Google’s Gemini AI has recently become more active and capable inside Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides — and now Microsoft is pushing a similar upgrade for Copilot. However, these features have been in testing for some time They are now more widely available For individuals and companies who pay for any of the Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
Essentially, CoPilot can now do much more on its own in Word, Excel and PowerPoint – not just offering advice and help, but actually handling the business of creating and editing yourself. There are many ways to use it, but here are some examples I’ve tested to give you an idea of what’s possible.
If this type of AI intervention isn’t for you, you can hide CoPilot from view inside Microsoft Office apps. On Windows, select File > Options > Copilot and uncheck enable copilot; On macOS, open the app menu (e.g. Word), Then Preferences > Copilot.
Co-Pilot can draft and edit documents in Word
Co-Pilot in Word will do most of the writing work for you if you allow it.
Credit: Lifehacker
Create a new document in Word, and via a prompt bar at the top, Copilot asks you to “Describe what you want to draft with Copilot” — so I asked for a 200-word introduction suitable for the introduction to a book on AI chatbots, written in a tone that’s friendly, engaging, and accessible to anyone, no matter their technical level. You can also give it an existing file to work on via the + (plus) button.
In a matter of seconds, I had a simple and concise introduction, created from a mix of millions of human-generated words and sentences. Then I got another prompt box to refine the text. I asked to make my introduction more formal and verbose, and Copilot got to work looking up long and fancy words in its internal thesaurus.
Click co-pilot button in the ribbon menu, and you get a side panel to request all kinds of edits and changes – whatever you put in the prompt, CoPilot can respond to it. If your boss said your report needs to focus more on customer benefits and real-world examples, Copilot can take care of that. You then get a chance to review all the edits made and accept or reject them.
At this point it’s probably worth saying that I would never ask an AI to write anything for me, or even to suggest edits or come up with alternative titles or article ideas – not just because I think I can do these tasks better, but also because I want to keep my brain as busy as possible for as long as possible. However, if you’re happy with your work dealing with machine-written text, CoPilot is certainly capable of it (and will make far fewer typing errors than a flesh-and-blood human being).
CoPilot can create and edit charts in Excel
CoPilot can create entire spreadsheets or make small edits in Excel.
Credit: Lifehacker
I’m much less familiar with spreadsheets than I am with articles, so I was interested to see how Copilot could help me in Excel. There’s no prompt box at the top of the blank sheet, like you get with Word documents, but you can click and call for AI assistance co-pilot Button on the ribbon toolbar.
Here I asked Copilot to create a demo spreadsheet showing 10 kids and their running times at a school sports day, putting the data into a simple table and a chart. If you’re a more serious Excel user than I am, you can get CoPilot to combine data from existing spreadsheets and reports, as well as put together spreadsheets from scratch.
CoPilot carried out my instructions with a fair amount of accuracy, although the chart was hit-or-miss and could use some improvement (CoPilot tried and failed to make some improvements on this). Subsequent edits were well done, and if you’re specific about the changes you want, Copilot takes care of them for you.
What do you think so far?
For example, I’m not sure I’d trust Copilot in terms of company financials, but as far as spreadsheet-via-hints go, I was mostly impressed. Instead of manually matching rows and columns, making formatting changes, or trying to figure out the exact formula needed for the job, you can let CoPilot take charge.
CoPilot can create slide shows in PowerPoint
Co-pilot in creating and editing slides in PowerPoint.
Credit: Lifehacker
Finally, I saw what Microsoft’s AI could do for me with PowerPoint slideshows. Again, the CoPilot button on the ribbon toolbar is the way to AI editing capabilities, and this time I asked it to create a slide deck promoting Lifehacker. I wanted to test its ability to pull information from the web and put together an entire slideshow from scratch (something I’d tried before with Cloud Design).
I answered a few questions about the length and tone of my slideshow, and then CoPilot went to work. Overall, the AI was up to the challenge, even if in the generic, template-like way that we are all now familiar with when it comes to these synthetic creations. Producing a precise series of slides in a matter of seconds is impressive, though, even though I think I could have done the job better given an hour or two.
Hint-based edits work fine. Want to change the background color? Let’s just say – it’s faster and easier than messing with menus and toolbars, though probably not as satisfying. Whether you want to change the entire tone of a presentation or work on two extra slides of a summary, Copilot will do it.
I can see these tools being useful, whether doing basic tasks with a minimum of fuss, or automating advanced editing and processes that would otherwise take a lot of time. I can also imagine that many users will stick with their current workflow. As for me, I think I’ll just keep doing my own Word, Excel, and PowerPoint work for now.
