Excel: New Custom Skills Automate 90%

Key insights

• Custom Skills: Custom Skills turn repeated Excel prompts into reusable, AI-driven actions that Copilot can run on demand.
  They save instructions once so you avoid retyping the same steps for routine tasks.
• SKILL.md: Each skill lives in a folder in OneDrive and uses a SKILL.md file with frontmatter (name and description) and a clear instruction body.
  Save the file, refresh the Copilot Custom Skills menu, then ask Copilot to run the skill.
• Examples: Built-in and user-created skills include a model-update skill (e.g., refresh a financial model with new PDF data), a Clean & Format skill for messy raw data, an Expenses Tracker that flags policy violations, and an Inventory Tracker that recommends reorder quantities.
  These show how skills handle common finance and reporting jobs.
• Benefits: Skills can cut repetitive Excel work dramatically—Microsoft cites up to 90% automation for routine tasks—while enforcing consistent structure and formatting.
  They require no coding, unlike VBA or Office Scripts, and you can edit or enable/disable skills from the Copilot pane.
• Plan mode: Copilot’s plan mode lets you review proposed steps before execution, giving human oversight for sensitive data and finance workflows.
  Users can store up to 20 custom skills and must use OneDrive; availability depends on Microsoft 365 Copilot access and release channel.
• Best practices: Keep skills focused and write step-by-step instructions using simple, unambiguous language.
  Test skills on sample data, include clear metadata (name and description), and refresh the Custom Skills list after edits to ensure reliable, repeatable results.

Kenji Farré (Kenji Explains) [MVP] released a clear, hands-on YouTube walkthrough demonstrating Microsoft’s new Custom Skills capability inside Excel Copilot. In the video, Farré explains how users can save commonly used instructions once and then reuse them, which can speed up repetitive tasks and promote consistent outputs. Moreover, he illustrates built-in skills and then builds three practical custom skills from scratch, showing setup, markdown instructions, and real examples. Consequently, the video serves both as an introduction and as a practical how-to for finance and business users who want to automate Excel workflows.

What the Feature Does

The video frames Custom Skills as a way to convert one-off prompts into reusable automation that Copilot can run on demand. Farré highlights that a skill is essentially an instruction file named SKILL.md, stored in a designated OneDrive folder, which Copilot reads to know when and how to act. He also points out that these skills can replace repetitive retyping of prompts, helping teams keep results consistent and easier to audit. As a result, users can expect faster execution of tasks like model updates, formatting routines, and routine checks.

How Custom Skills Work in Practice

First, Farré walks through creating the required folder structure in OneDrive and adding a SKILL.md file with metadata and step-by-step instructions. Then, he demonstrates how Copilot discovers and runs a saved skill after the user refreshes the Custom Skills list in the Copilot pane; this simple flow removes coding from routine automation. He emphasizes that skill bodies use plain markdown instructions rather than scripts, which lowers the technical barrier for many business users. Finally, he notes limits such as the current cap on the number of skills and the requirement to follow the markdown format to ensure reliable behavior.

Examples Shown on Video

Farré shows a built-in model update skill that imports 2026 data from a PDF to refresh a financial model, which demonstrates how Copilot can handle semi-structured inputs when guided correctly. He then builds three custom skills: a Clean & Format skill to standardize messy raw data, a Spending Tracker skill that checks employee transactions against spending policies, and an Inventory skill that balances unit cost, lead time, and sales to suggest reorder quantities. Through each demo, he explains the markdown instructions, tests results live, and adjusts steps to improve accuracy and formatting. Consequently, viewers gain a clear sense of how a written instruction set maps to practical spreadsheet operations.

Tradeoffs and Practical Challenges

While the video highlights speed and consistency gains, Farré also outlines important tradeoffs between automation and control that organizations must manage. For instance, automation accelerates routine work but can obscure edge cases where human judgment matters, so tools like the new plan mode become essential to review proposed steps before execution. Moreover, using OneDrive-based skills raises governance questions about versioning, access control, and who maintains the master skill files, which organizations must address. Finally, data quality and complex exceptions remain challenges, and teams will need testing routines and fallback procedures to avoid introducing errors at scale.

Adoption Tips and Governance

Farré offers practical advice that balances ease of use with necessary oversight: start by creating a few clear, well-documented skills for high-value, low-risk workflows and invite stakeholders to test them. Next, keep skill instructions modular and readable so non-developers can review and update them, and use the plan mode or a sandbox workbook when validating changes. Additionally, he recommends keeping a centralized folder with access controls and naming conventions to reduce duplication and drift across teams. By combining simple governance with iterative testing, organizations can scale benefits while limiting operational risk.

Conclusion

Kenji Farré’s video offers a practical roadmap for turning repeated Excel tasks into reusable, no-code automations through Custom Skills and Copilot. It balances enthusiasm for time savings with a realistic view of governance, accuracy, and human oversight, and it shows concrete examples that business users can adapt. Ultimately, the feature helps move routine spreadsheet work away from manual repetition, but success depends on careful design, testing, and ongoing maintenance. Therefore, teams should pilot skills on controlled workloads, refine instructions, and adopt clear ownership models before broad rollout.

Video Structure (Quick Reference)

• 0:00 - Built-in Skills
• 3:00 - Example Custom Skill
• 5:15 - Clean & Format Custom Skill
• 10:12 - Expenses Tracker Skill
• 12:15 - Inventory Tracker Skill

Keywords

Excel automation, Custom Excel skills, Automate Excel tasks, Excel macros tutorial, Office Scripts Excel, Power Query automation, Excel productivity hacks, VBA automation Excel