Excel University Blog

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Use Copilot Like Macros in Excel

By Jeff Lenning | July 28, 2026 |

This tutorial shows how to use Microsoft 365 Copilot like a reusable macro in Excel. Instead of writing VBA or building Power Query solutions, we describe a list of tasks in plain language, paste that list into Copilot, and let it take action directly in our workbook. Video Tutorial We walk through three real-world exercises…

Simplify Formulas with Copilot

By Jeff Lenning | July 21, 2026 |

Have you ever opened an old workbook and stared at a formula packed with nested RIGHT, LEN, FIND, INDEX, and MATCH functions, wondering if there is a cleaner way? There is. Copilot in Excel can read those legacy formulas, figure out exactly what they do, and replace them with modern Excel functions that are easier…

Categorize Credit Card Charges with the COPILOT Function

By Jeff Lenning | July 7, 2026 |

Mapping credit card charges to GL accounts is one of those month-end tasks that is tedious enough once, and exponentially more painful every month after that. Raw credit card descriptions are cryptic, the volume is high, and the manual effort adds up fast. In this tutorial, we walk through three exercises that show how to…

Formula-Based Reports with SUMIFS in Excel

By Jeff Lenning | June 30, 2026 |

Pivot tables are great, but they do not always produce the exact report layout that corporate requires. When the format is locked in and a pivot table simply will not fit, we turn to formulas. In this tutorial, we walk through three exercises that show how to use the SUMIFS function to build formula-based reports…

How to Automatically Log QuickBooks Journal Entries into Excel Using Zapier

By Jeff Lenning | June 16, 2026 |

What if every new journal entry posted in QuickBooks Online landed in an Excel table automatically, no copy-paste required? In this tutorial we walk through exactly that workflow. We use Zapier to connect QuickBooks Online to an Excel workbook stored in OneDrive, loop through each journal entry line so it lands on its own row,…

Month-End Reconciliations with Power Query

By Jeff Lenning | June 9, 2026 |

Month-end reconciliations are a fact of life for anyone managing financial data. Whether we are comparing Shopify orders against QuickBooks invoices, matching a bank statement to a check register, or verifying inventory counts, the core task is always the same: take two lists and find what does not match. In this tutorial, we walk through…

Edit with Copilot

By Jeff Lenning | May 26, 2026 |

Edit with Excel Copilot: Clean Data, Audit Formulas, and Create Pivot Tables If you’ve ever wished for an Excel helper that could quickly clean messy data, audit your formulas, or create robust pivot tables with a single prompt, you’re going to love Microsoft Copilot for Excel. Video Tutorial In today’s walkthrough, we’ll see how to…

Build a Free Trivia Game

By Jeff Lenning | January 20, 2026 |

Have you ever wanted to turn Excel into a fun, interactive trivia game? In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to use Excel’s Power Query to pull trivia questions from an online API, randomize the answers, and display the correct answer with a reveal feature — all without using VBA. By the end, you’ll be…

The Truth about Cats and Dogs

By Jeff Lenning | January 13, 2026 |

Ever wish Excel could tell you a fun cat or dog fact every time you click refresh? Good news — it can! In this post, we’ll walk through a short, practical project that uses Power Query to pull random facts about cats and dogs from public APIs directly into your worksheet. Whether you’re a pet…

Weather Compilation

By Jeff Lenning | January 6, 2026 |

How to Get Live Weather Data in Excel Using Power Query and Geography Data Types (Includes a Summary of Posts 1-3) Have you ever wanted to turn Excel into your very own weather dashboard? With a few powerful Excel features, like the Geography Data Type, the WEBSERVICE() and FILTERXML() functions, and Power Query, we can…