A new option to clean data automatically

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A new option to clean data automatically
You can now choose to clean a table of data in Excel (to see a list of possible anomalies) but there are a few hoops that you'll have to jump through first to enable this feature.

Posted by Andy Brown on 05 June 2025

In this blog

Cleaning data
How to enable this feature

This blog first entices you in by showing how you can clean data in Excel, and then (and only then) explains the hoops that you'll have to jump through to enable this feature!

Cleaning data

I've got a table of data for shopping centres in the UK, but I think the data might contain anomalies:

Are all the shopping centre names consistent, for example?

To clean the data, first go to the Data tab of the ribbon:

Select this tab.

Now click on this obvious icon:

Select Clean Data as shown (if it's there, that is).

After a pause Copilot will suggest improvements that you could make to your data:

These are sensible suggestions!

I can now click on the Apply link beneath each suggestion to change my data accordingly (something I would certainly choose to do in this case).

How to enable this feature

If you're using Excel for Windows you'll need to satisfy 4 conditions (in keeping with the tenor of this blog, I'll start off with the easy ones and build up to the hardest). Firstly, you need to enable AutoSave:

Don't worry: Copilot will warn you if you haven't done this.

Secondly, you'll need to save your file to OneDrive or SharePoint, so that Copilot can see its contents:

Tick this one off then!

Thirdly, your data must be in a table format (although as I've just discovered, it doesn't have to be an actual Excel table):

Your data must consist of rows of data with headings at the top of each column.

And finally? Well, you'll need a Copilot Pro licence, which cost Wise Owl £332.64 to auto-renew for a year in May because someone (me) forgot to cancel it.

Outrageously you can't even pay on a monthly basis - you have to go for the full annual premium even if you then subsequently cancel.

Some other pages relevant to the above blog include:

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