How to use AI in Excel and Word: Copilot, ChatGPT, and Agent Mode

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Artificial intelligence has made a powerful impact on the productivity tools we use every day, and today it's possible to work faster and more smoothly in Excel and Word thanks to Copilot and assistants like ChatGPT. You don't need to be an expert: with natural language prompts, you can create analyses, formats, drafts, and formulas that previously required time and specialized knowledge.

In the following lines, you'll see how to get the most out of Copilot in Excel and Word, what advantages it offers, where to find it, how to ask it for exactly what you need so it gets it right the first time, and what limitations and requirements to keep in mind (such as usage credits or the Copilot Pro plan). We'll also review "Agent Mode," an evolution of these capabilities for orchestrating multi-step tasks iteratively.

What can AI do for you in Excel?

Copilot in Excel is designed to make everyday tasks easier: it can bring data from the web or your organization , help you highlight relevant information, sort and filter, build formulas with clear explanations, and reveal patterns and trends in seconds.

One of its advantages is data import. If your file is stored on OneDrive or SharePoint, or you need to import public data, Copilot can prepare your spreadsheet by connecting to those sources and providing you with the content in a range or table ready to use.

It's also useful for formatting. You can ask it, for example, to show only cells with numbers, to set a filter with values ​​above a specific threshold, or to apply a custom sorting criterion to make your view more manageable.

In the calculation section, Copilot helps you create new columns and rows with operations based on existing data and also explains how each formula works and how to automate tasks by programming macros in Excel , step by step, so you don't just rely on "copy and paste".

Finally, you can ask it directly about your data. In quick responses, it will provide summaries, charts, pivot tables, trends, and outliers, so you can identify relevant information on the fly and avoid getting lost in endless spreadsheets.

Where to find Copilot and how to get started in Excel

Access is straightforward: on the Home tab, you'll see the Copilot icon in the ribbon. From there, you can open the conversational experience, use pre-configured prompt ideas , or type your own request in your own words.

Another way to activate it is by selecting a cell. Doing so displays a flashing icon associated with Copilot, enabling contextual actions on that specific point in the sheet— ideal for quick operations.

Before you begin, it's best to have your data in a well-structured table or range. This helps Copilot read it accurately and suggest unambiguous formulas or summaries, avoiding silly mistakes caused by misinterpreted cells.

The typical workflow would be: you open Copilot, choose between creating something new, requesting formulas or formatting, summarizing, or directly chatting with your target. If you choose chat, you can follow up with questions to iteratively refine the result until it's perfect.

Generate formulas in Excel with ChatGPT or Copilot

You don't need a pinpoint technical prompt to get useful formulas. Just imagine you're talking to a person and naturally explain what you want to achieve and what data you have, and the AI ​​will return the formula's framework and the underlying logic.

If your description isn't quite right, you can start by asking something general like "find a value in a column," and the AI ​​will respond with the necessary structure and arguments. This way, you'll understand which function best fits your needs and how to adjust each parameter to suit your specific situation.

When you need something to copy and paste without changing anything, precisely describe the location of each piece of data. For example: “I have numerical values ​​in column C up to row 200, and I want a formula in cell E5 that counts how many cells are equal to 5.” With that information, the AI ​​will generate an exact formula targeting the correct ranges and cells.

This approach works equally well with other common tasks: preparing a table that you will then filter, converting numbers into barcodes with a specific formula, or planning the removal of duplicates in a data set.

Practical tip: Review the resulting formula or test it with a subset of data. AI models are powerful, but they can occasionally suggest something that doesn't perfectly match your spreadsheet, especially if the original structure isn't clear.

Copilot in Word: from draft to final version

As soon as you open a new document, Copilot appears at the top, ready to receive your first instruction. You can ask it for a draft with a specific format, tone, or approximate length, and in seconds you'll have an initial text to edit.

During the process, the AI ​​even suggests extensions to the prompt to make the request more effective. When it returns the draft, you can keep, regenerate, or delete it, and also edit the prompt to refine it , or prepare the document for digital signing without starting from scratch each time.

In addition to the initial text box, there are two very useful ways to use Copilot within Word. Firstly, you can open contextual actions on any paragraph to expand, rewrite, change styles, extract a table, or summarize ideas with a single click.

On the other hand, from the ribbon you can open a sidebar with the chatbot. There you can request changes to the document, generate a new draft, create an image to insert, or get answers to your questions while you write, so research and writing go hand in hand.

Templates, analysis, and practical examples in Excel

Beyond formulas, Copilot can create useful structures. For example, asking it for a calendar for a specific month with rows for notes and days of the week at the top will return a template that you can paste directly onto your sheet.

It's worth noting that sometimes style or color instructions may not apply exactly as you described them. In those cases, Copilot can provide you with the structure and instructions to complete the format manually in seconds.

On the analytics front, loading a dataset (for example, sales by country) and asking "which country appears most often in column B?" returns the result and its explanation. It then suggests intelligent follow-up questions , such as total sales by country or the best-selling product in each region.

