How to Use Microsoft Copilot: The Complete 2026 Guide

Last Updated: August 22, 2026

Quick Answer: Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and every other Microsoft 365 app. Use it by typing natural language prompts in any M365 app, asking it to draft documents, analyze data, summarize meetings, or generate slides. Businesses save an average of 9 hours per month per user. Start with Teams meeting summaries and Outlook email drafting - the two workflows where Copilot delivers the fastest visible value.

Microsoft Copilot has evolved from a single AI assistant into what Microsoft describes as an AI workforce member that orchestrates tasks across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams simultaneously. Adoption exceeded 65% among Fortune 500 companies by March 2025. Businesses using Copilot report saving around 9 hours per month per user on document creation and admin, with presentations built 29% faster. Forrester research finds SMEs see returns of 130% or more over three years when teams are properly trained and using Copilot consistently.

The most important thing to understand about Microsoft Copilot in 2026 is that it is not a chatbot you visit in a separate window. It is built into every Microsoft 365 application you already use - appearing as a sidebar, a prompt bar, or an inline suggestion wherever you work. The question is not whether Copilot is available in your workflow. It is whether you know how to use it effectively in each application.

This guide covers how to use Microsoft Copilot in every major M365 app in 2026 - with specific prompts, practical workflows, setup instructions, and the honest limitations you need to know before deploying it across your organization.

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Sources: Copilot Experts Microsoft Copilot guide June 2026, Reflective IT Copilot tips 2026, Reclaim how to use Microsoft Copilot January 2026

For our complete Microsoft Copilot statistics including adoption data, enterprise seat counts, and revenue figures, our Microsoft Copilot statistics guide covers every metric.

Microsoft Copilot is built into every Microsoft 365 application and accessible from multiple entry points - there is no separate app to install if you have a qualifying M365 subscription with Copilot licensed.

Quick Answer: Access Copilot through the Copilot icon in any M365 app sidebar, the M365 Copilot Chat app, the Windows taskbar (Windows 11), Microsoft Edge, or the Copilot mobile app. For business users, Copilot requires a paid add-on license to qualifying Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Copilot Chat is available free with limited functionality.

The two versions:

Microsoft Copilot Chat is available without an additional license, but with fewer features and limited access to organizational data. Think of it as the entry point - useful for general tasks but not connected to your specific emails, documents, meetings, and organizational content.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the full paid version - an add-on to qualifying Microsoft 365 subscriptions that connects Copilot to your organizational data. This is the version that can summarize your actual meeting recordings, draft emails from your real inbox context, and pull from documents stored in your SharePoint. For business users, this is the version that delivers the documented ROI figures.

Access points across platforms:

In any Microsoft 365 app: look for the Copilot icon in the ribbon or sidebar - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams all have native Copilot entry points. In Microsoft Teams: Copilot appears in the meeting interface, in chat threads, and as a standalone tab. In Windows 11: Copilot is accessible from the taskbar. In Microsoft Edge: Copilot sidebar is accessible from the browser. Via the M365 Copilot Chat app: available on desktop, mobile, and web at copilot.microsoft.com.

Setup for business organizations:

Copilot is not automatically active for all Microsoft 365 users. Administrators must assign Copilot licenses to specific users in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Once licensed, users see Copilot features appear in their apps. No separate installation is required - the features are delivered through regular M365 app updates.

Before deploying organization-wide, pilot Copilot with two or three specific high-volume workflows - Teams meeting recaps, Outlook email drafting, or Excel data summarization - rather than issuing licenses broadly and hoping adoption happens organically. This approach identifies your highest-ROI workflows before scaling the investment.

Teams is where most business users get their first and most immediately valuable Copilot experience - meeting transcription, real-time summarization, and action item extraction are available without any setup beyond having a Copilot license, and they work on every meeting automatically.

Quick Answer: In Teams meetings, Copilot transcribes in real time, identifies who said what, summarizes the discussion, and extracts action items automatically after the meeting ends. During meetings, ask Copilot questions about what was discussed even if you joined late. After meetings, use Copilot to generate follow-up emails summarizing decisions and next steps.

