Be an email Ninga with Copilot in Outlook

Copilot in Microsoft 365 is an AI-powered assistant designed to provide information, answer questions, and engage in conversation. It uses Open AI’s ChatGPT 4 technology plus your apps and data to deliver relevant and useful responses directly from the browser or from your Office apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, making it a hugely accessible and valuable.

Note: Copilot is not included within the standard Office 365 subscription, meaning that to access Copilot across your Microsoft 365 apps and services you need either a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license ($30 pupm for organisations) or a Copilot Pro license ($20 pupm for individual and family subscriptions). 

Copilot in Outlook

Copilot adds huge value across many of the core Microsoft 365 apps and service, but in the context of Outlook, I see Copilot as a huge time saver and productivity booster. Copilot in Outlook can help users manage their emails more efficiently, easily schedule meetings, quickly following up on emails and authoring better emails. Since Copilot understands the context of the email, the wider thread, and even tasks, Copilot can provide suggestions and actions that are tailored to the user’s needs.

Let’s look at how Copilot in Outlook works and what it can do.

Using Copilot in Outlook

First things first, to use Copilot in Outlook, you need to be using the new Outlook experience (or Outlook on the web). To do this check that the new Outlook Experie4nce toggle is set to on.

New Outlook Toggle

1. Summarising an email thread.

With an email open, you’ll see the Copilot Summarise icon at the top of the email thread. With an email selected, you can simply click “Summary by Copilot” and Copilot will scan through the entire email thread to look for key points and will then generate a summary for you.

The Copilot summary will appear at the top of the last email of the conversation as illustrated below.

Within the summary, Copilot includes citations (indicated by small reference numbers), which are hyperlinks back to the corresponding email within the conversation thread. You can see here; five emails have been pulled together to create the key points I need to know.

2. Drafting an email

In my experience, this is the feature that will save you the most time whilst also helping to ensure your email is polite, on-point, profession and inclusive in tone.

To use the Draft with Copilot feature, simply click on the button to reply to an email or start a new one. You’ll see that Copilot automatically offers you several quick options. Select “Custom” to generate a personalised draft. In the example below, I am going to use Copilot to help me author an email to my builder.

In the Draft with Copilot dialog, we simply describe what we would like to say. You can use the settings button to change things like tone and length.

Copilot will then generate you a response. Once created you can tweak the response, change, modify it or ask Copilot to regenerate. Copilot can be quite “creative” so be sure to review the draft and modify it as needed. The video example below shows the immediate response and a change I ask it to make. You can keep asking for changes until you are happy or accept the draft and make the final changes.

Drafting with Copilot in Outlook.

3. Replying to an email with Copilot

This is like drafting new email, but when replying to an email, Copilot also has better context, since it has access to the entire email thread making the drafted responses, in my experience, more accurate on first take!

In this example, I am replying to an email about a Gang Show event being run by the Cubs and Scouts.

When I click Generate, Copilot drafts me an email. Notice how it has read the context of the email I am replying to and has even automatically calculated the cost of the tickets I want to purchase based on the pricing that was shown and by assuming that I might want two adult and two child tickets. Adult tickets are £10 and children’s tickets are £6, so the £32 is correct!

Using Copilot in Outlook to reply to an email.

4. Coaching with Copilot

The next area Copilot in Outlook can help you is in its “coaching” ability. Here, you do the drafting and let Copilot help you with making sure the email is “on-point”. This is like using tools like Grammarly or Microsoft Editor but is more aligned to the specific email you are writing or replying to.

Using my previous example of the email to my builder, I am this time drafting an email and then asking Copilot to “coach me”. You can see in the video below, that Copilot provides me with tips to make the email better. It does this by suggesting changes to tone, specific detail and clarity based on the context of the email content.

Coaching by Copilot in Outlook.

In coaching mode, Copilot does not make changes to the email for you. Instead, it provides guidance and advice for changes based on its suggestions. You can then copy and paste the suggestions directly into the email draft.

