Track Every Campaign Format in Excel with Copilot

What This Does

A campaign that runs across social, print, digital and out of home needs a list of every size and format, with an owner and a due date for each. You build that list. Copilot in Excel adds the plumbing around it: a Days Left column, highlighting for rows that are overdue or due soon, and a PivotTable counting rows by status and channel. Microsoft's support page says Copilot works with Excel's own tables, formulas, conditional formatting and PivotTables, and your content stays editable.

Before You Start

• Copilot in Excel is available to you. Look for the Copilot icon in the lower right corner of Excel. Microsoft's page says Copilot may not be included with your subscription or may be off because of organization settings, so ask IT if you do not see it. For plans, see Microsoft's own pricing page.
• You have a starting list of formats. The Level 1 adaptation matrix prompt gives you one to paste in. Check it against the publisher's or printer's spec sheet before you trust it.
• The campaign is unreleased, so use a code name in the Project column. Your agency's AI policy and the client contract say whether campaign plans and launch dates may go into Copilot.

Steps

1. Set up one table

Make one row per format with these columns: Project (code), Channel, Format, Size, File Type, Owner (initials), Due Date, Status. Copy each Size from the publisher's or printer's spec sheet yourself. Never ask Copilot to fill in a size, because it can produce a plausible number that no platform actually uses. Set Status to one of Not started, In progress, In review, Approved, Delivered.

2. Open Copilot

Select the Copilot icon in the lower right corner of Excel. Microsoft's page says Copilot opens in edit mode by default, where it changes the workbook directly. Plan mode shows you a plan to confirm first, and chat only mode answers without changing anything. Plan mode is a sensible choice while you are learning what it does to your sheet.

3. Ask for the extra columns and highlighting

Type something like: "Add a Days Left column that counts days from today to the Due Date. Highlight rows that are overdue in red and rows due in the next 7 days in amber, but not rows with Status Approved or Delivered."

4. Ask for the PivotTable

Then: "Create a PivotTable on a new sheet counting rows by Status and Channel."

5. Test before you trust

Pick rows where you know the answer. A row due tomorrow should show 1 in Days Left. A row due 10 days away should not be highlighted. A Delivered row should never be highlighted. Add up the PivotTable counts by hand and compare the total with the number of rows. If a formula is wrong, tell Copilot what you expected and ask it to fix that column, or undo the change.

Real Example

Scenario: Project Lantern for Brand X (all invented) runs in eight formats. Assume today is 2026-11-01 for the test.

What you check: Days Left should read 1 for the first two rows, 3 for the carousel, 9 for the two print rows, 5 for the two digital rows and 11 for the bus shelter. Highlighting for the next 7 days, skipping Approved and Delivered, should catch exactly three rows: the story, the feed post and the carousel. The PivotTable by Status should show Not started 3, In progress 2, In review 1, Approved 1 and Delivered 1, which adds to 8. By Channel it should show Social 3, Print 2, Digital 2 and Out of home 1, which also adds to 8.

Tips

• Keep the Size column text, copied from the spec sheet, and add the spec sheet's name in a note so the next person can recheck it.
• Ask Copilot for one change at a time. Each is easier to test.
• If your producer already runs a master schedule, make this a view of theirs rather than a second source of truth.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for the Copilot icon or a similar AI option in the same area of Excel.