How Do You Use Copilot in Excel? A Step-by-Step Guide

TL;DR:

• Copilot in Excel lets you describe what you want in plain words. It can write formulas, build charts and PivotTables, sort and highlight data, and summarise text, inside your workbook.
• You need the right licence. As of November 2026: Microsoft 365 Premium, Personal or Family with AI credits, or a work account labelled M365 Copilot (Basic) or M365 Copilot (Premium).
• Open it with the Copilot button in the lower-right corner of Excel. It has three modes: edit, plan and chat.
• Name your columns in every prompt. Specific prompts give better results.
• Never trust a number you have not checked. Test formulas on rows where you already know the answer, and work on a copy.

Who this guide is for

This is for anyone in Kenya who uses Excel at work: accounts, sales, operations, HR and managers. You should know basic Excel, such as columns, formulas and totals. You need no AI experience.

Every step comes from Microsoft's own support pages, checked on 13 November 2026. Microsoft changes Copilot often, so your screen may look slightly different. Not sure Copilot is worth it? Read Is Microsoft Copilot a good AI tool for work?

What you need before you start

Microsoft's Excel FAQ and its licence page give these routes to Copilot in Excel, as of November 2026:

At work, check your label. Being on an eligible work plan is not enough on its own. Sign in to Copilot with your work account and scroll to the bottom of the home page. Under your name you will see one of these:

• Copilot Chat (Basic): no Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote.
• M365 Copilot (Basic): standard access to Copilot in Excel, with limits.
• M365 Copilot (Premium): the paid add-on, with priority access.

On a home plan, Microsoft says the file must be saved to OneDrive with AutoSave on.

On your device: edit, plan and chat modes work on Windows, Mac and Excel for the web. iPad has chat and plan; iPhone and Android have chat. Edit mode is still rolling out on iPad and iPhone.

Why can't I see Copilot?

Check these first:

• Your label is Copilot Chat (Basic), or your licence does not include it.
• Your admin has turned it off. Microsoft says your organisation's Copilot Chat settings also control Copilot in Excel.
• On a shared Family or Premium plan, you are not the subscription owner.
• You are not signed in with your work account. Make sure Excel and Copilot show your work account. Microsoft tells organisations to have staff sign in with their work account to use Copilot for work.

Still stuck? Ask your IT team. Our guide on how Microsoft 365 Copilot works explains the licences in more depth.

Step 1: Get your workbook ready

1. Work on a copy. In edit mode, Copilot changes your workbook directly.
2. Give every column a clear header, such as Date, Branch, Product, Units Sold and Amount (KES).
3. Mask personal data. Replace customer names, phone numbers and ID numbers with codes. Our guide on AI and Kenya's Data Protection Act explains why.
4. Set calculation to Automatic (Formulas, then Calculation Options). Microsoft says Copilot editing needs it.
5. Save as .xlsx. Microsoft says older formats such as Strict Open XML, or a file checked out in SharePoint, can cause an "Unsupported file state" message.

Step 2: Open Copilot

Select the Copilot button in the lower-right corner of your workbook. A chat pane opens on the right. Keyboard users can press F6; Alt + C on Windows and Cmd + Control + I on Mac are rolling out.

Step 3: Choose a mode

Copilot opens in edit mode by default.

You can press Stop at any time.

Step 4: Ask for formulas

Copilot can add a column of formulas, write a single-cell formula, or build a lookup. Here are prompts for a typical Kenyan sales sheet, based on Microsoft's own examples. Swap in your column names:

Add a column called Margin % that divides Gross Profit (KES) by Amount (KES) for each row. Show it as a percentage with one decimal place.

Add a row at the bottom that shows total Amount (KES) and average Units Sold for each Branch.

On the Invoices sheet, add a column that looks up each Customer Code on the Customers sheet and returns the Payment Terms. If a code is not found, show "Not found".

Microsoft says lookups usually use a formula such as XLOOKUP. Then ask Copilot to explain it. Select the cell and type:

Explain the formula in the selected cell.

This also works on old workbooks nobody understands.

Step 5: Sort, filter and highlight

Microsoft says Copilot describes the change first, and you select Apply to see it.

Highlight the lowest values in Units Sold.

Filter to show invoices that are due next week.

