The roadmap entry lists the feature as Rolling out for Excel for the web. It's in the General Availability release ring for the Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) cloud, with a general availability date of October 2026. It also warns that some data sources may require authentication.
What Microsoft announced
Microsoft's Excel team described the feature in its Tech Community post "Beyond Analysis: Copilot Gets to Work in Excel." The pitch is to skip the complexity of building Power Query queries yourself. In that post, Microsoft says with get data, this becomes a conversational experience. Simply describe the data you need, where to pull it from, and how it should be shaped, and let Copilot do the work.
The same post gives a timeline that matches the roadmap. Get data will roll out to general availability mid-October. This can be accessed via the web app. Get data arrived alongside several other Copilot features. Windows Report counted five: Interactive Canvas, Skill Builder, Skill Recorder, Get Data, and Clean Data. The two data features have different jobs. Stringfest Analytics sums it up: Get Data brings in and transforms data. Clean Data identifies potential issues in data you already have and recommends corrections.
Key facts at a glance:
| Item | What the evidence says |
|---|---|
| Roadmap ID | 577745 |
| Status | Rolling out |
| Platform | Excel for the web |
| Release ring | General Availability |
| Cloud | Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) |
| GA target | October 2026 (Microsoft's blog says mid-October) |
| Output | A Power Query query you can inspect, edit and refresh |
| Caveat | Some sources may require authentication |
Microsoft says on its roadmap that dates are estimates and all information is subject to change. If you don't see the feature yet, it's most likely still rolling out to your tenant.
Why the Power Query output matters
You could read this as "Copilot imports data now," but the important part is what it leaves behind. Many AI tools can paste a table into a sheet. A Power Query query is a set of recorded steps you can run again.
Microsoft's Power Query documentation explains how that works. The Power Query Editor records and labels every transformation you apply, whether that's a connection, a column removal, a merge or a data type change. You can view and change each step in the Applied Steps section of the Query Settings pane. You can also write or edit steps in the Power Query M language in the Advanced Editor. When you refresh a query, every step runs again against the source, and the original data is never changed.
So when Copilot builds the query for you, you get two things:
- You can audit it. Every step Copilot chose shows up in Applied Steps, so you can check whether it filtered the right rows or picked sensible data types.
- You can repeat it. When the source changes next month, you refresh the query instead of asking Copilot again and hoping it does the same thing.
Stringfest Analytics picked up on this, noting that the Get Data skill answers the question of how to turn an AI conversation into an actual reporting process. Think of a recipe card versus a meal: Copilot gives you the card, and you can still cross out the cilantro.
Summary: The difference is that Copilot creates a refreshable Power Query query instead of a one-off table, so you can review the steps and rerun them.
How this compares with Copilot's earlier Power Query support
Copilot has generated Power Query queries before. In early 2025, Microsoft's Insider blog described a Copilot import that was powered by Power Query and brought in data as a refreshable connection. That version was narrow. Power BI consultant Chris Webb tested it on his Crossjoin blog in March 2025 and found that it can only be used to connect to other Excel files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint and it can't do any transformations in the queries it creates.
Webb's "no transformations" finding is what the new skill appears to address. The roadmap describes a skill that can "connect and transform" data, and Microsoft's blog says users can specify "how it should be shaped." That's a real step up from an import-only helper.
Some limits are still unknown. Neither the roadmap nor the announcement lists:
- Supported connectors or file types
- Authentication methods, or how credentials are collected and stored
- Data size limits
- Whether every Power Query transformation can be requested in plain language
- Feature-specific licensing or admin controls
- When the skill will reach Excel for Windows or Mac
Don't assume a source works just because Power Query supports it elsewhere. Power Query itself runs on Excel for Windows, Mac and the web, and Microsoft notes that Excel for the web gained the ability to refresh queries from authenticated data sources in 2025. That doesn't mean every authenticated connector works with the new Copilot skill.
Keep this separate from Copilot's other data features, too. Microsoft documents a different capability where Copilot finds data from the web, from Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF files in SharePoint or OneDrive, and from organizational information like emails and meetings. That's a separate feature and isn't the same as roadmap item 577745.
Summary: Earlier Copilot imports could only pull in Excel files without transforming them. The new skill adds transformation, but Microsoft hasn't published the connector list or other limits yet.
How to check what Copilot built
Microsoft hasn't published click-by-click instructions for the new skill, so I won't invent menu labels. The checklist below is based on how Power Query is documented to work, and it applies no matter how Copilot was asked to build the query.
- Check the source. In the query's first step, confirm Copilot connected to the file, table or service you actually meant. Similar file names in SharePoint can trip it up.
- Go through Applied Steps. Look for unexpected removed columns, filters that drop too many rows, and data type changes. Watch dates and number formats in particular.
- Check merges and appends. If Copilot combined sources, make sure the join column is correct and row counts make sense. A bad merge can quietly duplicate or drop records.
- Read the M code if you can. The Advanced Editor shows the whole query in one place, which is often faster than clicking through each step.
- Refresh and compare. Change or add data at the source, refresh, and confirm the output still looks right. A query that works on today's data can break on next month's.
- Be ready to sign in. Some sources may prompt for authentication, so a credential prompt is expected, not a bug.
Microsoft's general Copilot in Excel guidance supports this approach. Its FAQ says Copilot can make mistakes, misinterpret information or produce inaccurate results, and it tells users to review, edit and verify anything Copilot creates before relying on it. The same FAQ notes two more things: saved Copilot changes are visible to anyone with access to the file, including coauthors, and Copilot editing only works when Calculation Options are set to Automatic. These are general Copilot in Excel caveats, and Microsoft hasn't said how each one applies to the get data skill.
Summary: Treat Copilot's query like a draft from a junior analyst. It's useful, but check the source, the steps and a refresh before you use it in a report.
What IT admins should know
For admins, the main questions are about data access and credentials. The roadmap only says authentication may be needed depending on the source. Nothing suggests the feature bypasses permissions or grants users new access.
Microsoft's FAQ also says Copilot in Excel is part of Microsoft Copilot Chat and can't be turned off on its own. Existing Copilot Chat admin settings control access, and availability depends on the user's license and the tenant's configuration. Those are general Copilot rules, not confirmed requirements for this skill.
In practice, if users can already reach a data source, they may soon ask Copilot to build queries against it. Now is a good time to review who can access which sources.
The bottom line
The get data skill puts a natural-language front end on one of Excel's most useful but intimidating tools. It could help users who know what result they want but have never opened the Power Query Editor. It doesn't remove the need to understand your data, though, because the query is still yours to review, and Microsoft says so.
The main limit right now is that it's web only, with Windows and Mac timing unannounced. If you've ever rebuilt the same monthly cleanup by hand, try it in Excel for the web, and check every step Copilot adds before you rely on it.