(Updated) Microsoft 365 Copilot | Reference an Excel file when creating a slide with PowerPoint [MC1130389]

Message ID: MC1130389 (Updated)

Updated November 11, 2025: This capability has been cancelled for now. We recognize its importance and plan to reintroduce it as part of upcoming Copilot enhancements in PowerPoint at a later time. No admin action needed.

We’re introducing a new capability in Microsoft 365 Copilot for PowerPoint that allows users to reference Excel files when creating a slide. This enhancement helps users seamlessly reuse data from Excel to generate more informative and data-driven presentations.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap IDs 497537, 497538, and 497539.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide): This capability has been cancelled for now.

How this will affect your organization

With this update, users can now reference an Excel file when selecting “New Slide with Copilot” from the PowerPoint ribbon or “Add a slide” from the Copilot button above the slide. This enables more efficient content creation by leveraging existing Excel data directly within PowerPoint.

Key details:

• Users can reference one Excel file at a time when creating a slide.
• The Excel file must be stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.
• Recommended file size for optimal performance is 24MB.
• Users can include a topic in their prompt to focus the slide content.
• Copilot can generate slides that include charts or tables based on the Excel data.
• This feature is available on web, Win32, and Mac platforms. There are no browser-specific limitations.

This feature is on by default and does not require admin configuration.

What you need to do to prepare

• This feature requires the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license. It is not included in standard Microsoft 365 SKUs (e.g., E3/E5).
• Available only to tenants with Microsoft 365 E3/E5 plus the Copilot license.
• There are no admin controls to enable, disable, or scope this feature.
• Users can reference a file by clicking the paperclip icon or typing a backslash to select a file.
• Only one file can be referenced per slide. The file must be an Excel format and stored in OneDrive and SharePoint.

No admin action is required for this feature to become available. We recommend informing your users so they can take advantage of this new capability.

Learn more: Reinvent productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Compliance considerations

Does the change alter how existing customer data is processed, stored, or accessed?	Yes, because Copilot is now accessing and referencing Excel file content to generate PowerPoint slides, which may involve processing customer data in new ways.
Does the change introduce or significantly modify AI/ML or agent capabilities that interact with or provide access to customer data?	Yes, this is a new Copilot capability that uses generative AI to interact with Excel data and generate slide content.
Does the change provide end users any new way of interacting with generative AI?	Yes, users can now prompt Copilot to generate a slide using an Excel file reference, which is a new interaction pattern.

Source: Microsoft

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