name the range. Say what Copilot must leave alone. Start with jobs where a wrong answer is easy to spot: cleaning an export, drafting a formula you can test or sorting free text into themes. Check each result against the source before anyone relies on it.
Among Australian small and medium businesses using or planning to use AI, data analysis is one of the two most common uses. The National AI Centre’s AI adoption insights, first published on 7 May 2026, put data analytics at 54% of that group, level with content generation. The figures come from the SME AI Pulse survey for December 2025 to February 2026.
The table below pairs everyday Excel jobs with a prompt to try and the check that should follow it. In chat mode Copilot suggests the change and you apply it. In edit mode it makes the change.
| Job | Prompt to try | Check before you use it |
|---|---|---|
| Clean an export from your accounting system | Trim spaces in the Customer column, convert the Invoice Date column to dates and the Amount column to numbers. Change nothing else. | Row count and Amount total match the export. Compare a date on or before the 12th with the source file, to catch swapped days and months |
| Draft a margin formula | Add a Margin % column to the Sales table that divides (Sell minus Cost) by Sell and returns a blank when Sell is zero. Change nothing else. | Test blanks, zeros and negative costs. Confirm Sell and Cost are both ex-GST |
| Sort comments into themes | Classify each comment in B2:B200 by theme and by sentiment, in two new columns. | Read five comments from each theme |
| Find what moved this month | Using the Costs table, compare the latest complete month with the month before by cost centre and list the five largest changes either way, with amounts, on a new sheet. | Reconcile both months to the ledger totals |
The prompts work because each one names a range or table and sets a boundary. If Copilot’s first answer is close but wrong, say what is wrong with it. A second, narrower prompt usually lands better than starting again.
Why does the workbook decide whether AI in Excel works?
Copilot and Analyze Data read the workbook as it is. Merged cells, double header rows and months spread across columns all make the answers worse. Microsoft’s own Analyze Data tips warn against the first two. Fix the structure first and the same prompt returns a better answer.
Gartner’s finance AI survey release, dated 28 May 2026, reported that 63% of finance organisations said AI implementation was slower than expected in 2025. That figure covers finance AI in general, not Excel. Our view, from spreadsheet rebuilds, is narrower: when AI in Excel disappoints, the workbook underneath is usually the first thing to look at.
A Victorian social services provider shows why the structure comes first. Its central workbook had grown past 360MB, stretched thousands of columns wide and pulled four locations together through direct workbook links. Any AI pointed at that file would have inherited every one of those problems. We rebuilt it around a row-based template with Power Query consolidation. One refresh now rebuilds the reporting and no workbook links are left to break. The multi-site reporting case study has the detail.
A first AI project in Excel runs in this order:
- Pick one recurring task with a number attached, such as the hours a monthly report takes.
- Fix the data in a copy of the workbook. Use one Excel table per subject with one meaning per column. Remove merged cells.
- Add one AI step. Try a first formula, a categorisation or draft commentary, not all three at once.
- Run it on that copy. Where you have plan mode, read the plan before Copilot changes anything.
- Check the result. Totals should reconcile to the source and row counts should match. Compare the time taken with the number from step 1.
- Swap the copy in for the original between reporting cycles, once the checks pass. Bring across anything entered in the original since you copied it and point any links at the new file. Write the prompt and the checks into a notes sheet so the next person runs it the same way.
If the structure is the problem, rebuilding it is the work our spreadsheet solutions cover.
Can you use ChatGPT or Claude in Excel?
You can. OpenAI and Anthropic both publish Excel add-ins that read and edit the open workbook. ChatGPT for Excel works on free and paid plans, with limited use on Free and Go. Claude for Excel needs a paid Claude plan or a cloud connection your admin sets up. Neither add-in is covered by Microsoft’s Copilot data commitments.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Excel help article lists the Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu and K-12 plans. You install it from Add-ins on the Home tab. OpenAI says some data logs may be kept with OpenAI for 30 days for safety and integrity purposes.
