The toolbar isn't set up the way you like. The colours don't match your brand. The layout needs tweaking, again! It's not a huge job, but it adds up. Five minutes here, ten minutes there, repeated across every spreadsheet, every week.

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Most people use Excel with the default setup and never think to change it. Excel is designed to be personalised and when you take a few minutes to set it up your way, it changes the way you work.

What Does Personalising Excel Actually Mean?

Personalising Excel is about shaping the tool to match how you work, rather than adapting yourself to fit the default layout every time you open a file.

It starts with the small things; eg. customising your Quick Access Toolbar so the tools you use most are right where you need them. Adjusting your default font, colours, and number formats so your spreadsheets look consistent without you having to manually format every time. Setting up your preferred view so you're not scrolling sideways or squinting at tiny text.

But it goes further than that.

You can tailor how your data is displayed, from simple filtered views that strip away the noise, to interactive dashboards that tell a clear story at a glance. Conditional formatting can highlight what matters most. Charts and pivot tables can be set up to update automatically as your data changes.

The result? More consistency across your work. Less time spent reformatting and data presented the way you actually need it!

Why It Matters More Than You Think

When your tools are set up to support you, the friction disappears. You stop wasting energy on repetitive setup tasks and start focusing on the work that actually matters; analysing, deciding, and acting.

Think about it this way: if you spend just 10 minutes a day adjusting layouts, reformatting cells, or rebuilding charts you've already made before, that's nearly an hour a week. Over a year, that's close to 50 hours of lost productivity  and that's a conservative estimate.

Personalisation isn't just a nice-to-have. It's a practical way to reclaim your time and reduce frustration.

Enter Copilot: Your AI Partner Inside Excel

Now, here's where things get really exciting. 

If your organisation has Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses, Copilot can do much of this personalisation work for you. It can learn your preferences and apply them automatically or you can set them once and have them flow across all your Excel files.

But Copilot inside Excel goes well beyond personalisation. It fundamentally changes the way you interact with your data.

There are two modes to understand:

1. Chat Mode: This is where you ask Copilot questions about your data in plain English. "What trends do you see?" or "Which product had the biggest increase in sales?" Copilot analyses what's on the sheet and gives you insights, explanations, and suggestions — all without making changes to your workbook.
2. Edit Mode: This is where Copilot does the work for you. It can generate formulas, create pivot tables, build charts, apply conditional formatting, and even produce dashboards — all based on your instructions. As long as you can explain the goal, Copilot can help you get there.

The key to getting great results? A simple prompt structure: Action + Data + Outcome. Tell Copilot what you want done, point it to the right data, and describe the result you're after. For example: "Summarise sales by region for Q2 and create a bar chart."

You don't need to remember menu paths or complex formulas. You just need to know what you want to achieve.

It's Not About Replacing Excel Skills

One thing we always emphasise in our training, Copilot doesn't replace your Excel knowledge. It helps you get to results faster and with more confidence. The people who get the most out of Copilot in Excel are those who understand what they want from their data. Copilot simply removes the friction between the question and the answer.

And for those who are newer to Excel, Copilot acts as a guide, explaining what formulas do, suggesting ways to visualise data, and helping you learn as you go.

Learn How in Our Power Hour on Copilot Inside Excel

At 365 Training Hub, we run a dedicated Power Hour on Copilot Inside Excel. A 60-minute live webinar designed to show you exactly how to combine the power of Excel with AI to make data analysis, reporting, and decision-making faster and easier.

In this session, you'll learn how to:

• Follow best practices for working with Copilot inside Excel
• Visualise information quickly and easily using Copilot
• Analyse data effortlessly;  from spotting trends to creating pivot tables
• Get help with formulas using natural language
• Explore Edit mode to create dashboards and summaries
• Get an introduction to the Excel Agent for multi-step tasks

Our Power Hours are interactive, practical, and designed for small groups of up to 10 people. We deliver them as live webinars over Microsoft Teams, with support files sent beforehand so you can follow along. It's training that feels more like a conversation  because that's when people learn best.

Ready to Make Excel Work for You?

Whether you're looking to personalise your own setup, upskill your team on Copilot inside Excel, or explore what's possible with AI-powered data analysis, we'd love to help.

Our Power Hours are available as standalone sessions or as part of a broader Copilot training pathway tailored to your organisation.

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