During meetings - real-time Copilot:

When a Teams meeting starts with Copilot enabled, a Copilot panel appears in the meeting sidebar. During the meeting, type questions into this panel to get real-time answers about what has been discussed:

These queries work mid-meeting without interrupting other participants. The Copilot panel is visible only to you.

After meetings - transcript and recap:

After a meeting ends, Copilot generates a meeting summary that includes: a narrative summary of what was discussed, key decisions made, action items with owner names extracted from the conversation, and follow-up questions raised but not resolved. This summary is delivered to the meeting organizer and can be shared with attendees.

Specific Teams prompts that work well:

"Draft a follow-up email summarizing the decisions made and next steps from this meeting" - generates a ready-to-send email with meeting context.

"List all action items from this meeting with the person responsible for each" - extracts assigned tasks with owner attribution.

"What topics did we cover that need additional discussion?" - identifies incomplete agenda items.

"Create a one-paragraph summary of this meeting for stakeholders who were not present" - generates shareholder-appropriate summary.

In Teams chat:

Copilot summarizes long chat threads when you return after being away, identifies the key decisions or conclusions from a conversation, and drafts responses to messages based on context from the thread.

For how Microsoft Copilot compares to ChatGPT as a workplace tool, our ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot guide covers the full comparison.

Outlook Copilot handles email drafting, long thread summarization, inbox prioritization, and tone coaching - the four email tasks that consume the most professional time and produce the most cognitive load in a standard working day.

Quick Answer: In Outlook, Copilot drafts emails from brief descriptions, summarizes long threads to their key decisions and action items, suggests tone adjustments, and prioritizes your inbox by importance. Open any email and click the Copilot icon, or click "Draft with Copilot" when composing a new message.

Email drafting:

Click "Draft with Copilot" when composing a new email. Describe what you want to say in plain English:

"Draft an email to the marketing team explaining that the product launch is moving from October 15 to November 1 due to supplier delays. Keep it professional but brief. Include a request for updated campaign timelines."

Copilot produces a complete draft based on your description. Review, edit as needed, and send. The time saving on routine professional correspondence - status updates, meeting requests, project updates, client follow-ups - compounds significantly across a full week of email volume.

Email thread summarization:

Long email threads - 20, 50, 100+ messages - are one of the most time-consuming elements of professional communication. Click the Copilot icon in any email thread and ask:

"Summarize this thread and tell me what decisions have been made and what is still unresolved."

Copilot reads the entire thread and produces a concise summary of: the original issue or request, key responses and positions, decisions reached, and what action is still required. For threads that took three days to complete, Copilot provides the summary in seconds.

Tone coaching:

After drafting an email, ask Copilot "make this more concise" or "make this warmer" or "adjust the tone to be more direct without being aggressive." Copilot revises the draft according to your instruction - useful for communications where the right tone matters as much as the content.

Inbox prioritization:

Copilot can analyze your inbox and identify the messages that require your immediate attention versus those that can wait, based on sender, subject, and content signals. For professionals managing high email volume, this prioritization surfaces the messages that genuinely need a response today.

Specific Outlook prompts that work well:

"Draft a polite but firm email declining this meeting invitation and suggesting an async update instead."

"Summarize the key decisions from this email chain for my records."

"Draft a follow-up email to [client name] about the proposal I sent last week without sounding pushy."

"What is the open action item in this thread that nobody has addressed yet?"

For our complete guide to using AI for email across all platforms, our how to use AI for email guide covers every email AI workflow.

Word Copilot drafts documents from prompts, rewrites and improves existing content, summarizes long documents, and generates content from your SharePoint files - making it the M365 app where Copilot delivers the most dramatic time savings on individual document creation tasks.

Quick Answer: In Word, open the Copilot sidebar and type what you want to create. "Draft a project proposal for a new customer onboarding process" produces a full document draft. You can also highlight existing text and ask Copilot to rewrite it, improve it, or adjust its tone. Copilot can turn SharePoint content into finished documents without starting from a blank page.

Document drafting from prompts:

Open a blank Word document, click the Copilot icon in the ribbon, and describe what you need:

"Write a two-page project proposal for implementing a new customer onboarding process. Include sections for problem statement, proposed solution, timeline, resource requirements, and success metrics."