Anthropic’s Claude for Excel documentation lists the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. An admin can also deploy it without individual Claude accounts, through a cloud AI platform such as Azure AI Foundry. The add-in does not run on perpetual or volume-licensed Excel 2016 or 2019. Anthropic warns users to work only with trusted spreadsheets, since a file from outside can carry hidden instructions that try to make Claude extract data or change records.
The practical difference for a business is where the data goes and who can audit it. Copilot in Excel works inside Microsoft 365, under settings your admin already manages. With the paid Copilot licence it can already edit workbooks using Claude models without an add-in, once your admin has Anthropic enabled. An add-in from OpenAI or Anthropic adds a second vendor with its own account and retention rules, unless IT routes Claude through your own cloud platform. Get your IT owner’s sign-off before anyone installs one. For the wider choice between the three assistants, see our ChatGPT vs Copilot vs Claude comparison.
Is Copilot in Excel safe for business data?
Copilot in Excel is built for business data, with two conditions: the right permissions and checked answers. Microsoft’s Copilot privacy documentation says prompts and responses are not used to train foundation models and that Copilot only surfaces data a user can already view. The bigger everyday risk is trusting an answer that is wrong.
The permissions point cuts both ways. If a salary spreadsheet sits in a SharePoint folder the whole company can open, Copilot with the paid add-on can draw on it for anyone who asks.
Accuracy is the risk teams underrate. The Copilot in Excel FAQ itself warns that Copilot can make mistakes and advises avoiding it for decisions in sensitive areas such as finance. Let Copilot draft and rebuild, then leave the decision with someone who has checked the numbers.
Setting Copilot up so permissions and sensitivity labels are right before people rely on it is what our Copilot integration service covers.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the AI button in Excel?
Microsoft puts the Copilot icon in the lower-right corner of Excel. If you cannot see it, check the label shown in the Microsoft Copilot app first. Microsoft also lists the Excel version among the requirements, so an out-of-date copy can hide the button even on the right licence. Your IT admin can confirm both.
What happened to the COPILOT function in Excel?
Microsoft withdrew it on 14 September 2026 after a preview that only Frontier and Insider users ever had. Workbooks keep the last results it calculated as cached values. When a cell that used the function recalculates, it shows a #NAME? error. Microsoft’s suggested replacement is to type the same request into the Copilot pane, for example asking it to summarise the feedback in A2:A20.
Should you use Copilot, Python in Excel or an add-in?
Use Copilot for everyday formulas and clean-ups, because it works inside the Microsoft 365 controls your admin already runs. Reach for Python in Excel when the job needs statistics or forecasting a formula cannot do well. Where Copilot is available you can ask it to drive Python, without being a Python expert yourself. Choose a ChatGPT or Claude add-in only when IT has approved it and your team already pays for that assistant or runs Claude through its own cloud.
Can my company see my Copilot in Excel history?
It can. Microsoft stores each prompt and Copilot’s response as activity history. Admins can view and manage it with Content search or Microsoft Purview and can set retention policies for it. You can delete your own history from the My Account portal. Microsoft’s Purview retention documentation says deleted messages stay searchable by eDiscovery tools until they are permanently deleted. A hold or another retention policy suspends that deletion.
Does Copilot in Excel work on a Mac, iPad or phone?
With the paid Copilot licence, desktop Excel on Windows or Mac and Excel for the web get all three modes. Microsoft lists chat and plan modes on iPad and chat mode on iPhone, with edit mode rolling out to both. Android has chat mode only. For anything that changes a financial model, work on a computer or the web, where you can watch every change Copilot makes as it happens.
Where to start with AI in Excel
Start by checking which Copilot label Excel or the Microsoft Copilot app shows. Then pick one recurring job, take a copy of the workbook behind it and make that copy clean enough for Copilot to read. Use plan mode where you have it and check every result before it goes into a report.
When the data has outgrown a spreadsheet, our Excel for business guide covers when to move it into Power BI or an app.
If you want a second opinion on where AI fits in your workbooks, book a free initial conversation with OfficePro Consulting. We will look at one workflow with you and tell you whether AI belongs in it yet.
