42% of small and medium businesses are already using AI, and most are seeing real financial returns. Microsoft 365 Copilot puts that power directly into the apps you already use every day.
This isn’t about replacing your work. It’s about amplifying what you can do. Copilot drafts documents in Word, analyzes data in Excel, summarizes meetings in Teams, and manages your inbox in Outlook. All without switching tools or learning complicated new software.
Still, most people use Copilot wrong.
They expect magic, get disappointed with mediocre results, and abandon it. The difference between frustration and transformation comes down to knowing how to prompt it and when to trust its output.
Below, we’ll show you exactly how to use Microsoft 365 Copilot across every major app.
What Is Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant embedded directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 apps. It combines large language models with your organizational data to help draft content, analyze information, and automate routine tasks.
The major difference between using Microsoft 365 Copilot and the latest LLM is context.
Context means everything.
Copilot accesses your emails, documents, meetings, and chats through Microsoft Graph. When you ask it to summarize last week’s project updates, it pulls from actual emails and Teams conversations you have permission to see. When you need a report, it references real data from your spreadsheets and presentations.
It appears in the apps you use daily, so there’s no switching between tools or copying information back and forth.
Microsoft offers both free and paid versions. The free Copilot Chat provides basic assistance. The paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license unlocks the full experience, including deep integration with your work data, advanced features in each app, and access to specialized AI agents.
The paid version is what transforms productivity. And that’s what we’re focusing on here.
Expectation Setting
Copilot isn’t magic. It’s a tool that creates first drafts, not finished work.
Every piece of content Copilot generates needs your review:
- Check facts
- Adjust tone
- Add your expertise
- Rewrite portions
- Re-prompt
- Polish
The AI doesn’t know your industry nuances, your company’s specific context, or what your audience actually needs to hear. Ultimately, it is just artificial intelligence, and while that’s powerful, it’s never a replacement for human intelligence.
Think of Copilot like a smart intern. It can knock out 80% of routine work quickly, but you still need to guide it, correct it, and polish the output. The best results come from clear instructions and willingness to iterate.
Users who treat Copilot as a starting point succeed. Users who expect perfection get frustrated and quit.
How to Use Copilot Across Microsoft Products
Copilot works differently in each Microsoft 365 app, tailored to what you’re actually trying to accomplish in that tool. Knowing these features helps you work faster and get better results.
Below, we’ll show you how to use Copilot across:
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Outlook
- Teams
1. How to Use Copilot in Word
Word is where Copilot shines for content creation. Open the Copilot panel from the ribbon and start with specific prompts about what you need.
- Creating documents: Tell Copilot what to write and for whom. “Draft a 2-page project proposal for upgrading our CRM system, written for non-technical executives” works better than “write about CRM.” You can also reference existing documents: “Create a summary based on Q3_Sales_Report.docx.”
- Editing and refining: Highlight sections and ask Copilot to rewrite for clarity, adjust tone (make it more formal, more conversational), or condense lengthy paragraphs. It’s great at transforming technical jargon into plain language.
Remember, never ship the first draft. Copilot gives you structure and eliminates blank page syndrome, but your expertise makes it valuable. Add specific examples, verify claims, and inject your voice into the content.
2. How to Use Copilot in Excel
Excel Copilot turns natural language into data insights without requiring advanced formulas or know-how.
- Data analysis: Ask questions about your spreadsheet: “What are the top 3 sales regions this quarter?” or “Show me trends in customer complaints over the last 6 months.” Copilot analyzes your data and highlights patterns you might miss.
- Formula assistance: Instead of googling Excel formulas, describe what you need: “Calculate the percentage change between columns B and C” or “Sum all values where the status is ‘Complete.'” Copilot generates the formula and explains how it works.
- Visualizations: Request charts with simple prompts: “Create a bar chart showing revenue by product category” or “Visualize monthly website traffic trends.” Copilot builds the visualization and suggests refinements.
Copilot works best with clean, structured data. Format your spreadsheets properly before asking it to analyze anything.
3. How to Use Copilot in PowerPoint
PowerPoint Copilot helps you build presentations faster, but always customize the output to match your brand and message.
