Microsoft Copilot in Excel gains reusable skills and live data connectors for finance teams

Microsoft Copilot in Excel can now handle more of your finance work with reusable skills and data connectors

Live financial data now flows straight into your spreadsheet. Microsoft just gave Copilot in Excel a serious upgrade for anyone who spends their day buried in spreadsheets. The update centers on three things finance teams actually care about: reusable workflows, live data straight from trusted sources, and a clear record of exactly what Copilot edited in your sheet. How Copilot Skills automates your finance workflows The standout feature here is called Skills. It lets you tell Copilot exactly how to handle the repeatable stuff, like building a DCF, closing the books, or putting together a variance analysis. Instead of typing out the same detailed prompt every single time, you just save a SKILL.md file in OneDrive, and Copilot follows your steps, formatting, and structure on its own from then on. You can also use Microsoft's prebuilt finance skills or build your own from scratch. Later this year, partners like LSEG, Ramp, Rogo, and Vena will also sell their own skills through Microsoft Marketplace. Recommended Videos On top of that, Copilot can now pull live data right into your workbook through new connectors with CB Insights, Daloopa, FactSet, Morningstar, PitchBook, and S&P Global, joining the LSEG and Moody's connectors that showed up back in May. That means a lot less copy-pasting from reports and more analysis grounded in current numbers, though a few of these connectors will need their own separate subscription. Finally, you track every change Copilot makes in Excel AI and finance have always had a trust problem, so Microsoft built in a Plan with Copilot mode that lays out exactly which ranges, formulas, and assumptions it's about to touch before it touches anything. Every edit stays fully traceable afterward, and the Show Changes pane now clearly tags what Copilot did versus what a human teammate did. It builds on Excel's existing Agent Mode and comes right after Microsoft's recent acquisition of finance AI startup Fintool, both pointing to how serious Microsoft is getting about finance specifically. These updates are live now for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers on Excel for Web, Windows, and Mac, with custom Skills rolling out to everyone over the next month.

Microsoft's Copilot in Excel adds skills and data connectors for finance work By Investing.com

Investing.com - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced Thursday new updates to Copilot in Excel designed for financial professionals, including skills for repeatable workflows, additional financial data connectors, and improved traceability features. The company introduced skills that allow teams to define how Copilot completes common finance processes such as building a DCF, closing books, refreshing monthly reporting models, or preparing variance analyses. A library of sample finance skills is available, and users can build custom skills using an open-standard markdown file saved in OneDrive. Developers and partners can soon build and deploy skills through Microsoft Marketplace and Microsoft 365 Admin Center, with Microsoft working with partners including LSEG, Ramp, Rogo, samaya.ai, Velixo, and Vena. Microsoft expanded financial data connectors beyond the LSEG and Moody's connectors released in May. New connectors include CB Insights for private company intelligence, Daloopa for SEC filing data, FactSet for institutional financial data, Morningstar for investment research, PitchBook for private capital market data, and S&P Global Deterministic Retrieval for structured API-driven access to S&P Global data. FactSet is in preview and will be generally available in July. The company added a Plan with Copilot feature that outlines which ranges, worksheets, formulas, and assumptions the tool intends to update before taking action. Every edit remains traceable, with links back to affected cells, and changes are attributed to Copilot in the Show Changes pane alongside collaborator work. Personalization, workbook rules, pre-built skills, federated Copilot connectors, Plan with Copilot, and Copilot attribution in Show Changes are generally available for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers across Excel for Web, Windows, and Mac. Custom skills are available via the Insiders channel for Windows and Mac, rolling out to general availability next month, with partner-built skills coming in Q3 2026. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.