In this blog post, I share a number of practical Microsoft 365 Copilot tasks in Excel that focus on real, everyday data analysis and reporting scenarios.
These examples demonstrate how Copilot can help with understanding data, creating formulas, and uncovering insights. While this post includes a selection of tasks, they are intended to get you thinking. Copilot in Excel can support many more scenarios, especially when working with larger or more complex datasets.
My goal is to provide ideas and practical prompts that you can try yourself and build upon as you explore further.
Note: A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use Copilot in Excel.
Let’s get started.
Task 1: Explore what the dataset contains
Prompt:
summarise what the dataset contains in bullet point format
Result
Task 2: Identify missing values
Prompt:
Highlight missing values in red
Task 3: Calculate and populate empty fields
Prompt
Calculate and populate any empty fields with the correct values
Result: Cells F14, F15, F16 and F17 populated
Task 4: Replace all names with new demo names
In this task, I will use Copilot to replace the existing names in the dataset with new demo names.
Prompt:
Replace all existing demo names with new, unique names in every row, ensuring each includes a first name and surname.
Task 5: Change the date format
Prompt:
Change the date format to MM/DD/YEAR format and remove the time
Task 6: Extract surname and add to a new column
Prompt:
Add a new column named “Surname” after the “Full Name” column by extracting the surname from “Full Name”. Rename the “Full Name” column to “First Name”
Task 7: Explain the Total Sales calculation
Prompt:
Explain the formula used to calculate Total Sales
Task 8: Identify the top 5 highest‑value orders
Prompt:
Show top 5 highest value orders
Task 9: Identify low‑performing products or regions
Prompt:
Find low‑performing products or regions
Task 10: Review sales trends with a line chart
Prompt:
Create a line chart showing sales over time. Insert into a new sheet
Task 11: Visualise sales by product with a bar chart
Prompt:
Build a bar chart of sales by product. Insert into a new sheet
Task 12: Highlight top‑performing orders using conditional formatting
Prompt:
Highlight the top 5 performing orders in green
Task 13: Analyse summer sales performance
Prompt 1:
How did we perform over the summer?
Copilot requests for additional information as shown in the image below:
I respond as shown in the image below, and Copilot in Excel then completes my request.
Response from me: 1 and 1
Prompt 2:
Add this information to a new sheet
Task 14: Compare sales performance across regions
Prompt:
Compare sales by region
Task 15: Insert a row to calculate total sales
Prompt:
Add a row calculating total sales only
Task 16: Create an email summarising sales performance
Prompt:
Draft a professional email providing a simple summary that I will send to my colleague Andrew Doe summarising all sales, lows and highs.
Task 17: Work out the average order value
Prompt:
Calculate average order value
Task 18: Filter sales for a specific region
Prompts:
Filter sales for from the UK only
Task 19: Add a VAT (20%) calculation column
Prompt:
Calculate and add a column for VAT (20%) after the total sales column
Task 20: Generate a sales dashboard
Prompt:
Create me a dashboard, surprise me
Task 21: Sort names alphabetically
Prompt:
Sort the first name field in alphabetical order
Task 22: Protect customer identity in the dataset
Prompt:
Anonymise customer names
Task 23: Generate 10 additional rows of demo data
Prompt:
Add another 10 lines of demo data
Task 24: Analyse customer sentiment
Prompt:
Analyse customer reviews and label each review as positive, negative, or neutral.
Result
Task 25: Extract information from a Word document and create an Excel table
Prompt:
Extract the information from the following word document and create a nice table / attach filename
Result:
Task 26: Identify the main trends in the data
Prompt:
What are the main trends in this data?
Task 27: Identify date formatting issues and data inconsistencies
Prompt:
Check for date formatting and data inconsistencies
Task 28: Summarise the data in another language
Prompt:
Summarise the data in 2 paragraphs in the french language
Task 29: Translate the spreadsheet content into another language
Prompt:
Change the language in the spreadsheet to German
Task 30: Verify the Total Sales values and correct any errors
Prompt:
Check whether all Total Sales values are correct and fix any errors.
Task 31: Add a column for initials based on customer names
Prompt:
Create a new column after Column C containing initials based on the names in this table.
Task 32: Capitalise the first name
Prompt:
Capitalise the first name
Task 33: Create a PivotTable to summarise sales by region and product
Prompt:
Build a PivotTable summarising Total Sales by region and product.
Task 34: Clear any conditional formatting rules
Prompt:
Remove conditional formatting
Task 35: Identify trends, anomalies, or outliers in the data
Prompt:
What trends, anomalies, or outliers do you see in this data? Add to a new sheet
Task 36: Create a 12‑month revenue forecast
Prompt:
Forecast revenue for all areas of the business for the next 1 year. Use the year-over-year growth rate from the annual totals to project monthly figures. Add this to a new sheet
Task 37: Assess the impact of a 10% cost increase on profit
Prompt:
What happens to profit if all costs increase by 10%? Add this to a new sheet
Task 38: Detect duplicate records in the dataset
Prompt:
Identify any duplicate records in this dataset and highlight them in purple
Task 39: Analyse the drivers behind changes in sales performance
Prompt:
Explain the key factors contributing to changes in sales performance over time
Task 40: Recommend actions to improve sales performance
Prompt:
Based on this data, suggest three actions to improve sales performance.
Task 41: Model how price increases impact revenue
Prompt:
Create a what‑if scenario showing how revenue changes if prices increase by 5%, 10%, and 15%. Add to a new sheet
Task 42: Identify which variables drive total sales
Prompt:
Which variables have the biggest impact on total sales? Show this clearly
Task 43: Improve and standardise column headers
Prompt:
Rename the column headers to make them clearer and more business‑friendly
Task 44: Identify the best visualisation for the data
Prompt:
Suggest the most appropriate visualisation for this data and explain why
Task 45: Generate a one‑page summary for senior stakeholders
Prompt:
Create a one‑page executive summary of all data for senior stakeholders.
Task 46: Tailor the summary for a beginner audience
Prompt:
Summarise this so a beginner who is new to finance can understand the data
That’s it. I hope you find these Copilot in Excel tasks useful.
If you have other examples or use cases for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel, feel free to share them in the comments below.