Using GenAI with Microsoft Excel

This course is ideal for:

• Business professionals who regularly work with spreadsheet data
• Analysts, managers, coordinators, and administrative staff
• Anyone who wants to improve efficiency and accuracy in Excel using AI
• Users comfortable with basic spreadsheet operations but new to generative AI tools

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Select and use generative AI tools to generate spreadsheet‑ready content
• Use AI to enhance productivity when working with spreadsheet data
• Apply AI to solve spreadsheet‑related problems strategically
• Write and refine prompts to obtain accurate, useful outputs
• Use AI to assist with formulas, functions, lookups, conditional logic, and PivotTables
• Clean, structure, and format spreadsheet data with AI guidance
• Summarize and analyze text‑based data using AI
• Recognize the limitations, risks, and ethical considerations of using generative AI

Course Syllabus

Lesson 1 — Using AI to Generate Spreadsheet Content

Introduction to Generative AI

• What generative AI is and how it works
• Machine learning, models, and modalities
• Large Language Models (LLMs)

Prompting Fundamentals

• How prompts influence output
• Prompting approaches (instruction, troubleshooting, summarization, inference, etc.)

Generating Spreadsheet Content

• Creating synthetic datasets
• Producing text, tables, and structured information
• Reviewing and refining AI-generated output

Choosing the Right AI Tool

• ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and alternatives
• Standalone vs. integrated tools
• Free vs. paid plans
• Context windows, limitations, and data-privacy considerations

Lesson 2 — Enhancing Spreadsheet Productivity with GenAI

Prompt Engineering for Spreadsheet Tasks

• Iterative prompting
• Providing examples and context
• Clarity vs. verbosity

Application-Specific Help

• Asking AI for Excel-specific instructions
• Using AI to discover features (Forecast Sheet, data tools, etc.)

Functions and Formulas

• Explaining syntax
• Writing formulas with AI assistance
• Troubleshooting formula errors

Performing Common Spreadsheet Tasks with AI

• Data conversion (types, casing, formatting)
• Data deduplication
• Splitting and merging fields
• Trimming and cleaning text
• Date/time manipulation
• Lookups (XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP)
• Conditional logic (IF, nested IFs)
• PivotTable configuration and filtering

Lesson 3 — Solving Problems Using GenAI

Understanding AI Limitations

• Confabulation
• Calculation inaccuracies
• Weaknesses in statistical analysis
• Data-entry limitations
• Conceptual vs. informational image generation

Strategic Problem Solving with AI

• Problem formulation
• Explaining goals, constraints, and context

Data Structuring

• Designing spreadsheet layouts
• Consolidating data from multiple sources

Data Cleaning & Preparation

• Identifying missing, inconsistent, or anomalous data
• Using AI to suggest cleaning strategies

Data Formatting

• Improving readability
• Conditional formatting strategies

Chart Selection & Formatting

• Choosing the right chart for the message
• Formatting charts for non-technical audiences

Summarization & Sentiment Analysis

• Summarizing long text fields
• Categorizing sentiment for analysis