This week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the 49th Controller Congress in Munich - one of Europe's top events for finance leaders and controllers.

It was an incredible crowd. Smart. Experienced.

People who work with data every day.

My session was about AI in Excel.

In 40 minutes, we walked through a "day in the life" of a modern data analyst - using the AI features in Excel.

When we got to Analyze Data, I asked for a quick show of hands.

Who here is using it?

Out of more than 400 seasoned Excel users...

Only a few hands went up.

And here's the surprising part: Analyze Data was introduced in 2019.

You don't need a Copilot license to use it, so there's no extra cost.

Just click the Analyze Data button and ask questions like:

➤ “Top 5 vendors this year”

➤ “Sales trends by region”

...and boom, you get ready-made charts and pivot tables.

If you’ve ever stared at a messy dataset wondering where to even start...

This feature has been quietly waiting for you.

👉 See how Analyze Data can save you hours.​

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🤓 Geeky News

Some big shifts are happening at Microsoft and Google. Here’s what to watch for...

👓 Copilot can see now

Windows Copilot is testing a feature called Vision.

It lets you share any app window, and Copilot will try to understand what it’s looking at.

It can talk you through the steps, offer insights and answer specific questions.

No typing or reading required.

It responds to voice commands and answers in kind.

Whether that’s useful or just mildly unsettling is… up to you.

It's currently rolling out to Windows Insiders in the US. You might need a Copilot Pro subscription to fully take advantage of it.

It's also coming to Edge, so you can ask questions about a web page straight from the Copilot sidebar in the browser.

🤖 Another redesign for Microsoft 365 Copilot

The business version of Copilot is catching up to the consumer version. It now includes smarter AI search, a new Create tool to generate images with GPT-4o, and project-focused Notebooks.

Notebooks let you organize all your project data - files, links, pages - so Copilot can focus on answering questions about just that project.

The new interface is more personalized, remembers your preferences, and can pull results from third-party apps like Slack, Jira, and Google Drive.

The Agent Store is your new go-to for finding AI helpers you can plug right into your workflow.

Microsoft noted a new trend emerging: the “agent boss” - humans who manage fleets of AI agents like mini startups.

🌐 Web domain changes for Microsoft and Google

Microsoft is consolidating all its cloud services under .microsoft - a single top-level domain to rule them all.

So instead of office.com or sharepoint.com, expect m365.cloud.microsoft, sharepoint.cloud.microsoft, etc.

Excel, Loop, Outlook are already there, for others it's coming.

Old URLs should automatically redirect, so that's a relief.

Once finalized, we can expect stronger security (no spoofed sites) and hopefully better usability. Less domain switching should make for a smoother workflow. 🤞

Meanwhile, Google has started retiring country-specific domains (google.at, google.co.in, etc.). All searches now redirect to google.com, but results stay localized based on your settings.

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💚 Space Savers

If you want more space for the Excel grid, you can collapse the ribbon.

There are 4 ways to do it. From the slow to the super-fast.

🐌 Go to the arrow in the bottom left corner and select "Show tabs only".

🖱️ Right-click and "Collapse ribbon".

⌨️ Use the shortcut Ctrl + F1.

⚡ Just double-click on any tab name. Double-click to collapse. Double-click to bring it back. Simple as. Fast as lightning. No faffing about.

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👏 Power Stories

I'm excited to welcome another Power Query Pro in our community! 🎊

Congrats to Logan for completing Master Excel Power Query (Beginner to Pro)!

So glad he was able to translate the real-world examples to his own practice. That's the goal.

And he's already thinking how to tie this into the rest of his skillset. He’s not slowing down. 💪

Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep advancing.

We’re building a skill-powered community here—and every win like this moves us all forward.

Try Analyze Data this week and tell me what surprised you most.

See you next week,

Leila

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