Excel October 2026 update adds Copilot skills and new AI models
Microsoft also lets Windows and Mac users name a table as they create it, and adds OpenAI GPT-6.1 Sol and Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5.5 to Copilot.
Microsoft announced the October 2026 update for Excel on October 27, adding table naming at creation, five new capabilities for Copilot in Excel and new model options in Microsoft Copilot, according to forest.watch.impress.co.jp.
On Excel desktop versions for Windows and Mac, users can now give a table a name when they create it, through the Create Table dialog. The option reached Microsoft 365 Insider users last month.
Copilot in Excel gains five skills. The clean data skill flags issues such as extra spaces, inconsistent formats, duplicate values and wrongly typed values, then offers reasons and suggested fixes; it can be called with the prompt '@clean-data' or from the Skills menu and is rolling out to general availability on Windows, Mac and Web.
The skill recorder turns a demonstrated repeated task into a reusable skill and is available to Insiders on Windows and Mac, with general availability on the Web. The skill builder creates reusable skills from described workflows, instructions, past prompts and examples, and is rolling out to general availability on Windows, Mac and Web.
The interactive canvas builds dynamic content such as reports from workbook data and updates automatically when the data changes; it is for Insiders on Windows and coming soon to the Web. The get data skill connects and transforms data with Power Query and loads it into the workbook, so users can review, edit and refresh the created queries; some data sources require authentication, and it is available on the Web.
Microsoft also added OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol and Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5.5 as model options in Microsoft Copilot.
Quick answers
What is new in the Excel October 2026 update?
Table naming at creation on Windows and Mac, five new Copilot in Excel skills, and GPT-6.1 Sol and Claude Sonnet 5.5 as model options in Microsoft Copilot.
What does the clean data skill in Copilot in Excel do?
It finds issues such as extra spaces, inconsistent formats, duplicate values and wrongly typed values, and offers reasons and suggested fixes. It is called with '@clean-data' or from the Skills menu.
Which new AI models can Copilot users choose?
OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol and Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5.5 were added as model options in Microsoft Copilot.