The Complete Guide To Using Microsoft Copilot in 2025

Getting more done starts with making the most of the tools you already use, like Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams. Learning how to use Microsoft Copilot like a pro can help you streamline your workflow and save time.

Whether you’re exploring AI for the first time or refining your expertise, you’re about to learn how this AI assistant works across Microsoft’s most essential apps. 

Ready to turn hours of work into minutes of results? Read on!

What is Microsoft Copilot (And Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore It)

Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant and it’s integrated into apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. This powerful tool is great at understanding text, extracting relevant insights, and providing sophisticated answers based on your documents and data.

This AI assistant works directly with your regular Microsoft apps, which means you don’t need to switch between platforms like ChatGPT.

If you’re ready to dive deeper, check out Git’s Microsoft Copilot courses for step-by-step guidance.

Microsoft Copilot Versions: Choose the Right One for You

There are different versions of Microsoft Copilot and each one can notably affect your workflow. 

1. Copilot (Free Service)

Once known as Bing Chat, this free service provides you with a powerful chatbot on Windows and the Edge browser. It uses the standard GPT-4 model and offers web grounding, meaning it can search the web to answer up-to-date questions. 

However, it comes with usage restrictions, such as daily message limits.

2. Copilot Pro

This version includes all the features of the free service, along with priority access to GPT-4 (allowing higher usage limits) and crucial integration into Microsoft Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. 

Copilot Pro also offers access to Copilot GPT Builder for creating customized GPT assistants (for an extra fee).

Monthly cost: $20 USD.

3. Copilot for Microsoft 365

This version is designed for corporate use, which means you get all the bells and whistles of the tool. This AI assistant can peek into your organization’s emails, Teams chats, and documents to tackle trickier questions, all while keeping your data safe and sound (no worries, your info won’t be used to train other models). Plus, you can whip up custom chatbots with Copilot Studio.

Monthly cost: $30 USD per person, paid yearly. 

If you really want to boost your productivity, Copilot Pro and Copilot for Microsoft 365 are the best options. These versions can help improve productivity by 20 to 25%, which is why we’re going to focus on them in this blog post.

How to Check if You Have Microsoft Copilot (and Get It If You Don’t)

Before diving into its features, you need to ensure you have access to Copilot. Here’s a quick access check: 

In Word:

• Open Word on your desktop or via the web at Microsoft365.com or Office.com.
• Look for the Copilot icon in the top or side menu.
• If it’s not there, double-check your setup and ensure you have the Copilot Pro account.

In Excel:

• If you’re starting fresh in Excel, you might see the Copilot icon is gray. Don’t worry!
• To activate it, format your data as an Excel table. Here’s how to do it:

1. Highlight your data.
2. Select “Format as Table” from the menu.
3. Ensure your table includes headers.

• With AutoSave enabled, save your Excel file to OneDrive.
• If Copilot still doesn’t work, update your license and restart Excel.
• Or, if you’re working online, just copy your data from Microsoft365.com and paste it into your local Excel file. Voilà, table formatting!

In Teams:

• Within any channel conversation or post, search for the Copilot icon.
• Double-check by browsing the “Apps” section and looking for “Copilot.”
• Add the “M365 Chat” app to experience the chatbot interface within Teams.

How to Get Microsoft Copilot

For full integration and access, you’ll need to subscribe to the Copilot Pro version or above, or make sure your company has a valid Microsoft 365 subscription that includes the Copilot service. 

If you have the right subscription, your admin will need to enable Copilot for your team or organization. Once enabled, you can start using Copilot to assist with various tasks. 

• Pro Tip: For optimal Copilot performance, ensure OneDrive and AutoSave are enabled for your Microsoft 365 files. This keeps your data in the cloud and up-to-date, so Copilot can work its magic.

Key Microsoft 365 Copilot Features

It may seem to you that Microsoft Copilot is just a chatbot, but it’s not; it’s a powerful AI assistant with several standout features, such as:

• Privacy-First AI

Copilot is designed with privacy at its core, meeting the most strict enterprise data protection requirements. Plus, the data it processes is never used to train other AI models, so your data stays yours and yours alone.

• Smart Grounding

Drawing from your files, emails, Teams chats, and meetings, Copilot provides responses that are grounded in your specific data. This means it offers personalized, context-relevant answers. It even understands the hierarchical structure of your files, making it easier to navigate your documents.

