Build a Dashboard in Excel with Agent Mode (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Excel's new Agent Mode, available with a Microsoft 365 subscription and Copilot license, allows users to build interactive dashboards by simply describing their desired output, significantly simplifying data visualization.

• Agent Mode in Excel builds interactive dashboards from simple text prompts.

• Dashboards automatically update with data changes and support interactive filtering.

• Refine and share dashboards easily, hiding raw data and gridlines for a professional look.

Agent Mode, often called Excel's 'AI beast mode,' transforms how users create interactive dashboards by enabling them to describe their requirements in natural language. This feature automates complex processes like creating tables, charts, and calculations, making sophisticated data analysis accessible even for beginners. The resulting dashboards are fully interactive, dynamically refreshable, and can be refined through further prompts, offering a powerful AI-driven assistant for Excel tasks.

Introducing Agent Mode

• 00:00:00 Agent Mode, a new feature in Microsoft Excel, revolutionizes dashboard creation by allowing users to describe their desired dashboard, eliminating the need for manual setup of tables, pivot tables, and charts. This functionality, part of 'Excel Labs' within a Microsoft 365 subscription and Copilot license, simplifies the process of transforming raw data into interactive visualizations. Users begin by converting their data into an Excel table, then activate Agent Mode from the 'Add-ins' section under the Home tab to access its prompt-driven capabilities.

Building the Dashboard

• 00:02:02 After enabling Agent Mode, users can input a detailed prompt, such as 'Build a dashboard to help me understand this data, include visuals, total revenue by cookie type, units sold over time, and profit by month.' Agent Mode then plans and constructs the dashboard, outlining the steps it took, the formulas used, and providing quick insights from the data. This AI-driven assistant can also suggest additional elements and verify data accuracy, allowing for iterative refinement through subsequent prompts.

Interactivity and Refreshability

• 00:04:58 The dashboards generated by Agent Mode are not static; they are built with live Excel tables, formulas, and charts, ensuring automatic updates whenever the underlying data changes. This dynamic nature extends to interactivity, where users can prompt Agent Mode to add elements like slicers to filter data by categories, such as 'cookie type,' with a single click. This instant filtering capability updates all associated tables and charts, demonstrating the dashboard's robust and responsive design.

Refining and Sharing

• 00:06:50 Once a dashboard is created, users can refine its appearance by hiding gridlines, headings, and the formula bar, making it look more like a professional report. The underlying data sheet can also be hidden to present only the dashboard view. For sharing, Excel offers options to share directly or copy a link, making distribution straightforward. Agent Mode contrasts with Copilot by handling complex, multi-step tasks like dashboard construction, whereas Copilot focuses on quick, single-action requests.