Copilot vs Claude for Excel: Which AI assistant wins for formula building?

Copilot presents seamless integration immediately in Excel, however requires OneDrive auto-save, responds slower, and offers restricted formula alternate options. Claude delivers quicker responses with a number of formula choices and excels at Power Query M code, however requires copying/pasting between home windows.

For primary customers, Copilot’s integration wins regardless of its limitations. For superior customers or these preferring file management, Claude’s flexibility and velocity make it the higher alternative.

Most of my readers know that I experiment with loads of instruments and attempt to use them to create extra effectivity in workflows for each me and my crew. I often discover totally different AI instruments to spice up productiveness and streamline our processes.

I’ve written earlier than about utilizing AI with Excel, and I need to use this weblog submit as an opportunity to speak in regards to the distinction between Copilot, which is embedded in Excel, and utilizing a facet window (I favor to make use of Claude). We’ll speak about Claude and evaluate and distinction how these two AI assistants show you how to with constructing spreadsheets and writing formulation.

The integration benefit: Copilot’s seamless expertise

The most blatant benefit of Copilot is its direct integration into Excel. When you’re engaged on a formula in cell D5 and need assistance, Copilot already is aware of your context it may possibly see your knowledge, perceive your column headers, and reference your particular cell ranges with out you having to clarify the setup. Copilot operates by a chat interface inside Excel, permitting customers to work together with the AI in a conversational method for fast help and steering.

Example for primary customers

Let’s say you’ve gotten gross sales knowledge in columns A-C (Salesperson, Region, Sales Amount) and need to sum all gross sales for the “West” area. With Copilot, you merely ask: “Sum all gross sales for West area” and it generates: `=SUMIF(B:B,”West”,C:C)` whereas understanding your precise column construction.

Example for superior customers:

For a extra advanced situation involving a number of standards, Copilot can generate: `=SUMIFS(C:C,B:B,”West”,A:A,”John”)` and robotically alter to your particular knowledge structure.

However, this integration comes with a big trade-off that many customers discover irritating.

The auto-save dilemma: Why Copilot forces your hand

Copilot requires you to activate auto-save, which suggests your information should be saved to One Drive or SharePoint. This isn’t only a minor inconvenience it essentially adjustments how you’re employed with Excel information.

When auto-save is enabled, each change you make is instantly saved to the cloud. While this prevents knowledge loss from crashes, it additionally means you may’t simply experiment with formulation with out doubtlessly overwriting your work. If you make an error or need to strive a special method, it’s possible you’ll must depend on Excel’s model historical past or manually reload an older file.

For customers like me preferring sustaining management over when and the way information are saved – creating a number of variations throughout growth or having the protection internet of deliberate save factors – this auto-save requirement is a dealbreaker.

Speed and choices: Where Claude shines

Claude constantly outperforms Copilot in response time. While Copilot can take a number of seconds to generate a response, Claude usually offers solutions inside 1-2 seconds. Claude usually offers a concise reply in addition to a number of alternate options.

More importantly, Claude presents a number of formula choices for the identical drawback, and its formula strategies are identified for their correct solutions, which helps customers belief the suggestions.

Example comparability:

Question: “How do I search for a price from one other sheet?”

Copilot response:

`=VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE)`

Claude response:

`=VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE)` – Traditional VLOOKUP

`=INDEX(Sheet2!B:B,MATCH(A2,Sheet2!A:A,0))` – More versatile INDEX/MATCH

`=XLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!A:A,Sheet2!B:B)` – Modern XLOOKUP (if out there)

Claude additionally offers effectivity suggestions, noting that whereas XLOOKUP is handy, INDEX/MATCH makes use of fewer system assets for massive datasets.

Best practices for knowledge evaluation utilizing Claude successfully

To get essentially the most out of Claude for Excel formulation, comply with these practices:

Specify your goal cells. Instead of asking “how do I sum these values,” say “I need to sum values in column C the place column B equals ‘West’ and put the end in cell D10.”
Provide current formula context. If you’re constructing on an current formula, share it with Claude. For instance: “I’ve this formula: =SUMIF(B:B,’West’,C:C) however I would like so as to add one other situation for dates after 1/1/2024.”
Mention your Excel model. Claude can tailor responses primarily based on whether or not you’ve gotten entry to newer features like XLOOKUP or want to stay with older alternate options. Claude’s context conscious writing ensures that its strategies are related to your particular situation.

Advanced instance – Power Query M code:

One space the place Claude considerably outperforms Copilot is in Power Query growth. Copilot doesn’t exist inside the Power Query editor, making it unavailable for M code help. Claude can generate code for Power Query duties, which permits customers to rapidly create M code from pure language prompts.

Scenario: You want to remodel a desk the place dates are in textual content format “YYYY-MM-DD” to precise date values.

After offering the code instance, Claude additionally acts as a code interpreter by serving to customers perceive and debug M code.

Claude M code resolution:


= Table.TransformColumns(

    PreviousStep,

    {“DateColumn”, every Date.FromText(_), kind date}

)

Claude may clarify the code, recommend optimizations, and supply various approaches for advanced knowledge transformations—one thing Copilot merely can’t do within the Power Query surroundings. The generated content material from Claude consists of not solely code but additionally detailed explanations and various approaches, supporting customers with complete AI-driven content material creation.

The multi-monitor actuality

The copying and pasting between Claude and Excel is usually cited as an obstacle, however in at this time’s multi-monitor setups, that is much less of a problem. Having Claude open in a facet window whereas working in Excel really offers some advantages. Using a number of AI instruments in parallel on separate screens can additional improve productiveness and allow you to leverage specialised options for coding, knowledge evaluation, and job administration:

You can reference Claude’s explanations whereas implementing formulation
Multiple formula choices stay seen for comparability
You can simply copy totally different variations to check in your spreadsheet

For single-screen customers, this workflow is admittedly extra cumbersome, making Copilot’s integration extra precious regardless of its different limitations.

Examples in motion

Basic person situation: Conditional formatting

Task: Highlight cells in column D the place values are better than 1000.

Copilot: Provides the conditional formatting rule however requires you to navigate by Excel’s interface.

Claude: Gives you the formula =D1>1000 and explains precisely the place to use it within the conditional formatting dialog, plus presents variations like =D1>AVERAGE(D:D) for highlighting above-average values. Both Claude and Copilot may also help customers write code for advanced Excel formulation, making superior duties extra accessible.

Advanced person situation: Dynamic array formula

Task: Create a singular record of shoppers who made purchases above $500.

Copilot: =UNIQUE(FILTER(A:A,B:B>500))

Claude: Provides the identical formula but additionally presents:

=SORT(UNIQUE(FILTER(A:A,B:B>500))) – Sorted model
Alternative for older Excel variations utilizing array formulation
Explanation of dynamic array conduct and spill ranges

The verdict: Choosing your AI assistant

For primary Excel customers who primarily work with easy formulation and don’t thoughts the OneDrive requirement, Copilot’s seamless integration makes it the extra handy alternative regardless of its slower response occasions.

For superior customers who want flexibility, velocity, and help with Power Query, or those that favor sustaining management over their file saving workflow, Claude emerges because the superior possibility. The minor inconvenience of copying and pasting is outweighed by Claude’s velocity, a number of choices, and broader Excel ecosystem help.

The supreme situation is likely to be accessing each: utilizing Copilot for fast, context-aware help and Claude for extra advanced problem-solving and Power Query growth.

Copilot vs Claude for Excel: Which AI assistant wins for formula building?