Microsoft is clearly proud of the fact that it has added support for inserting Python code into its Excel spreadsheet application. It first announced this support for Microsoft Insiders in August. Just a few days ago, it also announced a new, experimental Python editor for Excel.

Today, as part of the company’s many Copilot AI announcements today, Microsoft also announced that Excel users will be able to use Copilot for Python in the very near future.

Microsoft said in a blog post that Copilot in Excel will allow Python code programmers to analyze their code and even Copilot to write Python code itself. Here are some of the features and ways you can use Copilot in Excel with Python:

• Use natural language to analyze data with Python. Just describe the analysis you want to do, and Copilot will generate and insert Python code for you. For example, you can type “sales forecast for the next 4 quarters” and Copilot will generate a Python cell with the code and forecast.
• Access to popular libraries and illustrations. You don’t need to know Python to get started. Copilot leverages the power and flexibility of Python and its popular libraries, such as pandas, matplotlib, and skit-learn, to name a few. Copilot can be used to perform advanced analyzes such as prediction, clustering, optimization, causal models, statistical tests, classification, sampling and more. You can also create a variety of charts that are not available in Excel alone, such as box charts, network graphs, and pair charts.

Copilot features for Python in Excel will be available to users in a preview program later in 2023. Microsoft also plans to launch Microsoft 365 Copilot, which includes its Office apps like Excel, for enterprise customers starting Nov. 1 for $30 per user per month .