Get insights from text-based data with Copilot in Excel

Warning: This feature is being deprecated. App Skills will be removed from Excel by late-February 2026. You can use Agent Mode in Excel to analyze and edit your workbook, Copilot Chat to ask basic questions, or explore with Analyst for deep reasoning data analysis. These new features may not have the same capabilities as App Skills for getting insights from text-based data.

If you have large sets of textual data like survey results or reviews, it can be challenging to see patterns or figure out what to focus on. Copilot in Excel can streamline and enhance the interpretation of your data to help you swiftly extract valuable insights and themes. You'll be able to:

Quickly summarize large volumes of text without manual effort.
Understand your data better when you see key themes and sentiments identified, then add the data as a column to your workbook so you have an ongoing view for insights and tracking.
Tailor the results to your specific needs with flexible prompting options.

Get insights about your text-based data

Open Excel.
Make sure to format your data in a table or supported range.
From the Home tab, select the Copilot button.
Type your request in your own words, or modify one of the sample prompts to suit your needs.
Copilot provides an analysis based on your prompt.
When you review the analysis, you can view the sources and get the full context. No need to scroll through all the data to verify the Copilot analysis—just hover over a superscript number to see the data that Copilot referenced.
If you need more information, ask Copilot follow-up questions. The more specific your questions, the more helpful answers Copilot can generate.
If you're satisfied with the results, select Insert column to add the data from the analysis into your workbook.