# How to Create, Query and Format a Microsoft List with Copilot in SharePoint > Copilot in SharePoint can build a Microsoft List from an Excel file, answer questions about it, update items and format it from chat. Steps and what to check. - URL: https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-lists-copilot/ - Author: Daniel Anderson, Microsoft MVP (https://www.danielanderson.io/) - Published: 2026-03-25 - Updated: 2026-10-25 - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIjg-2cHw7M ## Key takeaways - Copilot in SharePoint can create a Microsoft List from an Excel file in the site, working out the columns and column types and adding every row as a list item. - In my demo it converted the spreadsheet's Excel serial dates into proper dates before adding 10 client records. - Once the list exists you can ask Copilot questions about its items, update a single item or a group of items, and create views, all from the chat pane. - Copilot can apply column and row formatting such as coloured status pills and highlighted rows without you writing any JSON, but check the result in the list because it can report success before the formatting works. - Views created by Copilot in SharePoint are public, so everyone who uses the list sees them. Copilot in SharePoint can create a Microsoft List from an Excel file, then query it, update its items and format it, all from the chat pane. Select the spreadsheet in your site, ask Copilot to create a list from it, and it works out the columns, creates the list and adds every row as an item. When I recorded this the feature was called AI in SharePoint; it's now Copilot in SharePoint. My test file was a clients spreadsheet with 10 clients and seven columns. Before creating anything, Copilot checked the site for an existing list called Clients, then flagged that the contract renewal column held Excel serial numbers and converted them into real dates before adding the records. I'm a big fan of Microsoft Lists, and they've always been underused, mostly because anything past a few columns meant list settings or JSON. Now you can ask for it in the chat pane. ## What do you need before you start? - **A Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.** Copilot in SharePoint is part of it, and you open it from the Copilot button on the site, list or library. - **Permission to create lists on the site.** Copilot acts with your permissions, so it can only build and change what you could build and change yourself. - **The spreadsheet saved in the site.** Mine was clients.xlsx in a document library. Tidy the column headings first, because they become your column names. ## How do you create and manage a list with Copilot in SharePoint? 1. **Select the Excel file and ask for a list.** Open Copilot in SharePoint and type "Create a list from this file." Copilot reads the file, works out the schema, checks for a list with the same name, then creates the list and its columns before adding the rows. 2. **Read the summary.** Copilot lists the columns it created and their types. Check that dates came through as date columns and that anything with a fixed set of values is a choice column. 3. **Open the list.** Copilot offers to take you there, or go to **Site contents**. Mine opened with all 10 records. 4. **Ask questions about the items.** I asked whether any contracts were being renewed in April, and Copilot answered from the list's metadata with Fusion Digital Group. If the date in the list looks slightly different from the chat, that's the site's regional settings. 5. **Update an item by asking.** "Can you please update the status of Fusion Digital Group to current?" Copilot looked up the item, checked the schema and changed the status, and the list showed the new value once I closed the pane. 6. **Ask for formatting.** I asked Copilot to make the list easier to read. It applied status badges, highlighted the email addresses, shaded expired rows and showed pending items in yellow. No JSON from me. ## Can you build a list by speaking to Copilot instead? Yes. In a separate challenge I spoke every prompt and had a client index list built and populated from a spreadsheet in under five minutes. I described the columns and status choices, renamed the title column to client name, and when the spreadsheet turned out to have a contract renewal column the list didn't, asked for a date column, which Copilot added before importing the 10 clients. Video: Creating, populating and formatting a client index list by voice in under five minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZx2mZZpfyE For a vendor register I pasted a prompt with every column, its type and the choice options, then imported the spreadsheet. Copilot spotted an ABN column in the file that the list didn't have and suggested creating it rather than dropping the data. I then added three compliance columns, set every IT and telecommunications vendor to Active in one prompt, and created a compliance review view highlighting any row whose insurance expired in the next 90 days. Video: Building a vendor register, bulk updating items and creating a compliance view by chat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Mv1p1Yq40 Document libraries work the same way. My agreements library, created by voice, came through with its date and two choice columns exactly as I'd spoken them. Video: Creating a document library with metadata columns by voice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkJceddDh_Q ## Design the columns yourself, then let Copilot do the typing The quickest demo is "create a list from this file", and it's the one I'd use least on real data. Copilot builds the schema from whatever the spreadsheet contains, so a status column typed five different ways comes straight across into a list that looks tidy and filters badly. I'd decide the columns first, the way I did with the vendor register. Write down the three or four things people will filter on, make each one a proper column with the right type, give choice columns their exact options, then hand Copilot the spreadsheet to fill the list. When the file has data the list has no column for, the schema check tells you and you make the call. If you're deciding what belongs in columns at all, [why metadata beats folders for finding documents](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-folders-vs-metadata/) covers the thinking, and it applies to lists as much as libraries. I'd be more careful with bulk updates. "Mark every IT and telecommunications vendor as Active" is one sentence that changes every matching item at once, so ask Copilot which items match before you ask it to make the change. Anyone with edit access to the list can do the same, which is a good reason to keep edit permissions on business lists tight. Every view Copilot creates is public, so my compliance review view is now on the view menu for everyone who opens that list. Agree on a naming pattern for views before people start asking Copilot for them, or the menu fills up with one-off filters. Once the list is in good shape, Copilot can also build a dashboard that stays linked to it, which I cover in [building a live dashboard from a Microsoft List](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/copilot-sharepoint-live-dashboard-microsoft-list/). ## What to do when Copilot gets something wrong - **It says it's done when it isn't.** I asked for clients with a renewal date this month to be highlighted in red, and Copilot reported the formatting as applied while the list didn't change. When I told it that hadn't worked, it tried again with month and year functions and the highlight appeared. Check the list itself every time. - **Formatting is the least predictable part.** Microsoft's documentation for views created by Copilot in SharePoint still lists conditional formatting as not yet supported, so treat row highlighting as something to check every time. - **Voice gets names wrong.** Dictation got some of the spelling wrong in my library prompt. Read the prompt back before you send it, especially list names, column names and choice values, because those end up in the schema. - **Dates can look wrong.** If a date in the chat doesn't match the list, check the site's regional settings before you assume the import broke. ## Frequently asked questions **Can Copilot in SharePoint add columns to an existing list?** Yes. In my demos it added a date column and three compliance columns to lists that already had data, checking the current schema and views first. Microsoft documents Choice, Number, Text, Date and Time, Yes/No, multiple lines of text, Currency, URL and managed metadata as column types Copilot can create. **Does Copilot in SharePoint convert Excel dates when it imports a spreadsheet?** In my tests it did. Excel stores dates as serial numbers, and Copilot recognised the contract renewal column as serial dates and converted them before adding the items. **Can Copilot in SharePoint create personal views?** No. Personal views aren't supported, and every view Copilot creates is public to everyone who uses the list or library. Views only change how items are shown, so creating one never moves or duplicates items. **Does Copilot in SharePoint work in languages other than English?** You can prompt in any language Microsoft Copilot supports, but Microsoft says Copilot in SharePoint can only process files in English. All my tests used English prompts and spreadsheets.