Microsoft adds new skills — and more oversight — for Copilot in Excel

Microsoft is continuing its push to bring generative AI (genAI) into Excel, with new Microsoft 365 Copilot skills designed to automate common processes and a “plan” mode to provide more control over Copilot’s outputs when handling financial data. Microsoft made Microsoft 365 Copilot generally available in Excel in late 2024 and since then has added several capabilities, including agentic tools, a Copilot function within Excel, and Python support for advanced data analysis. On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled a skills feature that lets users define processes Copilot can perform in Excel — such as building a discounted cash flow, Microsoft suggested, preparing a variance analysis, or refreshing a monthly reporting model. “Instead of starting from scratch each time, a skill guides Copilot through the steps, applying the right structure and formatting, and helping produce an output that is easier to review, reuse, and trust,” Brian Jones, vice president for Excel at Microsoft, said in a blog post. Users can access a library of pre-built finance skills or create their own custom skills and save them as a SKILL.md in OneDrive, where the Copilot assistant can access them. Microsoft’s partners are also building their own skills, including finance software vendors such as LSEG, Ramp and Velixo — these are “coming soon,” Microsoft said. Custom skills are available today via the Insider channel and generally available next month. A new “plan” feature is aimed at giving users greater oversight of the AI assistant’s proposed actions before it starts interacting with spreadsheet data. The Copilot assistant can now draft a list of planned interactions — such as changing a formula — and, before it gets to work, ask the user to “approve, edit, or answer clarifying questions,” said Jones. After it has completed the list of actions, the Copilot assistant will post a link to any changes in the chat window. Edits made by the AI assistant will then appear alongside other those from human users in the Show Changes pane. Copilot can connect to third-party platforms now, pulling in data from sources such as Moody’s, CB Insights, Morningstar, and PitchBook. The features will roll out “progressively” for customers, Microsoft said, and are available to paid Microsoft 365 Copilot users. Microsoft offers two payment options: 30 per user each month for larger customers, or the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business plan, which costs 21 per user a month for organizations with fewer than 300 employees.