🪦 Dead
Excel =COPILOT() Function
Feature removed · Feature Absorption · shut down September 14, 2026
- Born
- Died
- Lifespan
- 1y
- Cause of death
- Feature Absorption
- Killed by
- Microsoft
- Type
- Service
A worksheet function that put an LLM inside a cell: =COPILOT(prompt, range) could summarize, classify or tag rows in place. It reached Beta Channel Insiders with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license on August 18, 2025, and Excel for the web through Frontier later, with Microsoft's own warning, as Windows Central reported, not to use it for numerical calculations or anything with legal, regulatory or compliance implications. In a spreadsheet, that rules out a lot. It never left preview: message-center notice MC1454373 retired it on September 14, 2026, and the roadmap entry said simply, 'We have decided not to move forward with this feature.'
Collateral damage: Results already calculated survive only as cached values; any cell that recalculates now returns #NAME? because Excel no longer recognizes the function. Preview users had to redo that work by prompting the Copilot side pane.