• Multimodal Capabilities

Words aren’t the only focus for Copilot. It can create and interpret images, generate charts and graphs in Excel, and suggest relevant visuals for your PowerPoint slides. This versatility allows it to work with various data types, enhancing your productivity.

• File Referencing

Ever wonder how Copilot knows the answer to your questions? It’s all about the source files. You can see exactly where the information was found, building trust and helping you trace information back to its origin, whether it’s a lengthy document or a specific slide in a presentation.

• Personal Insights

Using your personal information, communication patterns, and activity history, Copilot understands your interests and preferences. This allows it to suggest tailored prompts, making it an effective personal assistant.

• Real-Time Monitoring

Instead of sitting back and waiting for you to ask for help, Copilot takes a proactive approach. It’s always keeping an eye on what you’re up to, ready to jump in with the right questions or tasks at just the right time.

Microsoft Copilot in Word: Writing, Editing, and Summarizing Smarter

Copilot transforms how you interact with Word documents, moving beyond simple keyword searches to provide deep contextual understanding and content generation. Here’s how to use Microsoft Copilot in Word:

• Smarter Search than Ctrl+F

Say goodbye to basic Control + F searches! Microsoft’s AI assistant uses semantic search to understand the context of your document, not just the exact keywords. 

For instance, if you ask “What markets have we identified to enter in Europe?”, Copilot will find the relevant sections and provide the answer. Even if you use the word “countries” instead of “markets,” Copilot will still show you the correct information. 

You can copy-paste the answer and see its source. 

• Instant Summaries

Copilot can help you grasp key points from your document to create a quick summary. This AI assistant can summarize a long proposal into a single sentence explaining why your product stands out. 

It can also create brief overviews of multi-page reports and automatically extract deadlines and key points. Need to know the dates for a digital marketing plan? Copilot can list them and provide context.

• Content Creation on Demand

Looking for a writing boost? Copilot can generate new content, materials, and documents. Just let it know what you need, like an introductory paragraph, a competitor analysis section, or market insights. 

It might suggest something like “Are you ready for a caffeine-fueled adventure?” for an intro, but you’ll need to copy-paste its output into your document. Copilot will let you know when it uses external knowledge to keep things transparent.

• Smart Editing & Tone Control

Your secret weapon for refining existing text is Copilot. Highlight a paragraph, and ask it to rewrite it with a specific tone or style. 

For example, you can make an executive summary sound more urgent by incorporating language that emphasizes high demand and other pressing factors. Copilot can also adjust the length of your text, making it more concise or detailed as needed.

• Turn Lists into Tables

One of Copilot’s standout features is its ability to convert unstructured text into structured tables. It intelligently identifies logical columns, such as “Job Title,” “Job Description,” and “Salary” from a list of professions, or “Quantity” and “Ingredient” from a recipe. This enhances readability and organization, especially for dense bullet points or proposals without clear categories. 

If the AI doesn’t get it right the first time, you can regenerate the table or it may inform you that it cannot provide a high-quality result.

• Pausing Copilot

Although there isn’t a direct “pause” function for Copilot in Word, you can clear its previous context by using the “Change topic” command. This helps Copilot start fresh with your new query, focusing on your current request and not being influenced by prior interactions or document sections.

Microsoft Copilot in Excel: AI-Powered Data Analysis for Everyone

Copilot in Excel is a game-changer for data analysis, enabling conversational queries and intelligent formatting without needing deep Excel expertise.

• Getting Set Up Correctly

Before you start, ensure your data is formatted as an Excel table and your file is saved to OneDrive with AutoSave on to unlock the magic of Copilot in Excel. This simple step activates Copilot’s powerful features.

• Conversational Data Queries

Using straightforward language, Copilot helps filter data, removing the need for intricate SQL-like commands. 

For example, instead of typing “Filter to Where Year = 2018,” you can say, “Show me only rows where the Year is 2018” or “Show me all the data for Store A.” It will recognize the relevant columns and apply the filters, even if you don’t specify the column names.

You can also filter on multiple columns at once by saying: “Filter to Latte and 2018.” This makes data exploration as easy as having a conversation with a data analyst.

• Ask for Insights, Not Just Numbers

Copilot can transform complex information into clear insights. Ask it something like, “What’s the total sales for 2020?” or “How much did I make from lattes in 2019?” and Copilot will give you the scoop and the math or pivot tables to back it up. 

