The Rundown: In this guide you'll learn how to use Microsoft Copilot Desktop's Voice and Vision features to analyze Google Sheets or Excel data hands-free, by asking questions aloud and getting instant insights without typing formulae.

Who is this useful for:

• Analysts stuck doing repetitive spreadsheet analysis for reports
• Managers who need quick data insights without learning Excel formulas
• Teams turning raw spreadsheet data into presentation-ready reports
• Anyone tired of manually calculating totals and trends across sheets

STEP 1: Install Microsoft Copilot Desktop app

Most recent Windows PCs come with Microsoft Copilot pre-installed, if you don't find it with your search bar, you can follow these steps:

For Windows:

• Open the Microsoft Store from the Start menu
• Search for "Microsoft Copilot"
• Click Get or Install
• Open the app and sign in with your Microsoft account

For macOS:

• Open the App Store (requires macOS 14.0+ and M1 chip or later)
• Search for "Microsoft Copilot"
• Click Get/Install on the official app
• Open Copilot from your Applications folder and sign in

Now that you’ve installed the Copilot app on your desktop, you’re all set to configure its voice mode and vision capabilities.

STEP 2: Configure settings and activate Copilot Vision on your spreadsheet

Open the Copilot app and go to “Settings” tab by hitting your profile icon on the bottom left of the app.

In your profile setting page scroll down to and toggle on:

• “Voice Mode" (This enables you to use the "Hey, Copilot" command to turn on Copilot)
• "Copilot Vision" (This allows Copilot to see what's on your screen, when asked it do so)

Now open your Google Sheets or Excel file in your browser. For this example, we have a monthly sales tracker with columns like Product, Units Sold, Revenue etc.

With your sheets on the screen you can say "Hey, Copilot" and the Copilot toolbar appears on your screen. Click the "specs" icon (eye glasses) on the toolbar to enable Vision mode. Copilot scans your spreadsheet and confirms it can see your data.

STEP 3: Analyze your data using voice commands

With Vision enabled, ask Copilot questions about your data with simple voice commands, you can say something like:

"Help me find the most revenue-generating product in this monthly sales tracker."

Copilot analyzes your sheet and responds with the answer, highlighting the relevant cells.

With this you can ask follow-up questions to continue your analysis with Copilot assisting you in the process. Here are some of the follow up questions that can be tried:

"Which product is the most selling by units?"

"Help me calculate the total revenue generated."

Copilot guides you through each analysis, explaining what it finds and how the calculations work.

STEP 4: Generate and export your analysis report

Once, done with your conversational analysis, close the Copilot toolbar. This opens your conversation in the Copilot app, showing your screen share history.

Now you can generate your entire Analysis report, with a simple prompt as follows:

"Based on our discussion analyzing the monthly sales tracker, draft a professional analysis report. Structure it with: Executive Summary highlighting key findings, Top Performers table with product names and metrics, Key Insights section explaining trends. Use bullet points, bold important numbers, and maintain a professional tone suitable for a team update."

Copilot generates a formatted report. Click "Export as Word Doc" to download it, or click "Edit in a Page" to refine it further. Copy the final report to Notion, Google Docs, or wherever your team needs it.

Pro tip: Use this workflow for learning new skills, reading technical documents, or studying articles. Enable Vision mode, ask Copilot questions about what's on screen, and generate personalized study notes from your conversation.