This dynamic makes exploratory analysis agile: you raise a question, verify the data, and continue to delve deeper with new questions, without having to first set up a heavy structure of pivot tables or complex formulas.

On-the-fly PowerPoint presentations

Copilot can generate a presentation from scratch with a simple prompt. If you define the objective (for example, a product launch) and provide a list of specifications or key points, it will return a set of slides with titles, ideas, and visuals ready for review.

It can also create images, highlight key data, and, in certain scenarios, use Word or Excel documents as the basis for a presentation. While some of these features may still be evolving, the initial slide creation process already saves a significant amount of time.

Requirements, usage credits and Copilot Pro

If you already pay for Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, you can access Copilot within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint at no additional cost, but it uses a credit system. Each AI request consumes one credit, and you have 60 credits per month , which are renewed at the beginning of the following month.

You can check your balance at account.microsoft.com, in the section for your subscription. The idea is for you to try out and get used to the AI. If you find it insufficient, there's Copilot Pro for €22 per month , which removes the limit and lets you use the AI ​​without restrictions.

An important detail about the family plan: only the primary subscription owner has access to Copilot within the apps. Other shared users don't have these features in Word or Excel, which is something to keep in mind if you manage the subscription at home.

As for the experience, you don't need Windows, a Copilot+ PC, or an NPU: the processing is in the cloud, so Copilot's behavior is virtually identical on the web and desktop.

Agent Mode and Office Agent: what they are and how to use them

The so-called “Agent Mode” takes collaboration with AI a step further. Its goal is to democratize advanced functions so that, with natural language prompts, AI can orchestrate multi-step tasks to deliver high-quality documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

In Excel, for example, you can request a household budget with categories (rent, food, supplies, fuel, leisure) and rules that warn you when you exceed the limit; in SMEs, you can set up basic financial analyses that save a lot of manual work.

In Word, the agent helps with resumes, letters, reports, or executive summaries, suggesting improvements and asking questions to clarify your intent. The idea is to work iteratively: you start with a prompt and guide the AI ​​to refine the result until it fits.

Based on current availability, Agent Mode is active in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensees and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers. Currently, it is offered on the web and in English, with plans to expand to desktop. To use it in Excel, you need to install the Excel Labs add-in and enable the corresponding option.

In addition, Office Agent in the Copilot chat can create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents from instructions, with an integration that is expected to expand, so that there is less and less friction between ideas and final results.

Best practices for asking AI for things

• Clear contextDescribe what data you have (columns, rows, table names) and what output you expect.
• Location accuracyIf you want a formula to paste, specify the destination and source columns and cells.
• Rapid iteration: request the first draft or structure and then ask for specific changes.
• Market validation: : check formulas and results with small samples before applying them to the whole.

Use cases that work especially well

In Excel, tasks such as structuring (calendar templates, budgets, formatted lists), exploratory analysis with successive questions, and creating/explaining formulas for common calculations work wonderfully .

In Word, starting a text from scratch with a specific tone and format, rewriting paragraphs, expanding ideas, and generating integrated tables or images allows you to speed up the path to the final document.

When you need presentations, Copilot creates the slide deck with titles, bullet points, and visual aids based on a well-written prompt and reference material. From there, the iterative process of refining the content and design is what leads you to a professional result.

How to write better prompts

Think about objectives and constraints. “I want a short report (300-400 words), formal tone, with three sections and a final table with key metrics,” is better than “give me a report.” In Excel, “in cell E5 I want a formula that counts the values ​​equal to 5 in C2:C200” is clearer than a vague request for counting.

Add reference data whenever possible: table name, column headers, ranges, or expected examples. If the first attempt isn't perfect, ask for incremental changes ("use thousands separators," "sort from largest to smallest," "use a more personal tone") to gradually get closer to the desired result.

Finally, it combines structure and style prompts. First, it asks for the structure (index, sections, data blocks), then it refines the tone, and it finishes with specific tasks (adding a summary row, inserting an image, generating a pivot table with filters).

Limitations and realistic expectations

While AI can handle a lot of work, sometimes it doesn't apply a specific format as requested or deviates from the request . That's okay: insist with more specific instructions or ask how to do it step by step if you prefer to finish it manually.

Remember the credit system in Microsoft 365 Personal or Family: each request within Word, Excel, or PowerPoint consumes one credit, and you have a monthly limit of 60. If you need unlimited intensive use, there is the Copilot Pro option for €22 per month.

Finally, Agent Mode is currently only available on the web and in English, and for Excel, it requires Excel Labs; integration will expand over time, so staying up-to-date with updates is key to getting the most out of it.

With all this range, using AI in Excel and Word means moving from mechanical tasks to a goal-driven approach: you import or describe your data, request analysis or drafts in your own words, validate and adjust in short iterations, and keep the strategic and creative part, while AI speeds up the repetitive and gives you context to make better decisions.