- Update 1/15/2024: Copilot Pro for Excel is now available as an addon paid subscription for those already paying for a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.
- It’s cost $20, and you should be able to get it soon from this Microsoft website.
- If you don’t have a pro subscription, you won’t be able to access the chatbot in the Office (Microsoft 365) apps.
On Microsoft Excel, it’s now possible to enable an early preview of Copilot, and in this guide, you will learn how. Copilot is the new AI chatbot designed for Office apps and other products from Microsoft. The experience is similar to Bing Chat, but it’s been tailored for spreadsheet tasks to help users be more productive.
The Copilot features will depend on the application. In the case of Excel, you can ask the chatbot to make more sense of the information by allowing you to analyze and explore the data in the spreadsheet. In addition, you can ask virtually anything using natural language. The chatbot is also smart enough to suggest formulas based on your queries, predict “what if” scenarios, and find data correlations. In addition, you will be able to instantly create a SWOT analysis or a PivotTable based on data.
Although it’s unclear when Copilot will roll out to everyone, XenoPanther on Twitter has spotted an early preview of the feature hidden in Microsoft Excel Preview 16.0.16401.20000, which you can enable through the Registry. Copilot can also be enabled for Word and OneNote.
Enable Copilot in Microsoft Excel
To enable the Copilot AI chatbot in Excel, use these steps:
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Open Start on Windows 11.
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Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry.
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Navigate to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\ExperimentConfigs\ExternalFeatureOverrides\excel
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Right-click the Excel key, select the New menu, and select the String Value option.
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Name the key Microsoft.Office.Excel.Copilot and press Enter.
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Double-click the newly created key and set its value to true to enable Copilot.
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Click the OK button.
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Restart the computer.
Once you complete the steps, launch or re-open Microsoft Excel, and the Copilot experience should appear on the right side. However, since this is an early preview, the feature may or may not work correctly.
In the case that you want to revert the changes, you can use the same instructions outlined above, but on step 4, right-click and delete the Microsoft.Office.Excel.Copilot string inside the “Excel” key.
If you are not using version 16.0.16401.20000 or higher release of the Excel app, you will have to enroll your Office installation to the Insider program. This process requires a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription.
To enroll in the Microsoft 365 Insider program, open Microsoft Excel and navigate to File > Account, click the “Office Insider” menu, choose the “Join Office Insider” option, select the “Beta Channel” option, and click the “OK” button. After the enrollment, close the Office applications, open Excel, and from the “Account” page, check for updates to make you have the latest preview version.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He is also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.