Microsoft Copilot prompts: Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams

The treasurer of a hiking club opens Word, clicks the Copilot icon, and types: "Write the report of the annual meeting." She gets two pages of generalities about club life. Copilot did have access to her documents, but she didn't tell it which ones, or what she expected.

Copilot isn't a single tool. It's an assistant built into each Microsoft 365 application, and it doesn't see the same thing depending on where you call it up. What's available also depends on your license and your organization's settings: if a button is missing for you, the answer is in your account's administration, not in your prompt.

In Word: name the documents and the form

In Word, Copilot can write a first draft, rewrite a passage, summarize or transform the open document. It can also draw on other files you point it to, if your plan allows it. The prompt that works names its sources and sets the final form.

Write the minutes of the club's annual meeting from these two documents: [NAME OF THE NOTES FILE] and [NAME OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT FILE].

Structure: one paragraph on attendance, one on the financial statement, one on the votes (one sentence per resolution), then a list of the actions decided with the name of the person responsible.

Tone: factual, no polite closing formula. Add no information that isn't in the two documents. If a figure is missing, write [TO BE COMPLETED].

The instruction about missing figures matters. Without it, the tool fills the gaps with something plausible. Reread the amounts, dates, and names above all, comparing them with the original.

To touch up a passage, select it before asking. "Make this paragraph shorter" applied to the whole document won't give you what you want, whereas the same command on three selected sentences will.

In Excel: prepare the table before asking

Copilot in Excel works better on clean data: a table, a header row with meaningful names, no merged cells or blank rows in the middle. If your file looks more like a page layout than a list, clean it up first, or the answer will be about the wrong piece.

For the treasurer, with a membership dues sheet:

In the dues table, add a column that says "follow up" when the Status column is empty and the registration date is more than 30 days ago.

Then explain the formula you used, in one sentence, so I can check it.

Asking for the explanation of the formula is a good habit. You then reuse only what you understand, and you quickly spot an inverted condition. For broader analyses (pivot tables, charts, questions about the numbers), the principle is the same as in our guide to Excel and data analysis: say which column contains what and what you want to know, not just "analyze."

In Outlook: summarize first, reply second

The most useful case is the thread of thirty emails where you're arriving late. Ask for a summary first, and only then a reply. If you mix the two, the tool writes a reply based on an understanding you haven't checked.

Summarize this thread in five lines: what has been decided, what remains open, and what is expected of me.

When the summary looks right to you, move on to the reply:

Write a reply to Julien. I confirm the date of the 14th, but I can't provide the budget before Thursday. Four sentences maximum, direct and friendly tone, without restating the thread.

Copilot also offers to adjust the tone and length of a draft. That's handy for a delicate email, but you're still the sender: reread before sending, especially any commitments the tool may have added. For email templates to keep, see professional email prompts.

In Teams: ask for decisions, not a summary

After a meeting, Copilot can produce a recap, provided transcription was turned on during the meeting, which depends on your organization's settings. Without a transcript, it has nothing to summarize. If in doubt, check before the meeting and let the participants know.

"Summarize the meeting" often gives soft minutes. Ask instead the question you need answered:

List the decisions made during the meeting, one per line. Then the actions to take, with the person's name and the deadline when one was stated. Then the topics left unanswered. Don't invent a deadline: if it wasn't spoken, write "not specified."

A transcript can misattribute a sentence or garble a proper name. For a decision that commits someone, listen to the passage again or have the person confirm.

Copilot Chat or Copilot in the app?

Both exist and they shouldn't be confused. The chat works as a conversation, on web data and, depending on your license, on your emails, files, and meetings. The assistant inside an application is designed to act on the document you have open. To find an exchange or cross-reference several sources, start with the chat; to modify a specific file, open it and call Copilot from the application. Capabilities change, so look at what your interface offers.

In every case, what you write follows the usual logic: a context, a goal, named sources, a form. The article on context details what to specify. And since Copilot touches company documents, read what you're better off never entrusting to a chatbot, then your organization's rules, before having it read files that contain personal data.

A first trial for tomorrow morning

Choose the next long email you have to handle, open Copilot in Outlook, and ask for the five-line summary. Compare it with your own reading of the thread. If the two agree, move on to the reply. If not, note what it missed: that's what you'll have to specify every time.