To get the most accurate results, use specific keywords for aggregation. For instance, in the query “Which year had the highest sales for Store A?”, the word “total” helps Copilot sum the sales correctly. Without it, Copilot might interpret it as the year with the highest single sale, leading to incorrect results. 

Best practices include using keywords like “highest average sales,” “highest total sales,” “highest sum sales,” “highest max sales,” or “highest min sales” to clarify your intent.

Explicitly referencing column names, especially in complex datasets or when dealing with multiple similar columns (like different year columns), is a good idea, even though Copilot can often infer them (e.g., “latte” instead of “coffee product latte”).

• Smart Formatting & Visualization

Copilot makes it easy to format and visualize data. Ask it to highlight or bold specific columns based on conditional values. For example, “Highlight the rating column in red where the rating is below 3.0” or “Bold the rating column where the rating is higher than 4.5.”

Microsoft’s AI assistant can apply multi-color conditional formatting (green, yellow, red) to columns based on the range of values detected, enhancing data visualization without requiring you to set explicit thresholds.

• Row-Level Formatting Limitation

Formatting based on values can be applied by Copilot to individual columns, but not to entire rows. But hey, it’s pretty good at letting you know when it can’t do something!

• Sorting Data

Easily sort your data by one or multiple columns in ascending or descending order with Copilot. Just ask it to “sort Sales in descending order” or “sort by Store, then by Coffee Product, and then by Year in ascending order.” 

While manual sorting might be quicker for some, this feature is incredibly useful for those less familiar with Excel’s built-in sorting functions.

• Creating Charts and Formulas

Copilot can craft complex formulas and create charts and graphs from your selected data. If you have sales and cost columns, asking it to create a “profit” column will prompt it to understand “profit = sales—cost” and add the formula. 

Although still in preview and occasionally prone to context errors, Copilot always informs you of its intended action.

• Data Cleaning and Simple Predictive Modeling

Say goodbye to pesky duplicates and messy formatting! With Copilot you can clean up your data in no time. Plus, it can even handle some simple predictive modeling tasks, like basic regressions. For more complex predictions, it’s a good idea to use specialized tools.

Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint: Create Impactful Presentations in Minutes

Copilot in PowerPoint is incredibly powerful, allowing you to generate and enhance presentations with ease.

• From Idea to Deck

If you’re ready to whip up full presentations from a single idea, Copilot is your creative sidekick. Want to champion the dog vs. cat debate or unravel the tangled yarn of an economic puzzle? Just ask, and Copilot will start crafting your slides.

• Enhance Existing Slides

Got slides that need a little TLC? Copilot’s got your back. Just tell it to add new points, like “Edit this slide to include how this coffee is very nutritious.” This tool can also insert relevant images to support your content, such as a farmer image to highlight ethical sourcing or a coffee bean image for market analysis. If you’re unsure, just ask for a “relevant image.”

• Presentation Polish

Microsoft’s AI assistant helps refine your presentation for maximum impact. Check out how: 

• Auto-generate speaker notes: It can create speaking notes for each slide, giving you prompts on what to say.
• Adjust text length: Keep your slide text concise or detailed for better readability.
• Optimize formatting: Transform your content into bite-sized bullet points or flowing paragraphs, and highlight key words with bolding.

• Summaries on Demand

Copilot can sum up your entire presentation or specific sections, give you executive-ready takeaways and handout-friendly summaries. It can even generate random questions to help you prepare for that important meeting!

Microsoft Copilot in Outlook: Streamline Your Email Management

When you’re overwhelmed by emails, Copilot in Outlook becomes your lifesaver, making communication and management lightning-fast and smart.

• Effortless Email Drafting

Copilot can generate content that matches your desired tone and enhances clarity, whether you’re starting a new email or replying to an existing one. Just provide a brief prompt, and Copilot will understand the context from previous emails in the thread.

• Context-Aware Smart Replies

Keeping up with the context of email threads is a pro skill of Copilot. This means it can generate replies that are on point in tone and length with just one click. It can even turn negative responses into diplomatic ones, saving you up to an hour a day if you handle a lot of emails.

• Email Summaries

Ever been lost in a never-ending email thread? Copilot can quickly summarize long email threads or lengthy individual emails, condensing them into key action points. 

