Use Copilot in Excel on a clean table

What you'll need

• Excel for the web, Windows, or Mac, signed in
• A workbook you are allowed to analyze
• One row whose answer you can calculate yourself

If you do not see a Copilot button, skip this page and use Get the right Excel formula. That guide works in free ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot chat. You paste a few rows, not your whole company file.

Step 1: Confirm the button is yours

Open the workbook. Look for the Copilot button in the corner of the sheet. Microsoft has been moving that button to one corner spot in Excel. If you do not see it, your license does not include Copilot in Excel. Do not paste the sheet into a personal chat to get around that. Ask your admin, or describe the columns in the free formula workflow.

Microsoft's current help says access depends on the subscription. Some work accounts are labeled Copilot Chat (Basic) and do not get Copilot inside Excel. Check your Microsoft 365 account rather than assuming a price or a plan name.

Step 2: Make the data something Copilot can read

Microsoft's formatting help says Copilot in Excel needs AutoSave on, and the data either as an Excel table or as a clean range.

1. Save the file to OneDrive or SharePoint so AutoSave is on.
2. Select the data. Use Home, then Format as Table. Confirm the first row is headers.
3. If you keep it as a range instead of a table, use one header row, unique headers, no blank rows or columns, no merged cells, and no subtotal rows.

Look only at this table.
Tell me, in plain sentences:
1. What each column appears to be
2. Any blank headers, merged cells, or empty rows that would block you
Do not add columns yet.

Step 3: Ask for one analysis, then read the formula

Using only this table, do one of these (I will say which):
A) A short summary of what the numbers show
B) A chart of [the columns I name]
C) A new column that calculates [what I want], and show me the formula

Explain the formula in one sentence.
Do not change my existing numbers.
If a column is missing, ask me. Do not guess a total.

Click into the new column and read the formula. Test it on the row you already understand. If it is wrong:

That cell shows [result]. I expected [answer] because [your reason].
Here is the formula: [paste].
What is wrong? Do not overwrite the column until I say so.

Step 4: Keep the check, lose the mystery

If you cannot explain the formula to a teammate, you are not done. Write the one-sentence explanation next to the sheet, in a note. Next month you will not remember the chat.

Common mistakes

• Asking Copilot to "clean up" a sheet and accepting deleted rows you did not review.
• Leaving subtotals and blank lines in the range, then wondering why the answer is nonsense.
• Uploading a payroll or customer file to a personal ChatGPT account because Excel's button is missing.
• Trusting a chart title the chat wrote. Read the axis.

Privacy: what not to paste

A workbook on a work account stays under your company's Microsoft setup. That is not the same as a personal chat. Do not export a table of customers, wages, or health data into a tool your policy does not allow. If the sheet has secrets you do not need for this question, delete those columns from a copy before you ask.

Director check: look before you use it

• Did you see the Copilot button inside Excel? If not, you are on the wrong page.
• Is AutoSave on, and is the data a table or a clean range? If not, fix that before the prompt.
• Did you test one known row? A formula that runs can still be wrong.
• Did any original number change? If yes, undo until you know why.

One extra tip

For a formula you want to reuse without a Copilot license, take the working formula and the column names to Get the right Excel formula and ask only how to lock the references. More spreadsheet-adjacent guides are on the Work hub.