Copilot quick start guide
Tips to get started with Microsoft Copilot — practical, everyday uses that save time from day one.
Copilot is built into your Microsoft 365 apps
Once assigned a Copilot licence, it typically appears in Microsoft apps within 24 hours. Look for the Copilot icon in the top right side of Office apps. You can also use Copilot via the portal at copilot.microsoft.com.
In Outlook
Press Alt+I to draft or improve emails. Ask Copilot to summarise a long email thread, draft a reply, or adjust the tone of a message.
In Word
Ask Copilot to draft a document from a prompt, rewrite a section, summarise a long document, or suggest improvements to your writing.
In Teams
Summarise meeting recordings, get a list of action items, catch up on what you missed in a meeting, or recap a chat thread.
In Excel
Ask Copilot to analyse data, create formulas, highlight trends, or explain what a spreadsheet contains in plain language.
In PowerPoint
Generate a presentation from a prompt or a Word document. Add slides, rewrite content, or create speaker notes automatically.
Microsoft 365 Chat
Ask questions across all your Microsoft 365 data — emails, documents, meetings, and chats. “What did we discuss with [client] last month?”
How to get the most out of Copilot
Be specific in your prompts
Vague requests get vague answers. Instead of “write an email”, try “write a follow-up email to a client who hasn’t responded to our quote in two weeks, polite but firm tone”.
Ask it to rewrite, not just write
Paste in a draft and ask Copilot to improve it. “Make this shorter and more professional” or “rewrite this in plain English” often gets better results than starting from scratch.
Always review before sending
Copilot drafts need human review. AI can get things wrong — especially names, numbers, and specific details. Always check before sending to clients.
Save prompts that work
When you find a prompt that gets great results, save it. Build a library of prompts for your most common tasks — weekly reports, client emails, meeting summaries.