Turning data into insights
1. Turning data into insights
Welcome back. In this video, you'll use Copilot in Excel to summarize data, spot trends, and turn numbers into tables and charts you can act on.2. Why Excel and Visual Reasoning?
A column of numbers is hard to reason about. Visual reasoning means turning it into something you can think with - a table, a chart, or a short written summary. That's the kind of work Excel is built for, and here's how Copilot helps. It reads the data, works out the calculation you asked for, and then produces the result, writing the formula or building the chart itself. So instead of knowing which function to reach for, you describe the outcome you want in plain language.3. Why Excel and Visual Reasoning?
It goes further than one chart. Copilot can summarize what a sheet contains, point out trends and outliers, add a formula column for a calculation you describe, and build a chart and then reshape it when you ask. The effect is close to having an analyst sitting beside you: you stay the one deciding what matters, and the mechanical work of getting there is handled.4. From data to a summary table
One thing to be clear about first, because there are two routes. In the Copilot app you attach the spreadsheet and ask your question there. Or you can open the file from Excel for the web and use the Copilot button inside the app, which can change the workbook itself rather than just answering about it. The examples here use the Copilot app with the file attached. So attach your file, then ask Copilot for say a summary table of total registrations by region. Because Excel data is structured in rows and columns, you get the best results when you name fields clearly, like "by region" or "the Registrations column." In a single step, Copilot returns a clean table you can build on. This is the PivotTable job. Normally it's select the range, insert the PivotTable, drag Region into rows, drag Registrations into values, then fix the formatting. Here it's one sentence, and the sentence is the part you'd have to think about anyway.5. Refining for visuals
Once Copilot has built your table, you can refine it into a chart with a single follow-up: "now show that as a bar chart, sorted from highest to lowest." Notice the refinement here. In Word it rewrites sentences. In Excel it re-runs the calculation and rebuilds the visual from the same numbers. Your data itself never changes, only the view of it does, which is why you can keep asking until the story is clear.6. Visual reasoning beyond Excel
The same visual reasoning approach works across other apps, too. For example, in Word, you can ask Copilot to turn a block of text into a table. In PowerPoint, you can prompt it to add a chart slide based on the numbers you provide.7. Visual reasoning beyond Excel
The difference lies in what you can hand over. Word and PowerPoint only accept text instructions, so you'll need to describe the data or numbers you want visualized, whereas in Excel you can point Copilot straight at a table or a range.8. Best practices in Excel with Copilot
So let's quickly summarize some best practices for prompting in Excel. Always use the exact column names. That tells Copilot where to look. Clearly specify chart types and axis labels, so the output matches what you need. And refine outputs step by step, to highlight exactly what matters to your audience.9. Let's practice!
Now it's your turn to practice. In the exercises, you'll use Excel with Copilot to move from a table to a chart, and then into a clear summary. This step-by-step refinement will help you see how Copilot can turn raw data into insights you can act on.Create Your Free Account
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