Ask most people what Microsoft Copilot does and you get the same answer: it summarizes things. That was true two years ago. It is not true now.
Did you know Copilot can write and run Python against your spreadsheet, and show you the code while it works? Or that it can run multi-step research across your work files and the open web and hand back an answer with citations you can trace? Here is what changed: Copilot used to be a passive partner in your documents. It could answer questions about your data but could not act on it. With Agent Mode now generally available in Excel, Copilot builds the analysis itself, the formulas, the new sheets, the charts, then evaluates its own output and fixes what it got wrong before handing it back.
In this training session, you will see the difference between asking Copilot what a file says and putting it to work as a research analyst. Join us on October 27th at 11 AM (EST) for The Insight Detective: Research and Analysis with Microsoft Copilot, featuring Heather Severino, 11-time Microsoft MVP for Microsoft 365 and Copilot.
Key Takeaways:
- It analyzes now, it does not just describe. The Analyst agent reasons like a data scientist and runs Python on your data in the open, and Agent Mode in Excel builds the model, then checks its own work.
- It researches past your own files. The Researcher agent runs multi-step research across your work content and the web, and Copilot connectors reach systems like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Confluence, and Jira, so the answer reflects where your data actually lives.
- It stops losing the thread. You used to re-paste the same background documents into every new chat. Copilot Notebooks keeps your project sources in one grounded workspace, so every answer stays anchored to material you chose and can cite.
Register now and stop treating the most capable research tool on your desktop like a summarizer.