Tutorial: extract insights from your Excel with Copilot

Last week, Microsoft introduced the new ​Agent Mode​, which can take on multi-step tasks like preparing reports, analyzing data, or updating files with minimal input from you.

But even if your accounts don’t yet have access to the Agentic update, I don’t think most of us have fully explored what the general Copilot across apps can already do.

You can still use Copilot in Excel today to uncover insights, identify patterns, generate visuals, suggest formulas, and even forecast and suggest action items based on the data, all with simple prompts.

Here’s a quick 5-step walkthrough to help you get real business insights from your data and turn them into a PowerPoint report:

Step 1: Import or generate your data

Open your 2025 marketing campaign CSV in Excel or ask Copilot to create one.

Prompt:

“Create a sample marketing campaigns table for 2025 with these columns: Date, Campaign Name, Channel (Email, Search, Social, Display), Spend, Clicks, Leads, Conversions, Revenue. Include monthly data for each campaign from Jan to Sep 2025 with realistic variations and a few outliers.”

Step 2: Ask Copilot to identify trends and connections

Turn Copilot into your analyst.

Prompt:

“Analyze the table and summarize the most interesting trends. Identify which channels or campaigns have the best ROI and which are under-performing. Highlight any correlations between spend, clicks, and conversions, and describe seasonality or anomalies.”

Follow-up prompts:

• “Explain how the conversion rate changed over time.”
• “Which month had the best return on ad spend (ROAS)?”
• “Are high-spend campaigns always high-revenue? Find exceptions.”

Step 3: Visualize the insights

Even without insert buttons, Copilot can describe or generate charts you can reuse.

Prompt ideas:

• “Show a bar chart of conversion rates.”
• “Compare spend vs conversion rates over time.”
• “Show me a chart of monthly Spend vs Revenue.”
• “Create a dashboard summary combining total spend, total revenue, average conversion rate, and best performing channel.”

Dashboard prompt:

“Create a marketing performance dashboard summary that includes: monthly totals for spend, leads, conversions, and revenue; average conversion rate per channel; and a short paragraph summarizing which channels drive the best ROI and how performance changed quarter-over-quarter.”

Download or copy the generated visuals into your sheet.

Bonus prompts:

• “Forecast revenue for Q4 2025 assuming 10 % higher spend on top-performing channel.”
• “Compare ROI between Search and Social channels.”
• “Show the top 3 campaigns by cost efficiency (revenue ÷ spend).”

Step 4: Use the visuals in your presentation or report

Export charts or summaries into PowerPoint or Word.

Prompt:

“Compile the insights and visuals from this workbook into a PowerPoint file.”

Use Copilot’s text for:

• Executive summary slide (paragraph from Step 2)
• Performance charts (monthly trends, conversion funnel)
• Recommendation slide (“Copilot suggests reallocating X % of budget to Search ads next quarter”)

Step 5: Keep exploring Copilot in Excel

Test forecasting, scenario analysis, and storytelling.

Prompts:

• “Predict next month’s conversions using historical data.”
• “If spend increases by 15 % on Social, how does total ROI change?”
• “Write a 3-sentence campaign performance update and an executive summary slide.”

Copilot’s strength is in helping you think better with your data.

The next time you’re building a report or prepping for a leadership meeting, try starting in Excel with Copilot.

You might be surprised at how fast it connects numbers to narratives and how quickly your everyday data can become your next business story.

PRO Members: watch the video tutorial ​here​.  

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Your AI Team: OpenAI’s Sora 2, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Perplexity’s Comet is now free, and more.

Every week, I report on the top updates to your favorite AI tools.

This week, it's definitely the era of agents:

Sora 2: The Next Leap in AI Video

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What’s new & key features:

• Better realism & physics: more accurate motion, believable scenes, natural sound effects, improved synchrony between audio and video.
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• Cameo + identity control: users can incorporate themselves (or others, with permission) into generated videos, with controls over when and how their likeness is used.

Now it’s invite-only as an iOS app in the U.S. and Canada.

​Learn more about Sora 2 >>>​

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What’s new & worth noting

• Frontier in computer use & coding: Sonnet 4.5 now leads on benchmarks like SWE-bench Verified, with the ability to stay “in focus” on multi-step coding or tool-using tasks for over 30 hours.
• More control & memory for agents: it includes upgrades to context editing and memory tooling, supporting more complex tasks and subtasks over longer horizons.
• Code + file execution in conversation: in Claude apps, the new version supports code execution and file creation (spreadsheets, slides, docs) directly in chat.
• Safety & alignment improvements: this iteration emphasizes safer behavior, reduced hallucinations or deceptive tendencies, and stronger defenses against prompt attacks.

​​Explore Claude Sonnet 4.5 >>>​

Opera Neon: A Browser That Acts

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​​Explore Opera Neon >>>​

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Perplexity’s AI-powered browser, Comet, is now free for everyone. Max users still get extra perks, including a Background Assistant that can run tasks while you browse, such as summarizing pages, handling emails, and prepping notes in the background.

​​Try Comet >>>​

Copilot Portraits: Giving Voice AI a Face

Microsoft’s Copilot Labs is experimenting with Portraits, animated avatars that react as you speak. They blink, nod, and mirror expressions in real time — bringing a human touch to voice AI interactions. The feature is still experimental and limited to select regions, but it hints at a future where conversations with AI feel more like chats with real colleagues.

​​See Copilot Portraits in action >>>