Copilot generates a complete document structured to your specifications. The draft will need review and customization - Copilot produces a starting point, not a finished document. But the starting point is produced in seconds rather than hours.

Turning SharePoint content into documents:

Ask Copilot to generate a complete Word document, Excel workbook, or PowerPoint deck straight from content already sitting in your SharePoint sites - no blank page required. For organizations with substantial content in SharePoint, this capability means that internal knowledge is accessible through natural language rather than through manual search and compilation.

"Using the product specifications in [SharePoint site], draft a customer-facing product brief that highlights the three key differentiators."

Rewriting and improving existing content:

Select any text in a Word document and ask Copilot to improve it:

"Rewrite this paragraph to be more concise and professional."

"Make this section clearer for an audience that is not technical."

"Strengthen the argument in this section with more specific evidence."

Copilot revises the selected text according to your instruction while preserving the content's meaning and context.

Document summarization:

For long documents - reports, contracts, research papers - ask Copilot to summarize:

"Summarize this document in five bullet points."

"What are the key decisions recommended in this report?"

"What obligations does this contract place on our organization?"

Excel Copilot analyzes data, creates charts, suggests formulas, identifies trends, and now integrates Python for advanced analysis - turning Excel from a tool that requires formula expertise into one where business users can get answers from data in plain English.

Quick Answer: In Excel, ask Copilot to analyze your data in natural language: "What are the top five products by revenue this quarter?" Copilot reads your spreadsheet, answers in plain English, and can generate charts, apply formulas, and highlight patterns automatically. No formula knowledge required for most analytical queries.

Natural language data analysis:

Open an Excel spreadsheet with data. Click the Copilot icon and ask questions in plain English:

"What is the trend in monthly sales over the past 12 months?"

"Which region has the highest customer acquisition cost?"

"Show me which products have declining revenue compared to last quarter."

Copilot reads your data, produces an answer, and can create a chart illustrating the pattern.

Chart and visualization creation:

"Create a bar chart comparing Q1 through Q4 revenue by product category."

"Generate a line chart showing monthly active users over the past year with a trend line."

Copilot creates the chart from your existing data without requiring you to navigate Excel's chart creation interface manually.

Formula assistance:

"Write a formula that calculates the 90-day rolling average of column C."

"Create an IF formula that flags any row where the margin is below 15%."

"What formula would I use to look up customer names from a separate sheet based on their ID?"

Copilot writes the formula, explains what it does, and inserts it into the selected cell.

Data cleaning and preparation:

"Identify any duplicate entries in this dataset."

"Standardize the date format in column B to YYYY-MM-DD."

"Flag any rows where the email address format appears to be invalid."

Excel Copilot handles data cleaning tasks that previously required either manual review or complex formula construction.

PowerPoint Copilot generates complete slide decks from text prompts or existing documents, redesigns slides for visual consistency, and can turn a Word document or SharePoint file into a finished presentation - the application where the 29% speed improvement documented by Reflective IT is most directly visible.

Quick Answer: In PowerPoint, click "Create presentation with Copilot" and describe what you need. "Create a 10-slide presentation for a quarterly business review covering sales performance, marketing results, and product roadmap" produces a complete deck with content and basic design. You can also ask Copilot to redesign existing slides or turn a Word document into a presentation.

Creating presentations from prompts:

Open PowerPoint, click the Copilot icon, and describe your presentation:

"Create a 15-slide investor pitch deck for a B2B SaaS company. Include slides for problem, solution, market size, business model, traction, team, and financial projections. Use a professional dark theme."

Copilot generates a complete deck with slide content organized according to your specifications. The content is a starting point - you will add your specific data, replace placeholder statistics, and customize the design. But the structure, slide count, and flow are handled automatically.

Turning documents into presentations:

"Create a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the key findings from [Word document or SharePoint file]."

Copilot reads the source document and generates slides that represent its key points - converting a report, proposal, or research document into a presentation without manual slide-by-slide creation.

Improving existing presentations:

Select slides in an existing presentation and ask Copilot to:

"Improve the clarity of the text on these slides."

"Redesign this slide to be more visually impactful."

"Add speaker notes to each slide based on the content."

"Suggest a better structure for this presentation."

