Microsoft Copilot in OneNote offers a new way of taking notes using artificial intelligence (AI). This introduction to Copilot in Microsoft OneNote takes you through the extensive features and capabilities that help you create, edit, and summarize notes more efficiently. Copilot combines the power of technology with ease of use, assisting in your writing process, generating content, and helping you organize your notes. Discover how you can use Copilot for OneNote as your AI assistant for text processing.
Features of Microsoft Copilot in OneNote
With Microsoft Copilot in OneNote, you have access to several features, including:
- Summarize notes: Create summaries to quickly analyze notes.
- Generate to-do lists: Ask Copilot to summarize concrete tasks and action points.
- List pros and cons: Extract insights from your notes and formulate prompts for actionable information.
- Take notes: Copilot helps you analyze transcriptions taken during in-person meetings.
- Brainstorm ideas: Use Copilot as a creative or brainstorming partner to come up with new ideas.
- Create project plans: Make plans or schedules for large-scale projects with Copilot.
- Organize notes: Avoid a clutter of notes by letting Copilot help bring order to the chaos.
- Rewrite text: Transform the length or tone of your notes to come across more professionally or confidently.
- Chat with Copilot: Use Copilot to ask questions about the content of your notes.
How does Microsoft Copilot work in OneNote?
To use Copilot in OneNote, open a new note or select an existing one. Click the Copilot icon in the toolbar, located under the “Home” tab. This will open the Copilot window where you can enter prompts.
Important: Copilot in OneNote is currently only available through the Windows application.
Summarizing notes
Do you ever open a OneNote page and feel overwhelmed by countless notes? With Copilot in OneNote, you can easily bring order to the chaos. Open the Copilot window and ask Copilot to generate summaries based on your notes, which you can then easily copy into your notes. Try the following prompts in OneNote:
- “Generate a summary of the notes on this page. Arrange the summary in chronological order and list the events in bullet points.”
- “Create a summary of the notes about the event in an engaging and lively style.”
Tip: Want to summarize just a specific part of your notes? Select that portion before asking Copilot to generate a summary. This way, Copilot will only consider the selected text.
Generating action points
Open the Copilot window to create a structured action point list or to-do list. Here are some prompts you can use:
- “Create a task list.”
- “Generate a to-do list for the upcoming quarterly meeting.”
- “Create a task list based on the notes about the marketing campaign. Include actions for both the launch and evaluation of campaign performance.”
Listing pros and cons
Extract insights from your notes using Microsoft Copilot. Formulate your own prompts or use the featured prompt “List pros and cons.” Here are some customized prompts you can try in OneNote. With these, you can gain insights and turn your notes into actionable information:
- “Identify what’s missing in the project plan on this page and suggest improvements.”
- “Analyze the pros and cons of my idea and offer alternative perspectives.”
- “Evaluate how I can strengthen the sales plan and provide concrete action points.”
- “Describe the pros and cons of the Q4 sales strategy and suggest potential optimizations.”
- “Provide a critical review of the Q1 sales strategy with recommendations for improvements.”
- “Generate a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of my idea.”
- “Determine the key action points from the project plan and categorize them by priority.”
Generating notes in meetings
Use Copilot in OneNote just as you would in Teams during your meetings. For Copilot in OneNote, you need a transcription of your meeting. Go to the toolbar and click “Transcribe” under the “Home” tab. Choose the language that will be spoken during the meeting and start the transcription. After the meeting, click “Save” and then “Add to page” to add the transcription to your OneNote. Based on the transcription, you can use the Copilot chat window for various prompts, such as generating summaries, action lists, insights, and more.
Note: Currently, Copilot has difficulty distinguishing between different speakers when everything is recorded with a single microphone. Be sure to check the action point list to ensure Copilot assigns tasks to the correct people.
