Microsoft is expanding Copilot in Excel with new features aimed at finance teams that need AI tools to be accurate, traceable and grounded in trusted data.
The company said the update adds skills for repeatable workflows, more financial data connectors and stronger visibility into how Copilot reaches its answers. Microsoft framed the changes as part of a broader effort to make Excel more useful for financial planning, accounting, tax, compliance and treasury work, where teams often need to justify every number and every formula.
Microsoft said its own finance organization has been using Copilot in Excel in real workflows and has been helping shape the product by flagging gaps and testing it against professional standards. The company also said it evaluates new Copilot capabilities using task complexity benchmarks that reflect common finance work, rather than single-step prompts. Microsoft has partnered with the Financial Modeling Institute to use its real-world modeling cases as part of that process.
A major part of the update is a new skills system designed to guide Copilot through common finance processes. Microsoft said teams can use skills for jobs such as building a discounted cash flow model, closing the books, refreshing a monthly reporting model or preparing a variance analysis.
Instead of beginning from scratch each time, a skill gives Copilot a defined process to follow, including structure and formatting. Microsoft said that should make outputs easier to review, reuse and trust. The company also introduced a library of sample finance skills and said users can create their own custom skills with an open-standard markdown file saved in OneDrive. Copilot will then use that file to follow the workflow defined by the user.
Microsoft said developers and partners will also be able to build and distribute skills through Microsoft Marketplace and the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The company named several early partners, including LSEG, Ramp, Rogo, Samaya AI, Velixo and Vena.
Excel Copilot is also getting personalization options and workbook rules. Personalization lets users set preferences once so Copilot can apply them consistently. Workbook rules capture a workbook’s structure, naming conventions and formula patterns so the assistant can follow them in future edits.
Microsoft is also adding more connectors that bring market, company and research data directly into Excel. The company said the goal is to reduce manual data pulls and let analysis begin from current sources inside the workbook.
The new connectors include CB Insights for private company and market intelligence, Daloopa for fundamentals tied to public filings and company materials, FactSet for institutional financial and alternative data, Morningstar for research and portfolio analytics, PitchBook for private capital market data, and S&P Global Deterministic Retrieval, a structured retrieval system developed by Kensho.
Microsoft noted that some third-party connectors may require separate licenses or subscriptions. FactSet is currently in preview and is expected to become generally available in July.
Microsoft is also emphasizing traceability. Users can now choose to plan with Copilot before it makes changes, reviewing the ranges, worksheets, formulas and assumptions it intends to update. After edits are made, the changes remain linked to affected cells, and Copilot’s work is attributed in Excel’s Show Changes pane.
That approach, Microsoft said, is meant to match the expectations of finance teams that need to understand not just the answer, but how it was produced.
The new features are rolling out to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers in Excel for the web, Windows and Mac. Personalization, workbook rules, pre-built skills, federated connectors, Plan with Copilot and Copilot attribution are generally available, while custom skills are available in the Insiders channel and are set to reach general availability next month. Partner-built skills are expected in the third quarter of 2026.