Specific PowerPoint prompts that work well:

"Create a one-slide executive summary of this presentation."

"What is the main message of this slide deck?"

"Add three slides after slide 7 covering the competitive landscape."

Copilot Studio allows organizations to build custom AI agents tailored to specific business workflows - going beyond the standard M365 app Copilot features to create agents that automate complex, multi-step organizational processes.

Quick Answer: Copilot Studio is the platform for building custom AI agents for your specific business needs. Agents can review vendor invoices and update financial systems, handle customer inquiries with access to your product database, or automate any multi-step workflow. Computer use capability (GA May 2026) lets agents automate web and desktop apps.

The 2026 built-in agents:

Microsoft shipped two built-in agents in 2025-2026: Researcher provides deep research capabilities integrated directly into your workflow, and Analyst provides data analysis inside M365. The Project Manager agent is coming to Planner and Teams - tracking incoming messages, automating task creation, and sending updates for routine project oversight.

In 2025, Microsoft took Copilot beyond simple Q&A and into specialized AI-driven agents. These agents can handle complex multi-step workflows alongside users in real-time - not just responding but actively managing and completing tasks.

Building custom agents in Copilot Studio:

Copilot Studio allows businesses to build custom AI agents without extensive coding. An agent that automatically reviews incoming vendor invoices and updates your finance system, a customer-facing agent that answers product questions with access to your product database, or an HR agent that handles benefits inquiries using your internal HR documentation.

New 2026 Copilot Studio features: computer use for automating web and desktop apps reached general availability in May 2026. MCP-compliant tools in agent workflows reach general availability in October 2026, enabling agents to connect to external services through the Model Context Protocol standard.

When to use Copilot Studio:

Standard M365 Copilot handles individual productivity tasks within applications. Copilot Studio agents handle workflow automation that spans multiple systems, requires external data connections, or needs to execute actions beyond drafting and summarizing. If you find yourself wanting Copilot to do something that requires accessing a system outside M365 or executing a multi-step automated workflow, Copilot Studio is the right tool.

For our complete analysis of AI agents and how they are transforming business workflows, our what are AI agents guide covers the foundational concepts.

The quality of Copilot output is directly determined by the quality of your prompt - specific, contextual prompts with clear instructions produce dramatically better results than vague requests.

Quick Answer: Effective Copilot prompts include: what you want (task), who it is for (audience), the format you need (length, structure), the tone required (formal, casual, direct), and relevant context (project name, key constraints). Iterate from broad to specific. Keep a Prompt Playbook in OneNote or SharePoint to share effective prompts across your team.

The CRAFT prompt framework for Copilot:

Context: What is the situation? What does Copilot need to know about the project, the audience, and the constraints?

Role: What should Copilot act as? "You are a professional business analyst" or "You are an expert in B2B sales" helps Copilot calibrate its output.

Action: What specifically do you want Copilot to do? "Draft", "Summarize", "Analyze", "Rewrite", "Create" - be specific.

Format: What should the output look like? "Five bullet points", "Two-page document", "Executive summary", "10 slides", "Table with three columns."

Tone: What register is appropriate? "Professional but conversational", "Formal", "Concise and direct", "Warm and encouraging."

Specific prompts that produce strong results:

For Teams: "Summarize this meeting and list all action items with the name of the person responsible for each one."

For Outlook: "Draft a professional email declining this proposal while leaving the door open for future collaboration."

For Word: "Rewrite this executive summary to be more concise. The current version is 400 words. Target 150 words without losing the key points."

For Excel: "Identify the three main factors driving the variance between this month's actual and budgeted costs."

For PowerPoint: "Convert this Word document into a 12-slide presentation for a board audience. Prioritize visuals over text on each slide."

Building a Prompt Playbook:

Keep a Prompt Playbook in OneNote or SharePoint to share effective prompts across your team. When a prompt produces excellent results for a recurring task - weekly report drafting, client email templates, meeting recap formats - save it in the playbook for team use. Over time, this library of proven prompts becomes a significant organizational productivity asset.

For our complete guide to AI prompting applicable across all AI platforms, our how to write better AI prompts guide covers the full framework.