- Creating presentations: Start from scratch with prompts like “Create a 10-slide presentation on cybersecurity best practices for small businesses” or convert existing documents: “Turn Strategic_Plan.docx into a presentation with key highlights on each slide.”
- Refining slides: Ask Copilot to summarize dense slides, generate speaker notes for each section, or create potential Q&A responses so you’re prepared for audience questions. You can also get it’s help coming up with the script to best present each slide.
- Design considerations: Copilot’s default designs are generic. Always adjust colors, fonts, and layouts to match your organization’s brand guidelines. Add your own images and real examples. An unedited AI presentation looks exactly like what it is: unedited AI output.
The value isn’t in having Copilot do everything. It’s in getting structure and content quickly, then making it yours.
4. How to Use Copilot in Outlook
Email management is much faster with Copilot handles routine correspondence and inbox organization.
- Drafting emails: Click the Copilot icon when composing and describe what you need: “Draft a polite follow-up email to a client about the delayed project timeline” or “Write a meeting request for next Tuesday to discuss Q4 budget planning.”
- Summarizing threads: Long email chains become digestible with one click. Copilot extracts key points, decisions made, and action items without forcing you to read 47 replies about lunch preferences buried in a project discussion.
- Inbox management: Use prompts like “Catch me up on emails from the past week and highlight any urgent items” or “Summarize all messages from my manager this month.”
And try Copilot coaching. It can review your drafted emails and suggest improvements for tone, clarity, and professionalism before you hit send.
5. How to Use Copilot in Teams
Teams Copilot keeps you aligned with your team without drowning in meetings and chat messages.
- Meeting recaps: Copilot automatically captures meeting summaries, key decisions, and action items. Join late or miss entirely? Ask “What did I miss in today’s standup?” and get a concise summary with relevant context.
- Note taking: During meetings, Copilot tracks discussion points, identifies who committed to what tasks, and organizes follow-ups. This frees you to actually participate instead of frantically typing notes.
- Chat and channel summaries: Catching up on active channels is exhausting. Ask Copilot to “Summarize the #marketing channel from this week” or “What are the main topics in my unread messages?” It distills conversations into actionable insights.
The productivity gain isn’t just personal. When your whole team uses Copilot in Teams, everyone stays informed without nonstop status update meetings.
Implement Copilot with Airiam
Getting Copilot licenses is easy, but using them effectively across your organization is where most businesses struggle.
- Employees need training on effective prompting
- IT teams need to configure security and data governance
- Leadership needs to understand ROI and adoption metrics
Without a strategic rollout plan, Copilot becomes expensive shelfware that nobody uses properly.
Airiam helps businesses implement Microsoft 365 Copilot the right way. We handle everything from license optimization and deployment planning to employee training and ongoing support. Our team guarantees your data stays secure, your compliance requirements are met, and your people actually adopt the tool.
We’ve helped organizations across industries transform their AI adoption. Based on our experience with clients, we know which implementation strategies drive real productivity gains and which create frustration.
Let’s maximize your Copilot investment. Talk to our AI experts to build an implementation strategy that fits your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do I need special training to use Microsoft 365 Copilot?
A little guidance goes a long way. Anyone can start using Copilot right away, but the people who get great results know how to write clear prompts and understand what each feature actually does. Most companies find that spending a few hours on structured onboarding pays off immediately in better adoption and fewer frustrated employees.
2. Can Copilot access my confidential data?
Only what you can already see. Copilot respects all your existing permissions and security settings. If you can’t access a file or email, neither can Copilot. Your sensitive information stays locked down by the same Microsoft 365 security you’re already using.
3. What’s the difference between free and paid Copilot?
The free version gives you basic chat and some light assistance. The paid version is where things get interesting. You get full integration with your actual work data, advanced features in every app, and context from your emails, meetings, and documents. It’s the difference between a generic chatbot and an AI assistant that actually knows your business.
4. Does Microsoft 365 Copilot work offline?
Nope. Copilot needs the internet to work since it’s processing everything through cloud-based AI models and pulling from your Microsoft 365 data. No connection means no Copilot.
5. How much does Microsoft 365 Copilot cost?
$30 per user per month on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription. You’ll also need at least a Business Standard, Business Premium, E3, or E5 license as the foundation. Not cheap, but for teams that use it well, the productivity gains almost always justify the cost within weeks.
