Hi everyone, last week we had a series of posts to show you some of the things that are possible to do with Copilot in Excel, focused on adding calculated columns to complete tasks. Continuing with Copilot in Excel examples, this week’s topic will be getting help from Copilot with the chat helper.  

If you’re not sure where to get started, you could start by asking Copilot in Excel this question: 

I’m trying to learn how to use Excel, what is the first thing I should try to learn? 

Picture of Excel copilot pane showing the above prompt with 10 initial steps you can try to get started with Excel.

The chat helper in Copilot returns these 10 things to get started: 

The first thing you should learn in Excel is how to navigate the interface and understand the basic concepts. Here are the initial steps you can take: 

Understanding the Excel Interface: Familiarize yourself with the Ribbon, which contains tabs like Home, Insert, and Page Layout, each with its own set of commands. 
Entering Data: Learn how to enter and edit data in cells. Practice selecting cells, entering numbers and text, and using the Enter and Tab keys to navigate. 
Basic Formulas: Understand how to create basic formulas for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For example, to add two numbers in cells A1 and A2, you would use:  =SUM(A1, A2) 
Functions: Get to know simple functions like SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX. 
Formatting: Learn how to format cells, including changing the number format, text alignment, and cell color. 
Basic Navigation: Practice navigating through the workbook, switching between worksheets, and selecting ranges of cells. 
Saving and Opening Files: Learn how to save your workbook in different formats and open existing files. 
Creating Charts: Try creating a basic chart to visually represent your data. 
Sorting and Filtering: Learn how to sort data alphabetically or numerically and how to filter data to display only the information you need. 
Printing: Understand how to print your worksheets, adjusting page setup and print area as needed. 

Starting with these basics will give you a solid foundation to build upon as you continue to learn and explore more advanced features of Excel. 

The multi-turn capabilities of Copilot allow you to ask follow-up questions while keeping the same context. Perhaps you want to know more about workbook navigation. You could follow-up with this question: 

Tell me more about how to navigate the workbook 

Excel copilot pane showing the above prompt and a list of 10 tips for navigating your workbook.

The chat helper in copilot returns these 10 things to get started: 

Navigating the workbook in Excel is essential for managing and analyzing your data efficiently. Here’s how you can navigate through an Excel workbook: 

Worksheets: At the bottom of the Excel window, you’ll find tabs for each worksheet in your workbook. Click on a tab to switch to that worksheet. You can also reorder worksheets by clicking and dragging the tabs. 
Scroll Bars: Use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars to move through the cells in a worksheet. 
Go To: Press Ctrl + G or F5 to open the “Go To” dialog box, where you can type a cell reference to jump directly to that cell. 
Name Box: The Name Box, located to the left of the formula bar, displays the cell reference of the active cell. You can also type a cell reference here and press Enter to go to that cell. 
Arrow Keys: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move one cell at a time in any direction. 
Page Up/Page Down: Press Page Up or Page Down to move one screen up or down in your worksheet. 
Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Hold down Ctrl while pressing an arrow key to jump to the edge of the data region in the direction of the arrow. 
Find and Select: Use the Find & Select feature in the Editing group on the Home tab to search for specific data within your workbook. 
Split and Freeze Panes: Use the Split and Freeze Panes features in the View tab to keep certain rows or columns visible while scrolling through the rest of your worksheet. 
Zoom: Adjust the zoom level in the bottom-right corner of the Excel window to change the view size of your worksheet. 

By mastering these navigation techniques, you’ll be able to move around your Excel workbook quickly and with ease. 

All of that makes sense and I see a few keyboard shortcuts mentioned. I would like to learn more shortcuts. I follow-up with another question: 

What the best keyboard shortcuts for navigation 

Excel copilot pane showing the above prompt and a list of keyboard shortcuts for navigating in Excel.

The chat helper in copilot returns these 10 keyboard shortcuts: 

Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for navigating in Excel: 

Arrow Keys: Move one cell up, down, left, or right. 
Ctrl + Arrow Key: Jump to the edge of data regions. 
Page Up/Page Down: Move one screen up or down. 
Alt + Page Up/Page Down: Move one screen to the right or left. 
Home: Go to the first cell of the current row. 
Ctrl + Home: Go to the beginning of the worksheet (A1). 
Ctrl + End: Go to the last cell with content on a worksheet. 
Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down: Move to the previous or next worksheet. 
Ctrl + G or F5: Open the “Go To” dialog box to jump to a specific cell. 
Ctrl + T: Create a table from the selected data range. 

These shortcuts can significantly speed up your workflow and make it easier to navigate through your data in Excel. 

These are just a few examples of questions that you can ask the chat helper in Excel copilot. Over the coming weeks I will be sharing more examples of what you can do with Copilot in Excel. 

Thanks for reading, 

Microsoft Excel Team 

*Disclaimer: If you try these types of prompts and they do not work as expected, it is most likely due to our gradual feature rollout process. Please try again in a few weeks. 