Step 6: Build charts and PivotTables

Describe what you want, with detail.

Create a line chart of monthly Amount (KES) for each Branch from January to October 2026. Show data labels.

Create a PivotTable with the sum of Amount (KES), with Month in rows and Product in columns.

Step 7: Get summaries and insights

Ask in your own words. Microsoft says Copilot can answer with charts, PivotTables, summaries, trends or outliers.

Which branch had the highest and lowest sales this quarter?

Are there any outliers in the Amount (KES) column?

It also works on text, such as customer comments:

Review the customer feedback in column D and list the five most common complaints, with how many comments mention each one.

When Copilot summarises text, hover over the small superscript numbers to see which data it used.

Step 8: Catch up on a shared file

Summarise the changes made to this workbook in the past seven days.

Microsoft says this only covers the workbook's change history, which Excel keeps for up to 365 days. You can check it yourself under Review, then Show Changes.

Tip for monthly workbooks: create a visible sheet named .Rules, with one instruction per cell in column A, such as "Show all amounts in KES with no decimals". Microsoft says Copilot follows these rules, and they travel with the file.

Checks before you trust the numbers

Microsoft's own FAQ says Copilot "can sometimes make mistakes", and advises against relying on it for decisions in sensitive areas such as finance. Before any figure leaves your desk:

• [ ] Test on known rows. Check five to ten rows where you know the right answer, including some that should fail.
• [ ] Check the range. Does the formula reach the last row? Did it skip blanks or hidden rows?
• [ ] Re-add one total yourself with a simple SUM.
• [ ] Look for messy data: numbers stored as text, extra spaces, duplicate receipts.
• [ ] Read the explanation. If you cannot follow it, do not use the formula.
• [ ] Know how to go back. Use Undo or Version History. Microsoft says saved Copilot changes are visible to everyone with access to the file.
• [ ] A person signs off payroll, tax and client figures.

A wrong total in a payroll or stock file can cost far more than the time Copilot saved you.

Watch out for old tutorials

Older videos show a =COPILOT() formula typed into a cell. Microsoft retired that function on 14 September 2026. Cells that used it show a #NAME? error when they recalculate. Use the Copilot pane instead.

No licence? The free route

Describe your column headings to a free AI assistant and ask for the formula and an explanation. You never need to paste real figures. Then test it on rows you know, as above.

Questions people ask

Is Copilot in Excel free?

Not fully. At work, people with the M365 Copilot (Basic) label get standard access without the paid add-on. People with the Copilot Chat (Basic) label do not get it. At home, you need Microsoft 365 Premium, or Personal or Family with AI credits.

Can I turn off Copilot formula suggestions?

Yes. In Excel for Windows, go to File, Options, then Copilot, and clear the boxes. In Excel for the web, go to File, Options, then Copilot Settings.

Does Copilot replace learning Excel?

No. You stay responsible for every number. Someone who understands ranges and lookups will spot a broken formula that a beginner would send to the boss.

Sources

All sources last checked 14 November 2026. All are Microsoft Support pages unless stated.

• "Get started with Copilot in Excel"
• "Frequently asked questions about Copilot in Excel"
• "What Copilot license do I have"
• FAQ on Copilot in Microsoft 365 Family and Personal
• Microsoft Learn, "What is Microsoft Copilot?" (labels, and signing in with a work account)
• "The Copilot Dynamic Action Button"
• "Get data insights with Copilot in Excel"
• "Visualize your data with Copilot in Excel"
• "Review the change history of your workbook"
• "Copilot in Excel rules"
• "Turn Copilot formula suggestions on or off"
• "COPILOT function"
• Kenya Law, Data Protection Act, 2019

Where FuKazee fits in

FuKazee trains teams in Kenya to use AI on the work already on their desks, and we have trained more than 3,000 people since 2022. In Excel, we teach solid habits first and AI on top, and we show the free route for teams without a Copilot licence.

For more, read how accountants in Kenya can use AI safely or how finance teams use AI day to day. If your team needs Office basics first, see our Microsoft 365 training in Kenya.

For hands-on sessions on your own masked workbooks, see our Excel and AI training in Nairobi. Tell us how many people, which Excel version you use, and which files cause trouble at month end. Email lead@fukazee.com