Brainstorming with Copilot
Use Copilot as your creative or brainstorming partner. You can employ Copilot when starting with a blank page or when you want to expand your existing notes. Let your creativity flow and get inspired by Copilot. Open the Copilot window on a blank page or within your current notes and experiment with the following prompts:
- “I’m looking for inspiration for a motivational speech that emphasizes the value of a growth mindset.”
- “Can you help me come up with creative concepts for a social media campaign for our new outdoor clothing line?”
- “What are some engaging blog topics about personal growth?”
- “Do you have suggestions for dynamic and interactive exercises for our next team-building event?”
- “Let’s brainstorm an innovative product that solves everyday problems.”
For more personal notes, you can also ask Copilot for help:
- “Create a list of fun gift ideas for my sister’s 60th birthday and highlight the top 3 most unique ideas.”
- “Create a list of 15 healthy meals for weekday evenings.”
Creating a plan
Another useful tool from Copilot is creating plans and schedules. A helpful feature, especially when you often face large-scale projects, it lends a helping hand when you’re unsure where or how to begin. Copilot to the rescue! It assists in supporting and designing plans, projects, campaigns, or helps you achieve your goals.
Here are some prompts to try:
- “Create a program for a team member’s retirement party.”
- “Develop a project plan for a new app for package tracking, considering the technical requirements and customer feedback listed on this page.”
- “Sketch a timeline for the implementation of the new customer service model.”
- “Formulate a strategy for the market launch of our newest product, including pre-launch activities and media announcements.”
Organizing your notes
OneNote can sometimes become overwhelming with a jumble of notes. It’s a common scenario, no need to deny it! Let Copilot be your assistant in bringing order to the chaos. You can ask Copilot to structure your notes using tables, lists, or a logical order. Here are some example prompts you can use to organize your notes more efficiently:
- “Structure my notes in a table with priorities.”
- “Create a list of the main points from these notes in order of urgency.”
- “Arrange the information on this page chronologically.”
- “Create a table with the pros and cons of Strategy A listed on this page.”
- “Break the fundraising event plan into separate steps.”
- “Rank the objectives for the upcoming fiscal year by priority.”
- “Sort this list of events I have this month in order of date.”
- “Organize the notes on this page neatly so I can share them with my colleagues.”
- “Convert the selected text into a bullet-point list.”
Rewriting text
Just like Copilot in Word, Copilot in OneNote gives you the ability to rewrite texts. The approach is slightly different. Select the text in your notes you wish to adjust, then open the Copilot window and write the prompt “Rewrite this text”. Copilot will reformulate your text in the chat window. If you’re satisfied with the result, you can copy the new version and paste it over the original text in your notes. Copilot will not automatically replace the text.
Try these prompts for rewriting text:
- “Rewrite this text to give it a more formal and academic tone.”
- “Improve this text to make the argument stronger and more substantiated.”
- “Rewrite this text to make it more concise and to the point.”
Ask Copilot questions:
Ask questions about the content of your notes and quickly pick them up by posing specific queries. With Copilot as your assistant in OneNote, you can formulate various questions. Experiment with different prompts to see how Copilot can assist you. Start with the following suggestions:
- “Search my notes and highlight specific information relevant to my current project.”
- “Provide concrete suggestions to improve the clarity and structure of my notes.”
- “Add new, relevant insights to my notes that align with the topic.”
- “Identify the unfinished tasks from last month’s sprint.”
- “Highlight the key points from this page for quick reference.”
- “Help me break down my personal goals into achievable steps on this page.”
- “Review my vacation plan on this page and point out any missing elements.”
- “What does the onboarding process for a new employee look like?”
- “Provide an overview of the tasks from the last sprint that still need attention.”
- “Identify my contacts for the project and outline their responsibilities.”
- “Gather information and tips for someone relocating to a new city.”
- “Analyze the pros and cons of buying a used car, focusing on reliability and costs.”
Tip: Use the copy icon to add the response generated by Copilot to your notes. This way, you can place summaries or key action points at the top of your OneNote for quick reference.
Important: Currently, Copilot in OneNote cannot reference data or documents from other Microsoft 365 applications.
