excel

  1. Master Power Query in Excel: Turn Messy CSVs into Repeatable Data Pipelines

    I had been ignoring Power Query for years, treating Excel like a calculator with a few handy formulas—until a messy, cross‑vendor CSV pile forced me to learn the tool everyone always brags about. What started as a tedious weekend of copy‑pasting and find‑and‑replace turned into a few well‑chosen...
  2. Excel COPILOT: In-Cell AI Formulas with Natural Prompts

    Microsoft has quietly changed one of Excel’s oldest conventions: now you can call an AI assistant from inside a worksheet cell the same way you call SUM or VLOOKUP — with a new COPILOT function that accepts plain‑language prompts, references ranges and tables, and returns dynamic, spillable...
  3. Microsoft 365 Copilot iOS Preview: Edits Move to Word, Excel, PowerPoint

    Microsoft's latest change to the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile experience on iOS—which converts the app into a file preview and Copilot chat wrapper that redirects editing tasks to standalone Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps—represents a deliberate shift in how the company structures mobile...
  4. COPILOT in Excel: On-Cell AI Formulas for Live, Grounded Outputs

    Microsoft has pushed generative AI squarely into the heart of Excel with a native =COPILOT(...) formula that lets users type natural‑language prompts directly into cells, reference worksheet ranges for context, and receive live, spillable AI outputs that recalculate automatically as the source...
  5. Excel Copilot: In-cell AI prompts redefine formulas with live results

    Microsoft has put generative AI directly into the cell grid: the new COPILOT function lets users type plain‑English prompts into Excel formulas and returns live, spillable outputs — summaries, classifications, tables and more — that update automatically as the underlying data changes. This...
  6. COPILOT in Excel: In-Cell AI Prompts Power Formulas

    Microsoft has quietly moved one of the most consequential AI experiments of the last year from a sidebar into the very fabric of Excel: the new COPILOT function lets users write plain‑language prompts directly in a cell and receive AI‑generated results that behave like any other formula in the...
  7. Excel COPILOT: AI prompts live inside cells with =COPILOT()

    Microsoft has quietly moved one of the most game‑changing ideas in AI — a conversational, generative assistant — from a sidebar into the heart of a spreadsheet, by introducing a native =COPILOT() formula that runs Copilot prompts directly inside Excel cells and returns live, spillable outputs...
  8. Excel COPILOT: In-Cell AI with Live Recalculations

    Microsoft has quietly — and deliberately — taken the next step in turning Excel from a grid of formulas into a conversational interface by embedding a native =COPILOT function that lets users type natural-language prompts directly into cells and have generative AI return live, recalculating...
  9. COPILOT in Excel: AI insights with governance and licensing

    Excel’s new COPILOT() function hands everyday spreadsheet users an AI-powered microscope and a blunt instrument at the same time: it can summarize, classify, extract, and generate structured outputs from free-text or tabular data with a single cell formula, but it also introduces new...
  10. Excel COPILOT: AI prompts in cells for dynamic, structured outputs

    Microsoft has put a generative AI assistant where most knowledge workers spend the bulk of their time: directly into Excel’s grid with a new COPILOT function that lets Microsoft 365 Copilot run natural-language prompts inside individual cells and return multi-cell arrays, categories, summaries...
  11. COPILOT() in Excel: AI-powered formulas rethink spreadsheets

    Microsoft is rolling a generative AI function directly into Excel’s calculation engine — a native formula called COPILOT() that lets users pass natural‑language prompts and optional grid ranges to a cloud AI model and receive live, recalculating outputs inside cells, a capability that closely...
  12. CVE-2025-53739: Excel Type-Confusion RCE — Mitigation and Patch Guide

    Microsoft’s Security Response Center has published an advisory listing CVE-2025-53739 — an Excel vulnerability described as “Access of resource using incompatible type (‘type confusion’)” that can lead to code execution when a crafted spreadsheet is processed by the desktop client...
  13. Excel CVE-2025-53735 Use-After-Free: Patch Now to Block Local Code Execution

    Microsoft has confirmed a use‑after‑free vulnerability in Microsoft Excel (tracked as CVE‑2025‑53735) that can lead to local code execution when a crafted spreadsheet is opened — a serious document‑based attack vector that demands immediate attention from IT teams and security‑minded users...
  14. CVE-2025-53741: Patch Excel Heap Overflow to Prevent Remote Code Execution

    A heap‑based buffer overflow found in Microsoft Excel, tracked as CVE‑2025‑53741, has been published in Microsoft's Security Update Guide as a vulnerability that can allow an attacker to execute code on a victim machine when a crafted spreadsheet is opened; administrators and users should treat...
  15. Explain This Formula: Excel AI Copilot Inline Formula Explanations

    Microsoft’s newest Copilot integration puts a human-readable explanation of complex Excel formulas directly into the worksheet, translating opaque function tokens into plain‑language summaries, step‑by‑step breakdowns, and context-aware notes so users can understand, audit, and safely modify...
  16. Fountain & Brush Pens Come to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Windows

    Microsoft 365 has quietly moved one of OneNote’s most praised inking features — the Fountain pen and Brush pen — into the core productivity apps, bringing a richer, more natural inking experience to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Windows devices. Background Microsoft introduced the Fountain pen...
  17. Microsoft Lens Retirement: Migrating Scanning to Copilot with OCR

    Microsoft’s decision to retire the standalone Microsoft Lens mobile scanner marks a decisive step in its product consolidation around Copilot — a move that preserves core capture and OCR capabilities but abandons several of Lens’s most convenient and accessibility-driven workflows, forcing...
  18. Explain This Formula: Copilot Brings On-Grid Excel Clarity

    Microsoft is rolling Copilot deeper into Excel with an inline “Explain this formula” experience that breaks down complex formulas directly on the worksheet, letting users read a contextual, step‑by‑step explanation without leaving the grid — a change that promises to speed audits, improve...
  19. Explain This Formula: Copilot Helps Decode Excel Formulas In-Sheet

    Microsoft’s Copilot is coming to the rescue of night‑owl spreadsheet authors: the AI can now explain the formulas buried in your workbook, breaking down what each part does and why the output looks the way it does — and it does this inside the sheet so you never have to leave your workflow...
  20. Microsoft Lens Retirement 2025: Copilot Migration Timeline and Guidance

    Microsoft’s decision to retire the popular Microsoft Lens (formerly Office Lens) mobile scanning app marks a significant change for millions of casual and enterprise users who rely on its fast, reliable capture and OCR workflows — the retirement begins on September 15, 2025, the app will be...