Microsoft Copilot in Word offers a new way of word processing through artificial intelligence (AI). This introduction to Copilot in Microsoft Word takes you through its extensive features and capabilities, enabling you to create, edit, and refine documents more efficiently. Copilot combines the power of technology with ease of use, supporting your writing process, generating content, and providing contextual editing. Discover how you can use Copilot for Word as your AI assistant for word processing.
Features of Microsoft Copilot in Word
With Microsoft Copilot in Word, you have access to various features, including:
- Creating drafts: Start with a blank document and easily add content using Copilot.
- Adding content: Add content to your document using prompts.
- Rewriting text: Have your text rewritten contextually or in a different tone of voice.
- Converting text to a table: Copilot easily generates a table based on your written text and prompts.
- Chatting with Copilot: Ask questions about the content of your document and receive immediate answers.
- Generating summaries: Quickly generate a summary of your document with one click.
- Perfecting your document: Achieve perfection by utilizing Copilot’s suggestions or asking questions to adjust your document to the desired tone of voice.
How Microsoft Copilot in Word works
Creating drafts
Open een leeg document in Word en typ jouw prompt in de Draft with Copilot box. Gebruik “/” of klik op “Reference a File” om de naam van een bestand op te roepen waarop de nieuw gegeneerde tekst gebaseerd moet zijn. Je kan maximaal 3 documenten oproepen.
Once the text is generated, you can keep, delete, or regenerate it to obtain a new version. You can also easily enhance the basic prompt by adding extra elements like context, tone of voice, or length to improve the generated text.
Some prompts to try:
- “Write a whitepaper on project management.”
- “Write a job vacancy for a business consultant role at ESC bv.”
- “Write an article on the importance of a good work-life balance.”
- “Draft a whitepaper on project management.”
- “Design a template for meeting agendas with placeholders for date, participants, and action items.”
- “Create a standard template for client feedback reports based on [document].”
Tip: Provide extra context in your prompt to help Copilot generate a more relevant response. Read “Prompting in Copilot: Best Practices“ to learn how to write effective prompts.
Adding content
Open a (blank) document, click the Copilot icon that appears in the left margin of your document, and enter your prompt or select “inspire me” for text based on the content you have already written. Then, choose whether to keep, regenerate, delete the text, or adjust your prompt with additional context.
Some prompts to try:
- “Write a paragraph on time management.”
- “Create a high-level overview of [topic].”
- “Summarize the core principles of [topic].”
- “Evaluate the pros and cons of [topic].”
- “Create a detailed FAQ section about [topic].”
Rewriting text
Select the text you want to rewrite, click the Copilot icon in the left margin of your Word document, and click “Rewrite”. Copilot will generate several rewritten texts for you to choose from. Select “Replace” to replace the old text with the new version, “Insert below” to place the new text beneath the current text, or click the regenerate icon to generate new suggestions or the adjust tone icon to change the tone of the text.
Some prompts to try:
- “Rewrite the second part of this report to make it more concise.”
- “Convert this technical explanation into a user-friendly version.”
- “Revise this document to make it more engaging and persuasive.”
- “Give me specific examples from this document on how I can improve it for [a leadership review].”
- “Change the font of the first paragraph to [Arial] and set it to [Blue].”
Transforming text into a table
Select the text you want to turn into a table, click the Copilot icon in the left margin of your Word document, and select “Visualize as a Table“. Copilot will generate a table. Choose “Keep it” to insert the table into your document, or click the regenerate icon to form a new table or the discard icon to remove it. To further optimize the table, you can adjust the prompt in the compose box.
Chatting with Copilot
Ask questions about the content of your document to Copilot to help understand the context. You can ask factual and open-ended questions, generate summaries, or professionalize your document’s writing style.
You can open the Copilot chat window by clicking on the Copilot icon found in the ribbon under the “Home” tab.
Generating a Summary
In an existing document, open the Copilot chat window and click the suggested prompt or type “Summarize this doc.” At the bottom of the generated prompt, you can click “References” to find the citations Copilot used.
You can continue the conversation in the Copilot chat window, asking broad or specific questions about the document’s content.
Some prompts to try:
- “Summarize the key findings of the [market research report].”
- “Give a brief overview of the financial results for the last quarter.”
- “Summarize this business plan on one page.”
Perfecting your document
Ask Copilot questions through the chatbox about the document’s formatting. Ask questions to adjust the document to the desired writing style for your audience, such as “Is there a call to action?”, “How can I make this document sound more professional?”, or “Is there a quote from the sales manager in this document?”. Describe the context and target audience in your prompt so Copilot can help you perfect your documents.
Some prompts to try:
- “Check this document for grammatical errors.”
- “Check this document for consistency in terminology.”
- “Ensure this document meets our company’s style guidelines.”
