Hand your spreadsheet to AI

A brilliant data colleague, on demand

When you need the answer rather than the formula, the AI can do the analysis itself. The skill is asking well, and checking what comes back.

• Upload a spreadsheet and ask questions about it in plain English
• Get tables, charts and new Excel files back to download
• Have the AI write the summary email or slide text that goes with the numbers
• Check the AI's answers so you never send a wrong figure to your boss
• Know when this is the right approach and when to stay inside Excel

Good for: anyone who needs answers from data but isn't a spreadsheet person, people preparing for meetings at short notice, and managers who get sent spreadsheets and need the story behind them.

What you need

Do it in six steps

1. Decide whether your data can be uploaded

   This step matters more than any prompt. When you upload a file, it leaves your computer and goes to the AI company.

   • Practice and public data: go ahead.
   • Work data: check your company's AI policy first. Many companies provide an approved tool (Microsoft Copilot, or a business plan of ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) where your data is protected under a company agreement. Use that, not your personal account.
   • Personal or sensitive data (customer names, contact details, salaries, health information): don't upload it to a personal account at all. Remove those columns, or replace names with codes like "Customer 1", before uploading.

   Not allowed to upload? The formula guide gets you the same answers without the data leaving your computer.

2. Upload and get your bearings

   Attach the file and start with a broad question. This tells you whether the AI has read it correctly:

   Copy this promptCopy

   I've attached a spreadsheet of sales orders. Before we start, please tell me:
   - what each column contains
   - how many rows there are and the date range covered
   - any problems you notice (blanks, odd values, duplicates)
   
   Keep it short.

   If it describes something different from what you expect, correct it now: "Unit Price is in pounds, not dollars", or "each row is one order, not one customer".

3. Ask real questions

   Now ask what you actually want to know. One question at a time works best:

   Copy this promptCopy

   Which region had the highest total sales (Quantity × Unit Price), and how much more than the lowest? Show me a small table of all four regions.

   Then tryCopy

   Which months were the best and worst? Is there a trend over the year?

   Then tryCopy

   Which customers ordered in the first half of the year but haven't ordered since July? List them with their last order date and total spent.

   Watch for the trap. The practice data stops on 2 October, so October looks like a disaster. A good AI will point this out. If it doesn't, you should. Part of using AI well is noticing when an answer doesn't make sense.

4. Get charts and files back

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please make a bar chart of total sales by month, with £ on the axis and a clear title, that I can paste into a PowerPoint slide. Leave October out because it's only partial.

   Then tryCopy

   Please create an Excel file I can download with three tabs: "By region" (totals by region and month), "By product" (totals by product, highest first) and "Lapsed customers" (from your earlier answer).

   The AI will give you an image to download, or a link to the file. Open the file in Excel and check it looks right.

5. Check the answers

   AI is very good at this, but it can still make mistakes: misreading a column, double-counting, or confidently stating something it guessed. Before anything leaves your hands:

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please double-check your figures. Show me how you calculated the regional totals, confirm the grand total of all sales, and tell me anything you assumed or weren't sure about.

   Then do one check yourself. Total the Total column in Excel (or use a quick pivot table) and compare it with the AI's grand total. If one key number matches, you can trust the rest a great deal more.

6. Turn the numbers into words

   This is where AI saves the most time. Ask it to write what you'd otherwise spend an hour on:

   Copy this promptCopy

   Write a short email to my manager summarising this year's sales so far: the headline total, the best and worst regions, the trend by month, and the lapsed customers we should contact. Friendly and professional, under 150 words, with 3 bullet points. Mention that October is partial.

   Or for a meeting:

   Then tryCopy

   Turn the key findings into text for 3 PowerPoint slides: a title and 3 short bullet points each. Suggest which chart goes on which slide.

   Always read it before sending. Make sure every number in the text matches the numbers you checked.

Quick fixes

Use it on your own work

When to use this, and when to stay in Excel

Use the AI for one-off questions, quick charts, first drafts of reports, and finding patterns you didn't know to look for. Stay in Excel, with formulas, pivot tables and a dashboard, for anything you'll repeat every week, share with colleagues, or need to audit later. The best results come from using both: AI to explore, Excel to make it permanent.

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