What is Microsoft Copilot — and how do I use it?

Six months ago I had no idea what Copilot was.

I mean, I’d heard the word. It had come up in a few meetings. Someone from IT had sent an email about it that I’d skimmed and filed under ‘deal with later.’

Then one day someone mentioned it in a meeting as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and I realised I was the only person in the room who hadn’t actually tried it.

That evening I sat down and figured it out.

Here’s what I found.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant built directly into Microsoft 365. That means it lives inside the tools you already use every day — Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

It understands plain English. You tell it what you need, it does a first pass, you check it and use it.

Think of it as a very fast, very patient colleague who never gets tired of drafting things, summarising things, or finding things for you.

What does Copilot actually do?

In Outlook:

Copilot reads your emails for you. Point it at a long thread and ask it to summarise — it pulls out the key decisions and the actions you need to take. In seconds. What used to take ten minutes now takes ten seconds.

In Teams:

Copilot listens to your meetings. Ask it to summarise what was discussed, what decisions were made, and what actions were agreed — including who owns what. If you joined late, ask it what you missed.

In Word:

Copilot writes first drafts. Give it a brief and it produces something to work from. Not perfect — you’ll always need to edit. But infinitely better than staring at a blank page.

In Excel:

Copilot reads your data and tells you what’s in it. No formulas. No pivot tables. Just ask it what the three most important things are in this spreadsheet and it tells you in plain English.

In PowerPoint:

Copilot helps you build presentation outlines and improve slide content. Useful for getting a structure down quickly.

Do I already have it?

Possibly. If your company uses Microsoft 365, Copilot may already be available to you — look for a small sparkle or star icon in Outlook or Teams.

Whether it’s switched on depends on your company’s Microsoft licence. If you can’t see it, ask your IT team. Some licences include it automatically, others require an add-on.

Is it hard to learn?

No. That’s the honest answer.

The learning curve is minimal because you’re already using the tools it lives inside. You don’t need to go anywhere new or learn a new interface. You just need to know what to type.

And that’s exactly what Module 1 of That Clicked covers — the prompts that actually work, in the situations you actually face, starting from the first day.

The first two lessons are free. No account needed.

— Anna