5. More features coming soon.

Microsoft Copilot in Outlook is already great and saves lots of time, especially in drafting and summarising emails. Copilot, like the rest of Microsoft 365 is constantly evolving and there is a roadmap you can access here. Of interest in Copilot for Outlook – my upcoming favourites are:

  • Schedule from email with Copilot: Often you may want to transition a conversation from an email thread to a meeting. From March 2024, Copilot will help you do this by being able to start scheduling right from the email conversation. This will save time and effort by generating a meeting invite that’s ready for you to review and send. Soon, when you click on “Schedule with Copilot” a meeting form will appear with a Copilot generated meeting title, agenda, and conversation summary as well as a pre-filled attendee list from the email thread and an attachment of the original email thread.
  • Follow a meeting: This is new meeting response (RSVP) option coming in June 2024, that will go beyond the traditional Accept, Tentative and Decline choices geared towards individuals with high meeting loads and conflicting meetings each day. Follow is the ideal RSVP option for meetings you can’t attend but still want to stay engaged and receive info about. Other attendees will be able to see if you are following a meeting.

Conclusion

Outlook has long been a staple in the world of email and personal organisation. With the integration of Copilot, it takes a significant step forward in enhancing user experience. Copilot’s features are designed to streamline the way users manage their emails and schedules.

Drafting emails can often take up a significant portion of your day. Copilot assists with email composition by providing suggestions and completing sentences, making the process of writing more efficient. This is especially useful when you’re drafting responses to a large volume of emails or need to quickly send out a professional reply. Copilot’s AI-driven writing assistant helps maintain consistency and tone across your communications.

Microsoft’s aim is to make Outlook not just a tool for reading and sending emails, but a comprehensive assistant that augments productivity and organisation. With Copilot, Outlook becomes more than just an email client; it’s a powerful ally in managing your digital communication and scheduling needs. Copilot also works on Web and Mobile.

Using Copilot in Whiteboard.

Copilot inside Microsoft Whiteboard

Microsoft Whiteboard is a blank canvas where users can draw, sketch, and write, just like a physical whiteboard. It allows multiple users to collaborate on the same Whiteboard in real-time. Whiteboard offers a range of features that enhance collaboration, creativity, and productivity in both professional and educational settings.

Here are some key features of using Microsoft Whiteboard:

  • Flexible and infinite digital canvas
  • Provides ink to shape and Intelligent Ink Recognition
  • Supports co-authoring
  • Allow simple ways to create and annotate content using sticky notes and text boxes
  • Insert images and documents
  • Fully integrated into Microsoft 365 and can be used in Teams Meetings.

Using Copilot in Whiteboard

Using Copilot in Whiteboard revolutionises idea generation and project collaboration, by helping people get started quickly with brainstorming and ideas . This is great when you want to use Whiteboard to collect and inspire ideas but don’t know where to start.

Copilot in Whiteboard makes it super easy to:

  1. Instantly generate fresh ideas and envision concepts in innovative ways to kick start a brainstorming session.
  2. Transform abstract thoughts and words into captivating end engaging visuals.
  3. Arrange and re-arrange ideas into logical categories to make Whiteboards easier to work with – improving clarity.
  4. Create new ideas and angles and overcome obstacles.

Getting Started with Copilot In Whiteboard

When you first start Whiteboard (assuming you are signed in with a Microsoft 365 account that has a Copilot license assigned). You can use Copilot on a new Whiteboard or on an existing whiteboard you have already created Whiteboards.

From a new or existing Whiteboard, you can summon Copilot by clicking on the familiar Copilot button which sits at the right of the tool bar.

On summoning Copilot, you are presenting with a “familar” Copilot prompt. From here you can simply describe what you want. In example below, I wanted to create a new whiteboard space to help me capture ideas about an upcoming team away day.

Within a few seconds, you’ll see Copilot come up with some discussion ideas as per the example below.

From here, we can edit our prompt, modify the prompt, ask for more ideas or simply accept and insert it. In this case Copilot has sugested Post it notes, which makes sense based on my prompt. Here, am going to Click on insert.

I am quite happy with this, but i do want to add a section about where we should have our offsite and what activities we should do.

I can of course, just add to this myself, or if I am feeling (lazy) or just keen to use Copilot. In this example, I’ve added my own postit and asked Copilot to suggest some locations and activities we can use for the away day.

Using Copilot with an existing Whiteboard.

You can also use Copilot with an existing Whiteboard to do things like create a summary of your Whiteboard content and notes. To do this, open a Whiteboard, click the Copilot button and ask it to summarise, suggest new content or catagorise any post its etc into catagories.