This is perfect for catching up on forwarded conversations or long chains after being away. Although the summary feature doesn’t yet support interactive Q&A or direct references within the email (unlike in Word or PowerPoint), it still provides about 80% of the context you need.

• Email Coaching

This feature it’s like having a writing mentor right in your inbox. As you type, Copilot will pop in with friendly tips to polish your email. It’ll nudge you to use more polished language, sprinkle in some gratitude, or break up long rambles into neat bullet points. 

It’s all about giving you the tools to write emails that really hit the mark.

• Scheduling & Prioritization

AI-powered email sorting and calendar integration are also included in Copilot to help you schedule and prioritize your emails. These quick response and prioritization features are still in preview mode, but they promise to make your email management even more efficient.

Microsoft Copilot in Teams: AI That Enhances Your Collaboration

Copilot in Teams is really helpful because it can provide real-time assistance during live meetings amplifying your collaborative efforts. Here’s what Microsoft’s AI assistant can do:

• Conversation Intelligence

Wrapping up group chats in a neat little bow is a pro skill of Copilot, so you don’t have to wade through a sea of messages. It’s like having a personal assistant who not only takes notes but also keeps tabs on decisions with time-stamped references. 

Plus, with clickable links for traceability, it’s a whole lot better than what Outlook offers.

• Meeting Productivity

If you struggle with keeping up with meetings, Copilot can fill you in on what you miss. 

Ask it about the nitty-gritty, like “What’s the scoop on topic X?” or “What was Sarah’s take on the budget?” Copilot can even sum up a 30-minute meeting in just a few minutes if you’re running late. Plus, it takes notes, catching all the key decisions and deadlines.

• Action Items & Follow-Ups

Copilot can auto-generate to-do lists and follow-up emails based on meeting discussions. It can also create tables with key takeaways and action items, making task organization and tracking a breeze. 

While Copilot is great for insights, it can’t draft or send emails directly from the chat interface. For that, you’ll need Microsoft 365 Chat.

Setup Essentials

To use Copilot in Teams, especially during meetings, follow these steps:

1. Find the Copilot icon in your Teams channels or install the M365 Chat app.
2. Simply enable Copilot in the meeting settings for meetings. When creating a new meeting, choose “Without transcription” in the options.
3. If you only see “With transcription” or no Copilot option, it’s time to enable transcription for your Teams meetings via the Microsoft Teams Admin Center. Your IT administrator can easily do this by editing global meeting policies or creating a new policy.
4. Just a heads-up: Copilot’s meeting features are for licensed users within the same organization. External participants won’t have access to these features.

Advanced Microsoft Copilot Tips: Get More Done, Future-Proof Your Skills

To truly maximize your Copilot investment and future-proof your productivity skills, consider these advanced tips.

• The 80/20 Copilot Rule

Pinpoint the features that will give you the biggest productivity boost. For most, that means using email drafting and summarizing in Outlook, data Q&A in Excel, and content generation in Word. 

Find the tasks that take up most of your time and see how Copilot can help you tackle them.

• Measuring Your ROI

Keep tabs on your productivity gains by jotting down the time you save when Copilot takes the lead or gives you a hand. If you used to spend 5 minutes crafting an email, but now you’re done in 1, you’ve just banked 4 minutes. Over a day or a week, those saved minutes really stack up.

• The Future of Microsoft AI Assistant

Microsoft is always working on new features and enhancements for its AI assistant. Keep an eye on Microsoft’s official channels for the latest updates, and be sure to try out the new features as they become available.

Learn How to Use Microsoft Copilot with Git

Mastering a new AI tool can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right guidance, you can quickly learn how to use Microsoft Copilot to its full potential across Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams. That’s where Git comes in. 

Whether you’re a beginner curious about Copilot’s basics or a professional aiming to integrate AI seamlessly into your daily workflow, Git offers step-by-step courses designed to accelerate your learning and build real-world skills.

From practical demonstrations to productivity hacks, Git’s Microsoft Copilot courses give you hands-on experience and actionable strategies you can apply immediately.

Instead of spending hours figuring it out alone, you’ll gain structured learning, expert insights, and the confidence to make Copilot a game-changer in your workday. Ready to master Microsoft’s AI assistant? Explore Git’s Microsoft Copilot courses today and start transforming the way you work.