Here's a situation I hear about all the time.

Someone leaves. Could be a data analyst, could be the "Excel person" on the team. And whoever's left behind is now responsible for spreadsheets they didn't build and reports they don't fully understand.

Someone wrote in from our survey recently, an administrator at a charity. The analyst who set everything up moved on, and now it's her job to keep it all running. She's watching YouTube videos to figure out how to create charts. She's using a pivot table but has no idea how it works or how to change it. Funding reports are due. There's no manual. No one to ask.

She just has to figure it out.

A lot of people get into Excel this way. Not by choice. Someone left, a role changed, and suddenly you're responsible for a spreadsheet you didn't build.

Charts are usually the first thing that trips people up. You can look at a formula and figure out what it's doing. A chart doesn't give you that. If you don't know how it was made, you're just guessing.

So if you're in that situation or if you just want to get better at visualizing data clearly, we have a full chart playlist on YouTube. I've been building it for years. It covers basics to more advanced techniques. You can start wherever makes sense.

👉 Start with the playlist here​

🤓 Geeky News

✈️ Microsoft giveth, Microsoft taketh away

Six months ago, Microsoft added Copilot Chat inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for free. Starting April 15, users at large organizations lose access entirely unless they have a M365 Copilot (Premium) subscription. Smaller organizations keep it, but with throttled performance during busy times.

The free version is being rebranded to Copilot Chat (Basic). It was already limited - web data only, no access to your files or emails - and slower than Premium.

Copilot Chat remains available in Outlook, the Microsoft 365 app, and at copilot.cloud.microsoft.

🔬 Two models are better than one

If you do have the Premium license, you can take advantage of the Researcher agent. It just got a new update.

Researcher is the Copilot tool for deep research tasks. You give it a complex question, it pulls from your work data and the web, and produces a structured report.

It now uses two AI models instead of one. The first generates the research. The second reviews and challenges it before the final report comes out. Microsoft calls this Critique.

There's also a new Council mode, which runs an Anthropic model and an OpenAI model side by side, then highlights where they agree, where they differ, and what each one caught that the other missed.

Both are rolling out to Frontier program users now.

One reminder: always double-check AI-generated research yourself. Never trust it blindly. It's a starting point, not a final answer.

💻 Microsoft removing an update channel option

If your organization uses the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel for Microsoft 365 - the one that delivers feature updates only twice a year instead of monthly - there's a small change coming April 6.

Microsoft is removing it as a new installation option for unmanaged devices. Existing devices already on this channel aren't affected. But if you switch away from it, you can't switch back.

In practice, most large organizations using semi-annual updates are also running managed devices and those aren't affected. So if you were hoping you'll finally start getting the cool new Excel features sooner, I'm afraid your IT is still in charge.

BTW, if you're confused about the update channels, check out our explainer.

🤔 Progress bars in 45 seconds

Want to show project status quickly?

Here's how you do it in 3 easy steps:

1. Select your percentages
2. Conditional Formatting > Data Bars
3. Set Min to 0 and Max to 1 for a perfect scale (this is the part most people miss)

🎬 Watch here - it only takes 45 seconds.​

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👏 Same charts, different story

Asha's been analyzing data for years. She knows Excel. But every time she sat down to build a new report, she kept hitting the same wall. Bar chart, column chart, donut. Repeat.

After taking our Business Charts course, here's what she said:

Asha Sukumaran Independent Data Analyst

I have been visualizing data for quite some time, and I always hit a wall when I try to make new reports. I feel my designs end up looking the same with either a bar/column/donut chart. This fresh new perspective, with minimalistic designs, is really great, and I have already started incorporating a few in my reports. Most of us who work on Excel know these formulas; however, using them in creative ways to make appealing charts makes this course stand apart. The new designs will definitely help me redesign my portfolio, which should help get me more work in the future.

The course covers corporate reporting specifically. It includes templates, techniques, and a lot of things I've never touched on YouTube. If you've been watching the free content and wondering whether the course adds anything on top, Asha's answer is pretty clear.

See you next week,

Leila

When you're ready, here are some ways we can help:

🎓 Join 400,000+ members in our courses​

📺 Get free tutorials on YouTube​

👥 Train your whole team with our courses. Team pricing and progress tracking - reply for details.

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