Microsoft Copilot
Practical ways to use Microsoft Copilot in your work.
Copilot in 2026: which one do you have?
Find out in two minutes whether you have personal Copilot, free Copilot Chat or a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, and what that means for every later lesson.
Free lesson
Tool plan needed: Any account
Set it up properly
Ten minutes of setup: custom instructions in UK English, a memory check, temporary chat, Work IQ and a second opinion on important answers.
Free lesson
Tool plan needed: Any work account
Outlook and Teams: inbox and meetings
Triage your inbox with one prompt, tidy folders by asking, catch up on meetings and send the follow-up email in minutes.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Work account · licence for meeting features
Word and PowerPoint: proposals and decks
Draft a proposal in Word from your own files, sharpen it for the reader, then turn it into an on-brand deck with speaker notes.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: M365 Copilot (Basic or Premium) label
Excel: analysis without the formulas
Use Copilot in Excel's edit, plan and chat modes to understand a workbook, build pivots and charts, classify text and run Python forecasts.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: M365 Copilot (Basic or Premium) label
Researcher, Analyst and Search
Get cited research reports, plain-English analysis of your spreadsheets, and find anything across your work with natural-language search.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Licence for Researcher, Analyst and Search
Notebooks, Pages and your files
Point Copilot at the right sources with /, keep each project in a Notebook with its own instructions, and share good answers as Pages.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Any work account with OneDrive or SharePoint
Agents: use, build and share
Use Microsoft's ready-made agents, build your own in Agent Builder without code, test it properly and share it safely with your team.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Any work account · some knowledge is metered
Connectors: bring in HubSpot, Notion, Gmail and more
Connect tools like HubSpot, Notion, Gmail and Jira to Copilot, use them for client prep, approve write actions safely and know what needs IT.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Licence · IT must enable
Create: images and design
Make posters, banners and infographics in Create, write the promotion copy in chat, and use the Adobe Express agent from inside Copilot.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Any account · IT may need to allow agents
Automate and delegate
Inbox rules by prompt, the Workflows agent, Copilot Cowork for long multi-step jobs, and a brief for anything bigger, plus what needs Frontier or IT.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: Licence · Frontier or admin for some
Practice challenge: client meeting pack
Prepare for, run and follow up a real client or project meeting with Copilot: Notebook, briefing, deck, follow-up email and shared action list.
Pro lesson
Tool plan needed: M365 Copilot licence for the full challenge
Cheat sheet
Where to click
- Read your Copilot label:
m365.cloud.microsoft > bottom of the home page > label under your name - Confirm you're protected:
m365.cloud.microsoft/chat > Work label under your profile > green shield - Save the instructions:
Copilot Chat > ... Settings and more > Chat settings > Personalization > Custom instructions > Edit instructions > Save instructions - Know your privacy controls:
Copilot Chat > Start a new temporary chat (top right) · Chat settings > Chat history & work insights - Choose your grounding with Work IQ:
Copilot Chat > Work IQ toggle - Get a second opinion on important answers:
Response > More options > Try Again / Switch Model
Prompts
What can Copilot see?
Before we start working together, tell me in a short table exactly what you can and can't access in this chat. Rows: my Outlook email, my calendar, my Teams chats, my Teams meeting transcripts, my OneDrive and SharePoint files, the public web, and files I upload. Columns: Can you access it (Yes / No / Only if I attach it), and one example question I could ask you about it as a {{role}}. Keep it to one table and one sentence of advice after it. British English.Personal Copilot task map
I'm a {{role}} at {{organisation}}, a {{org_type}} in the UK. My Copilot label is {{copilot_label}}. List the 6 recurring tasks in my week where Copilot would save the most time. For each one give: the task, the Microsoft 365 app I'd use (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Copilot Chat), whether it needs my work data (email, meetings, Teams chats, files) or only the web and files I upload, whether my label is likely to cover it, and a one-line first prompt to try. Output a table, then the single task I should start with this week and why. British English, no jargon.Draft my custom instructions
Write custom instructions for you to follow in every conversation with me. Use exactly two short headings, About me and How to respond, and keep the whole thing under 120 words. About me: I'm a {{role}} in the {{team}} team at {{organisation}}, a UK organisation. I usually write for {{audience}}. How to respond: British English spelling, £ for money, DD/MM/YYYY dates, UK law, tax and terminology unless I say otherwise. Lead with the answer, then bullets, then a two-line summary. Say clearly when you're unsure, cite sources for facts, and never invent figures, names or quotes. Ask me one clarifying question if my request is ambiguous. Output only the instructions text so I can paste it.What do you know about me?
What do you know about me? List each item as a bullet and say where it came from: my custom instructions, a saved memory from an earlier chat, or my work content. Then flag anything that looks out of date or wrong, and suggest the exact sentence I should type to correct each one.
Dates to watch
- Copilot Business £13.80 offer ends (existing customers, first year):
- Copilot removed from apps for unlicensed users in organisations over 2,000 (reported, already happened):