You can also, of course, also use as above to add new content or help you with inspiration.

What can’t Copilot do?

At the moment Copilot is mainly focussed around activities that involve post it notes. I’d like to see this extend to drawing visualisations, recommending templates, populating post it notes and changing layouts based on content. I’d also like to see it be able to take a set of bullet points from an email or Teams chat and create a whiteboard from that!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s helpful and really great and these idea generation and kick starting a whiteboard but there are other applications I’d like to see.


Interested to hear how you get on with Copilot in Whiteboard…..let me know in the comments!

Copilot is coming to OneDrive

Copilot is still very new and as such the pace of updates and wider use across the Microsoft 365 estate is ever changing and evolving.

Copilot in OneDrive is one of these upcoming changes. Using Copilot directly from OneDrive (consumer and Enterprise) will allow you to ask open-ended questions and get information from files in your OneDrive without having to open the files first.

What is also really cool is that it will let you with with one or multiple files at a time. It will support files with DOC, DOCX, FLUID, LOOP, PPT, PPTX, XLSX, PDF, ODT, ODP, RTF, ASPX, RTF, TXT, HTM, and HTML extensions.

According to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, this is expected to start rolling out in May 2024.


You can read more by checking item 381450 on the Microsoft 365 Official Roadmap.

For the rest of the updates in public roadmap you can check here.

Copilot gets cool little animations in the latest Windows 11 Insider build

The latest Windows 11 preview build is now rolling out to Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channel. This build (26052) is significant, since it is the first designated “Windows 24H2” build that has been made available to Insiders. It brings a number of new features and enhancements and Microsoft say its the beginning of what will be an AI infused set of updates that will come to Windows 11 this year.

One of the most noticeable things in this build (and partly to mark the 1-year birthday of Microsoft Copilot) is the introduction of new Copilot animations that are being tested. 

Image (c) Microsoft

The Copilot icon will now animate into a pencil or picture icon whenever you copy text or an image to your clipboard, indicating that Copilot can help you with the content you have just copied.

Interacting with Copilot Animations

Whenever content is copied to the clipboard and the intimation is show, users can hover the mouse over the animated Copilot icon to see a choice of different options that Copilot can do for you with the text or image just copied.

  • With text, you are presented with options to summarise, explain, or send directly to Copilot for further user defined queries and requests.
  • With images, you get an option to explain the image along with additional options to edit the image – which then takes you to the Microsoft Designer app.

With this build, Microsoft also supports the ability to launch Copilot by just dragging an image onto the Copilot icon in the taskbar, which then opens Copilot. If Copilot is already open, you can now also drag and drop an image into the text box in Copilot and type an action that you would like to perform on the image content.

Privacy

The content is not automatically sent to Copilot without your permission. The animation of the Copilot button is there to simply guide/remind you that it can help, but nothing is shared to the Copilot System until you choose too. Copilot can’t access your clipboard without consent.

First impressions

It’s an overall really handy shortcut, and one that will help less technically aware/savvy users that Copilot is available to help with content. I find this better than annoying advertising style pop-ups…

We are trying out a new experience for Copilot in Windows that helps showcase the ways that Copilot can accelerate and enhance your work.

Microsoft Windows Team

I especially like the drag and drop on to the Copilot logo and text input fields as this simplifies and shortens the time / steps needed to interactive with Copilot.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 features are now available from Windows 11 desktop

On Windows 11. corporate users with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license will see that premium experience is now integrated into the Copilot Windows desktop experience.

This means that users who have a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license and Copilot for Windows enabled can chat with Copilot in Windows using Graph-based features.

With a unified experience across M365 Chat, Copilot in Windows 11 and the Copilot on the web experience, users can now leverage the Microsoft Graph connected features in Windows, thanks to the integration of Copilot for Microsoft 365 into the Windows desktop experience.

This experience requires users to have a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license, as well as having Copilot i Windows 11 experience, making it a convenient and consisytent experience for users to access Copilot in Microsoft 365 features, along side the existing options in Teams Chat, Edge, and at https://copilot.microsoft.com.

For comsumer users wanted to leverage the advanced feaures of Copilot in their apps and services like OneNote, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook, checkout Copilot Pro