Back from Greece, where family time (and way too much tzatziki + souvlaki) did the trick to recharge.

Now that I’m back, I can see Excel didn’t rest. Some big updates rolled out while I was gone. Ones that actually make your work easier.

Let’s jump into Geeky News 🤓

✈️ AI in the grid: meet =COPILOT()

Copilot in the side pane is fine. But now you can plug it directly in the grid.

The new COPILOT function lets you type a natural-language prompt right into a cell and reference ranges as context.

It returns AI-generated results that update automatically when your data changes.

And it plays nicely with other functions, too. You can drop your results into formulas like IF, WRAPROWS, or GROUPBY for even more flexibility.

Think about what this unlocks:

• Summarize or classify survey feedback in seconds
• Run quick sentiment analysis (no more manual tagging! phew!)

• Extract clean values from messy text
• Generate lists and tables for testing or planning

It’s basically like having ChatGPT wired directly into Excel’s calculation engine.

Of course, there're also some "gotchas"...

Math? Don't bother

Large language models that power AI tools like Copilot and ChatGPT are amazing with text. But they suck at math.

For numerical calculations, stick with SUM, AVERAGE, and friends.

Usage limits apply

• 100 calls every 10 minutes, 300 per hour.

But you can get around it by passing ranges instead of running the formula row by row.

Knowledge cutoff

The model has no access to live web data. June 2024 is as far as it knows.

It also doesn't have access to any of your organization's data, other than the context you provide directly in the formula.

It's early days, and the function will only keep improving from now on.

AI can make mistakes

The usual AI disclaimer applies: always double-check results.

Availability

It's currently rolling out to Excel Insiders in the Beta channel.

But you do need a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license (for business).

This is the first time an Excel function requires an additional license - which honestly feels a bit strange to me.

🐍 Python in Excel can analyze your pictures

Python in Excel can now directly access images in cells.

You can use the Pillow library - a popular Python tool for working with images. You can inspect pixels, apply filters, adjust colors, resize, or extract metadata like resolution, format, and timestamps. All without leaving Excel.

For teams handling product visuals, photo audits, or document reviews, it could add some automation muscle. For example, you can:

• Detect dimensions and formats for quality checks
• Standardize branding with watermarks or logos
• Apply basic image processing (e.g. grayscale, brightness, overlays)

Now rolling out to Excel Insiders on Windows, Mac, and the Web (if your version already supports Python in Excel).

👏 Python in Excel for a competitive edge

Image processing might be a niche use of Excel, but Python in Excel really is a game changer for data analysis.

Katie, who successfully completed Python in Excel For the Real World, can confirm:

Katie Stanch Data Analyst

This course really delivered on covering a wide range of topics. The variety kept things interesting, and I appreciated how each topic built on the previous ones. Learning time series forecasting and machine learning has been a game-changer for my analytical capabilities. The data cleaning techniques are going to be huge for me, especially dealing with messy date formats. I'm really excited to start doing deeper analysis and bringing insights to the organization that we've never had access to before. I can't wait to start applying the principles I've picked up in this course to give our organization a serious competitive edge. Definitely recommend for anyone looking to expand their analytical toolkit.

Huge congrats to Katie! Stories like hers are proof that while AI can speed things up, real impact comes when you understand the analysis yourself.

AI in your formulas. Python for your images. Excel is stretching in directions most of us didn’t think possible.

See you next week,

Leila

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