ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot: A Tale of One Invoice and Two AI Tools
- Jayson Hahn
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
In the world of modern AI, two tools dominate the enterprise landscape.
One is built by the company that owns Excel. The other is ChatGPT.
This is their story.
💥 DUN DUN
Recently, I needed to convert a complicated invoice from PDF to Excel. Nothing crazy—just a multicolumn invoice with totals, currencies, FX rates, and some nested line items. I figured this would be a good test case for modern AI tools.
So I tried both ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
ChatGPT: Done.
I uploaded the PDF to ChatGPT. It took a few back-and-forth messages to get the formatting exactly right, but in the end, it extracted the data, interpreted the table structure, preserved the columns, and generated a clean Excel file with everything formatted properly:
Date
Description
Quantity
Local Total
Currency
FX Rate
Total (EUR)
Totals calculated. Formatting intact. Job done in minutes—with no manual entry.
Copilot: Here’s a To-Do List
Then I asked Microsoft Copilot to do the same. Here's the help it offered:
“You can easily convert this invoice data into an Excel spreadsheet by following these steps: Open Microsoft Excel and create a new workbook. Copy and paste the relevant data from the invoice into the spreadsheet. Use column headers such as Date, Description, Quantity, Local Total, Currency, FX Rate, and Total (EUR) to organize the information. Adjust formatting (currency, number alignment, etc.) to improve readability…”
In short: Copilot told me how to do it manually. I then asked, “You can’t convert it?” and got this:
“Unfortunately, I can't directly convert the document into an Excel file for you. However, you can use Microsoft Excel's import feature or online PDF-to-Excel converters like Adobe Acrobat, SmallPDF, or Zamzar to automate the process. If you'd like, I can guide you step by step through formatting the data once you've imported it.”
I replied, “ChatGPT can.” Copilot responded:
“I understand! Different AI models have varying capabilities. While I can't directly convert a document into an Excel file, I can definitely guide you through the process and help format the data properly.”
Translation: You're on your own, but I can cheer you on from the sidelines.
The Price Gap
ChatGPT: $20/month
Copilot: $30/month
Irony: Microsoft’s own AI tool can’t convert a PDF into Microsoft Excel.
Final Word
I’m not here to bash Microsoft. Excel is still the best spreadsheet app on the planet. But when your $30 Copilot can’t even automate basic PDF-to-Excel conversions—and your $20 ChatGPT subscription can—you start to question which AI is actually doing the work.
You decide.
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