​Hi everyone, last week we had a series of posts to show you some of the things that are possible to do with Copilot in Excel, focused on adding calculated columns to complete tasks. Continuing with Copilot in Excel examples, this week’s topic will be getting help from Copilot with the chat helper.  
If you’re not sure where to get started, you could start by asking Copilot in Excel this question: 
 
I’m trying to learn how to use Excel, what is the first thing I should try to learn? 
Picture of Excel copilot pane showing the above prompt with 10 initial steps you can try to get started with Excel.
 
The chat helper in Copilot returns these 10 things to get started: 
The first thing you should learn in Excel is how to navigate the interface and understand the basic concepts. Here are the initial steps you can take: 

Understanding the Excel Interface: Familiarize yourself with the Ribbon, which contains tabs like Home, Insert, and Page Layout, each with its own set of commands. 
Entering Data: Learn how to enter and edit data in cells. Practice selecting cells, entering numbers and text, and using the Enter and Tab keys to navigate. 
Basic Formulas: Understand how to create basic formulas for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For example, to add two numbers in cells A1 and A2, you would use:  =SUM(A1, A2) 
Functions: Get to know simple functions like SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX. 
Formatting: Learn how to format cells, including changing the number format, text alignment, and cell color. 
Basic Navigation: Practice navigating through the workbook, switching between worksheets, and selecting ranges of cells. 
Saving and Opening Files: Learn how to save your workbook in different formats and open existing files. 
Creating Charts: Try creating a basic chart to visually represent your data. 
Sorting and Filtering: Learn how to sort data alphabetically or numerically and how to filter data to display only the information you need. 
Printing: Understand how to print your worksheets, adjusting page setup and print area as needed. 

Starting with these basics will give you a solid foundation to build upon as you continue to learn and explore more advanced features of Excel. 
 
The multi-turn capabilities of Copilot allow you to ask follow-up questions while keeping the same context. Perhaps you want to know more about workbook navigation. You could follow-up with this question: 
Tell me more about how to navigate the workbook 
Excel copilot pane showing the above prompt and a list of 10 tips for navigating your workbook.
The chat helper in copilot returns these 10 things to get started: 
Navigating the workbook in Excel is essential for managing and analyzing your data efficiently. Here’s how you can navigate through an Excel workbook: 

Worksheets: At the bottom of the Excel window, you’ll find tabs for each worksheet in your workbook. Click on a tab to switch to that worksheet. You can also reorder worksheets by clicking and dragging the tabs. 
Scroll Bars: Use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars to move through the cells in a worksheet. 
Go To: Press Ctrl + G or F5 to open the “Go To” dialog box, where you can type a cell reference to jump directly to that cell. 
Name Box: The Name Box, located to the left of the formula bar, displays the cell reference of the active cell. You can also type a cell reference here and press Enter to go to that cell. 
Arrow Keys: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move one cell at a time in any direction. 
Page Up/Page Down: Press Page Up or Page Down to move one screen up or down in your worksheet. 
Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Hold down Ctrl while pressing an arrow key to jump to the edge of the data region in the direction of the arrow. 
Find and Select: Use the Find & Select feature in the Editing group on the Home tab to search for specific data within your workbook. 
Split and Freeze Panes: Use the Split and Freeze Panes features in the View tab to keep certain rows or columns visible while scrolling through the rest of your worksheet. 
Zoom: Adjust the zoom level in the bottom-right corner of the Excel window to change the view size of your worksheet. 

By mastering these navigation techniques, you’ll be able to move around your Excel workbook quickly and with ease. 
 
All of that makes sense and I see a few keyboard shortcuts mentioned. I would like to learn more shortcuts. I follow-up with another question: 
What the best keyboard shortcuts for navigation 
Excel copilot pane showing the above prompt and a list of keyboard shortcuts for navigating in Excel.
The chat helper in copilot returns these 10 keyboard shortcuts: 
Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for navigating in Excel: 

Arrow Keys: Move one cell up, down, left, or right. 
Ctrl + Arrow Key: Jump to the edge of data regions. 
Page Up/Page Down: Move one screen up or down. 
Alt + Page Up/Page Down: Move one screen to the right or left. 
Home: Go to the first cell of the current row. 
Ctrl + Home: Go to the beginning of the worksheet (A1). 
Ctrl + End: Go to the last cell with content on a worksheet. 
Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down: Move to the previous or next worksheet. 
Ctrl + G or F5: Open the “Go To” dialog box to jump to a specific cell. 
Ctrl + T: Create a table from the selected data range. 

These shortcuts can significantly speed up your workflow and make it easier to navigate through your data in Excel. 
 
These are just a few examples of questions that you can ask the chat helper in Excel copilot. Over the coming weeks I will be sharing more examples of what you can do with Copilot in Excel. 
  
Thanks for reading, 
Microsoft Excel Team *Disclaimer: If you try these types of prompts and they do not work as expected, it is most likely due to our gradual feature rollout process. Please try again in a few weeks. 
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