Smart Skills Monthly-September 26

Sep 3

2 min read

Smart Skills Academy's monthly download on Excel, Word, PowerPoint & Copilot - what's new, what's changed, and what's worth trying.

A NOTE FROM GEMMA

"This month's headline is Excel finally getting proper Python power through Copilot, and Word learning to talk back to you while it reads. Below is your quick, practical round-up of what's new in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Copilot, plus one tip you can put to use today.”

- Gemma, Smart Skills Academy

EXCEL UPDATE

Copilot Learns to Code for You

Edit with Copilot in Excel can now write and run actual Python behind the scenes, so statistics, simulations and advanced visualisations happen automatically with the results dropped straight into your workbook. Your existing security and execution controls still apply, so nothing runs without the same protections you already have. In a related change, Microsoft is retiring the standalone =COPILOT() formula function entirely — the sidebar and standard Excel tools now cover the same ground, so it's worth updating any workbooks that still rely on the old formula.

WORD UPDATE

Word Starts Talking Back

Read Aloud in Word now supports live voice Q&A, so you can ask Copilot questions about the document while it's reading and get a spoken answer without breaking your flow. Word has also picked up more of the admin work: it can now build and maintain a table of contents, headers, footers and footnotes on its own, which is handy for longer reports and policy documents you're regularly reformatting.

POWERPOINT UPDATE

Copilot Keeps Your Brand in Line

COPILOT CORNER

Notebooks Open Up to Everyone

Copilot Notebooks — the space for turning your notes into a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, a PowerPoint deck, or a mind map of what's inside — is now available to all users, not just early access tenants. Try dropping in a set of messy meeting notes and asking: “Turn this into a one-page Word summary with an action list.” Alongside this, GPT-5.6 has become the default model Copilot reaches for across Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Chat, with Claude Sonnet 5 available as an alternative for multi-step work spanning several documents at once.

QUICK TIP OF THE MONTH

Say “Hey Copilot” to launch it completely hands-free in Word, Excel or PowerPoint — no clicking into the sidebar first. It's a small change, but useful if you're mid-task and don't want to reach for the mouse.