Microsoft Copilot cheat sheet

A one-page reference for Microsoft Copilot at work: the AI built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. UK English. Check anything that matters against a trusted source.

Key capabilities by level

Foundations

• Ask Copilot Chat questions and draft text from the web experience or Teams.
• Summarise a long email thread or Word document in a few lines.
• Draft a first version of a document or reply, then refine it.

Practitioner

• In Word, draft or rewrite from a prompt; in Outlook, summarise and reply.
• In Excel, ask for formulas, trends and quick summaries of your data.
• In Teams, catch up on a meeting you missed and pull out the actions.

Power User

• Generate a PowerPoint deck from a Word document, then reshape it.
• Use Copilot across your files with work grounding, so answers draw on your own documents.
• Build repeatable agents for a team task where your organisation allows it.

Tier map in three lines

• Free: Microsoft Copilot (web and app) for general questions and drafting.
• Individuals: Microsoft 365 Personal and Family include Copilot in the desktop apps.
• Organisations: Copilot Chat comes with eligible Microsoft 365 plans; the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on opens it up fully across the apps and your work data.

See the current Copilot pricing for individuals and for business for today's details.

Five best prompts

1. Summarise this email thread and list what I've been asked to do, with any deadlines. [in Outlook]
2. Draft a polite reply agreeing to the meeting but asking for the agenda first. [in Outlook]
3. In this workbook, add a column that flags any Fernway order over £5,000 as "Review", and explain the formula. [in Excel]
4. Turn this project brief into a six-slide deck: context, goals, plan, risks, timeline, next steps. [in Word, then export]
5. Recap the meeting I missed: key decisions, open questions, and who owns each action. [in Teams]

Top three mistakes

• Assuming it sees everything. Copilot works from the file, email or chat you point it at; tell it where to look.
• Trusting Excel answers without checking. Read the formula it wrote and spot-check the numbers before you rely on them.
• Sending its draft as-is. It gets tone and detail wrong. Read every message before it leaves your outbox.