Understanding Copilot's limitations is as important as understanding its capabilities - the organizations getting the most from Copilot are those that use it for the right tasks rather than expecting it to handle everything.

Quick Answer: Copilot cannot make strategic business decisions, access data outside your Microsoft 365 tenant without configuration, produce accurate outputs for highly specialized technical domains without guidance, or guarantee accuracy on factual claims. It does not replace professional judgment - it accelerates the production of content that still requires human review.

The accuracy requirement:

Copilot generates content that requires human review before use. For documents, emails, and presentations that will be sent to external stakeholders or used for decisions, treat Copilot output as a first draft - not a finished product. Factual claims in Copilot-generated content should be verified, particularly for statistics, dates, and specific technical details.

The data access constraint:

Copilot accesses data within your Microsoft 365 tenant - your SharePoint, emails, Teams meetings, and OneDrive files. It does not access external databases, the public internet, or systems outside M365 unless specifically configured through Copilot Studio connectors. For tasks requiring current public information or data from systems outside M365, Copilot needs additional configuration or a different tool.

The strategic judgment gap:

Copilot excels at producing, organizing, and summarizing content. It does not replace the strategic judgment, industry knowledge, and contextual understanding that professionals bring to high-stakes decisions. A Copilot-drafted business case requires an executive's judgment about organizational priorities. A Copilot-summarized contract requires a lawyer's judgment about risk. The value is in the time Copilot saves on production - not in substituting for expertise.

The confidentiality clarity:

Copilot does not use your organizational data to train public AI models - your data stays within your Microsoft 365 tenant. Microsoft Purview adds additional governance capabilities for regulated industries. Understanding this is important for organizations with compliance requirements: Copilot's enterprise data handling differs fundamentally from consumer AI tools.

For how AI tools create privacy and compliance obligations that Microsoft Copilot's enterprise design addresses, our AI privacy guide covers the data handling requirements for organizational AI use.

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AI Adoption Statistics 2026
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How do I access Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot is accessible from multiple entry points across Microsoft 365. In any M365 app: look for the Copilot icon in the ribbon or sidebar - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams all have native Copilot entry points built directly into the application interface. In Microsoft Teams: Copilot appears in the meeting interface, in chat threads, and as a standalone tab. In Windows 11: Copilot is accessible from the taskbar. In Microsoft Edge: a Copilot sidebar is accessible from the browser. Via the M365 Copilot Chat app: available on desktop, mobile, and web at copilot.microsoft.com. Copilot Chat is available without an additional license with limited functionality. Microsoft 365 Copilot - the full version connected to your organizational data - requires a paid add-on license assigned by your administrator. No separate installation is required once licensed - features appear through regular M365 app updates. Source: Copilot Experts June 2026

What can Microsoft Copilot do in Teams?
Microsoft Copilot in Teams provides four primary capabilities. During meetings: real-time transcription identifying who said what, real-time answering of questions about what has been discussed so far (ask "what did [person] say about X" mid-meeting), real-time summaries of decisions reached, and catch-up summaries for participants who join late. After meetings: automatically generated meeting summaries including narrative discussion summary, key decisions, action items with owner attribution, and follow-up questions. In chat: summarization of long chat threads when you return after being away, identification of key decisions from conversations, and draft responses based on thread context. Additionally, Copilot can draft follow-up emails summarizing meeting decisions, generate one-paragraph summaries for stakeholders who were not present, and list all action items with the responsible person. The Project Manager agent, coming to Planner and Teams, will track incoming messages, automate task creation, and send timely updates for routine project oversight. Source: Reclaim January 2026, Copilot Experts June 2026

How does Copilot work in Excel?
Excel Copilot allows users to analyze data, create charts, write formulas, and identify trends using natural language rather than Excel expertise. Ask questions in plain English: "What is the trend in monthly sales over the past 12 months?" or "Which region has the highest customer acquisition cost?" - Copilot reads your spreadsheet and answers. For charts, describe what you want: "Create a bar chart comparing Q1 through Q4 revenue by product category" and Copilot generates it from your existing data. For formulas, describe the logic: "Write a formula that calculates the 90-day rolling average of column C" and Copilot writes the formula, explains what it does, and inserts it. For data cleaning, ask Copilot to identify duplicates, standardize date formats, or flag invalid entries. Excel Copilot also integrates Python for advanced analysis, enabling statistical modeling and data science workflows without requiring Python expertise. The result: business users who do not know Excel formulas can get answers from their data using plain English, while Excel experts can accelerate complex analytical work. Source: Geeky Gadgets January 2026, Copilot Experts June 2026

Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Microsoft Copilot is not free for full business use. Copilot Chat is available without an additional license with limited functionality - useful for general tasks but without access to your organizational data from M365. Microsoft 365 Copilot - the version integrated into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and connected to your organizational emails, documents, and meetings - is a paid add-on to qualifying Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Administrators assign Copilot licenses to specific users in the M365 admin center. For individuals, Copilot is included in Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium plans. For businesses, Copilot is an add-on license for Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 Business plans include Copilot for Teams, making it accessible for small businesses wanting to scale output. The Forrester research finding that SMEs see returns of 130% or more over three years with proper training and deployment provides the ROI framework for evaluating the add-on cost. Source: Copilot Experts June 2026

How do I write better prompts for Microsoft Copilot?
Effective Microsoft Copilot prompts include five elements: context (what is the situation, what does Copilot need to know), role (what should Copilot act as - "professional business analyst", "expert in B2B sales"), action (what specifically do you want - "draft", "summarize", "analyze", "rewrite"), format (what the output should look like - "five bullet points", "two-page document", "ten slides"), and tone (what register is appropriate - "professional but conversational", "formal", "concise and direct"). Iterate from broad to specific - start with a general request, review the output, then narrow your prompt for specific refinements. Keep a Prompt Playbook in OneNote or SharePoint to share effective prompts for recurring tasks across your team. Use voice dictation for prompts when multitasking. Explore Copilot's built-in prompt galleries regularly to find new approaches. For Teams specifically: always ask for action items with the person responsible named specifically. For Outlook: specify the tone and length target in the prompt. For Word: specify the audience, length target, and structure. Source: Reflective IT 2026, Reclaim January 2026

What is Microsoft Copilot Studio?
Microsoft Copilot Studio is the platform for building custom AI agents tailored to specific business workflows - going beyond the standard M365 app Copilot features to create agents that automate complex, multi-step organizational processes. Custom agents built in Copilot Studio can automatically review incoming vendor invoices and update financial systems, handle customer inquiries with access to your product database, manage HR benefits inquiries using internal documentation, or automate any multi-step workflow that spans multiple systems. New 2026 Copilot Studio features include computer use - the ability to automate web and desktop applications - which reached general availability in May 2026, and MCP-compliant tools in agent workflows reaching general availability in October 2026. Copilot Studio requires some configuration work to build effective agents but does not require extensive coding expertise. The distinction: standard M365 Copilot handles individual productivity tasks within applications. Copilot Studio handles workflow automation that spans multiple systems, requires external data connections, or needs to execute actions beyond drafting and summarizing. Source: Copilot Experts June 2026, Reclaim January 2026

Microsoft Copilot in August 2026 is genuinely different from the Copilot that launched in late 2023. It has evolved from an AI assistant you interact with inside individual applications into what Microsoft calls an AI workforce member that orchestrates tasks across the full Microsoft 365 ecosystem simultaneously.

The 9 hours per month saved per user, the 29% faster presentation creation, and the 130% Forrester ROI for SMEs over three years are not marketing projections. They are measured outcomes from organizations that deployed Copilot systematically - with training, with defined use cases, with prompt playbooks, and with the discipline to start with specific high-value workflows before scaling broadly.

The organizations getting the most from Copilot share one characteristic: they treat it as a workflow transformation, not a feature. The employees who save 9 hours per month are not the ones who occasionally ask Copilot a question - they are the ones who have rebuilt their Teams meeting workflow, their Outlook email process, and their document creation process around Copilot's capabilities.

The starting point is simple. Open Teams in your next meeting with Copilot recording. Ask it to summarize what was discussed after the meeting ends. Draft your next routine Outlook email with Copilot. Generate your next PowerPoint deck from a written brief. The value becomes visible within the first week - and scales from there as you build the prompts, workflows, and team habits that capture the documented returns.