Spend Less Time Formatting Spreadsheets with Excel Copilot
Anyone who uses Excel regularly knows that analysing data is often only part of the job. A significant amount of time can be spent organising information, applying formatting, creating reports and ensuring everything follows the standards your business expects.
These repetitive tasks are exactly the kind of work that AI is intended to simplify.
Microsoft has spent the past few years expanding Copilot’s capabilities within Excel. Some additions have had a greater impact than others, but a recent update has the potential to make everyday spreadsheet work more efficient.
The update allows you to teach Copilot how you prefer information to be presented.
For example, you can specify:
- How currency values should be displayed
- The structure and layout of regular reports
- Preferred headings and naming conventions
- Specific data formatting requirements
Once these preferences have been defined, Copilot can remember them and apply them automatically in future tasks.
For people who regularly make the same formatting adjustments or repeatedly provide the same instructions, this could save time and reduce frustration.
The update may also prove valuable for teams that rely on shared spreadsheets.
Maintaining consistency across multiple users can be challenging. One employee creates a report one way, another follows a different approach, and before long several versions of what should be a standardised document are being circulated.
To address this, Microsoft is introducing workbook rules that can travel with a spreadsheet. These rules provide Copilot with guidance on how a specific workbook should be handled.
When the spreadsheet is shared with colleagues, those instructions remain attached to the file. This can help ensure reports, data and formatting are handled more consistently, without requiring team members to repeatedly explain internal standards and processes.
This development represents an interesting shift in how AI can be used inside business applications.
Until now, many organisations have primarily used tools such as Copilot to generate content, summarise information or assist with formulas. These new capabilities move a step further by allowing the software to learn and apply the preferences that underpin your day-to-day processes.
The benefit is not that AI replaces decision-making. Instead, it can reduce repetitive administrative work while producing results that are more closely aligned with the way your business operates.
Of course, careful oversight remains essential. Spreadsheets frequently contain important operational, financial and reporting information. Any AI-generated output should be reviewed before it is used for decision-making or shared more broadly. This is particularly important where formulas, financial data and business reporting are involved.
Still, for the routine tasks that consume valuable time each week, this appears to be a practical and sensible improvement.
If Excel can spend less time asking how information should be formatted and more time helping users complete meaningful work, that’s a step forward for productivity.
Looking at how AI and Microsoft 365 can support your business? Contact GZD to discuss how tools like Microsoft Copilot can help improve productivity, streamline processes and support more consistent ways of working across your organisation.