Microsoft 365 Copilot is an innovative AI-powered tool designed to enhance productivity across various work-related tasks. By leveraging user prompts, Copilot delivers real-time, AI-generated information drawing from both internet-based content and secure organizational data that users are authorized to access. This ensures content relevance within the specific context of the Microsoft 365 application being used.
Consider an Operations Manager collaborating with HR to revise job descriptions. Copilot can be prompted to create a draft job description, complete with necessary qualifications. This initial draft can then be expanded within the same session to develop different levels, such as Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, streamlining the entire process.
Furthermore, users can create and use agents to tailor Copilot’s functionality with their organization’s unique data sources. For instance, a warehouse manager needing a shipment’s status can ask a Copilot shipping agent, “What is the status of shipment 1234?” Copilot then accesses relevant data sources to provide the current status.
This article provides IT admins with a comprehensive look at the components and features of Microsoft 365 Copilot within Microsoft 365 applications. For a deeper understanding of its architecture and operation, refer to Microsoft 365 Copilot architecture and how it works.
This article applies to:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot
Diving into the Technical Aspects of Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot offers several key functionalities:
- Integration with Microsoft 365 Apps: Copilot integrates seamlessly with everyday Microsoft 365 productivity apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. This allows users to leverage Copilot within Word for document creation, Excel for formula suggestions, Outlook for email thread summarization, and Teams for meeting summaries.
- Utilization of Microsoft Graph: Copilot uses content within Microsoft Graph to personalize responses, drawing from a user’s work emails, chats, and documents. Critically, Copilot only presents data that the user has permission to access, ensuring data security and compliance.
- Coordination of Large Language Models (LLMs): Copilot coordinates large language models (LLMs), sophisticated AI algorithms that use deep learning techniques and extensive data sets to understand, summarize, predict, and generate content. These LLMs include pretrained models, such as Generative Pre-Trained Transformers like GPT-4, specifically designed for these tasks. Further information about Generative Pre-Trained Transformers (GPT) can be obtained by querying Copilot itself.
To explore further, see:
How Copilot Integrates with Microsoft 365 Apps and Microsoft Graph
Copilot is equipped with intelligent features, functionality, and prompting mechanisms designed to aid users within the context of their Microsoft 365 workflows.
Microsoft’s LLMs and other components work in concert to provide secure access and utilization of organizational data with AI-powered capabilities. The core components utilized by Microsoft 365 Copilot include:
✅ Microsoft 365 Apps:
Applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and Loop are designed to integrate with Copilot, providing support within a user’s workflow. For example, Copilot in Word assists users in creating, understanding, and editing documents.
For more information on these features, see Copilot features in Microsoft 365 apps within this article.
✅ Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat:
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat allows users to draft content, review missed information, and obtain answers to questions through open-ended prompts. This information is securely grounded in organizational work data.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is accessible within Microsoft Teams, the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat app, at Microsoft365.com, and at copilot.microsoft.com.
✅ Microsoft Graph:
Microsoft Graph encompasses data on users, their activities, and organizational data that they are authorized to access. The Microsoft Graph API injects personalized context into prompts, leveraging information from a user’s emails, chats, documents, and meetings.
For further details, see Overview of Microsoft Graph and Major services and features in Microsoft Graph.
✅ Semantic indexing for Microsoft 365 Copilot:
Microsoft 365 Copilot enhances the precision and relevance of search results by employing advanced lexical and semantic analysis of Microsoft Graph data. This results in contextually accurate information retrieval. Copilot upholds security, compliance, and privacy, respecting organizational boundaries while ensuring a seamless user experience.
To learn more, see Semantic indexing for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Semantic Index explained by Microsoft (opens YouTube’s website).
Microsoft 365 App-Specific Copilot Features
Microsoft 365 productivity applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and Loop, integrate with Copilot to bolster user productivity within the context of their individual workflows.
Tip
To discover how users can effectively leverage Copilot within Microsoft 365 apps, including examples of useful prompts, consult the Copilot Prompt Gallery.
The following table details specific Copilot features within various Microsoft 365 applications:
| Microsoft 365 App | Feature |
|---|---|
| Word | Draft—Generate text, with or without formatting, within both new and existing documents. Word files can also be used for grounding data. Chat—Create content, summarize documents, pose questions, and execute light commands. |
| PowerPoint | Draft—Create new presentations from prompts or Word files, utilizing enterprise templates. PowerPoint files can also be used for grounding data. Chat—Summary and Q&A functionality. Light commanding—Add slides or pictures, and make deck-wide formatting changes. |
| Excel | Draft—Generate suggestions for formulas, chart types, and insights about spreadsheet data. |
| Loop | Collaborative content creation—Create content that can be collaboratively refined through direct editing. |
| Outlook | Coaching tips—Receive coaching tips and suggestions on clarity, sentiment, & tone, as well as overall message assessment and suggestions for improvement. Summarize—Summarize an email thread for quick understanding of the discussion. Draft—Pull from other emails or content across Microsoft 365 that the user already has access to. |
| Teams | Chat—Copilot can summarize up to 30 days of chat content preceding the last message in a chat. Copilot exclusively uses the single chat thread as source content for responses. It cannot reference other chats or data types, such as meeting transcripts, emails, or files. Users can select prewritten prompts or write their own questions. Responses include clickable citations directing users to the relevant source content. Conversations with Copilot occur in a side panel and allow users to copy and paste. Copilot conversations conclude when the side panel is closed. Meetings—Users can invoke Copilot during meetings or calls within the same tenant. Copilot uses the real-time transcript to answer user questions. It uses only the transcript and knows the name of the user typing the question. Users can type any question or use predetermined prompts. Copilot answers questions only related to the meeting conversation from the transcript. The user can copy/paste an answer and access Copilot after the meeting ends. Copilot—Users access data across their Microsoft 365 Graph and use LLM functionality. Calls—Automates important administrative tasks of a call, such as capturing key points, task owners, and next steps. It supports voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and public switched telephone network (PSTN) calls. |
| Whiteboard | Draft—Use natural language to generate ideas, organize ideas into themes, create designs based on ideas, and summarize whiteboard content. |
| OneNote | Draft—Use prompts to draft plans, generate ideas, create lists, and organize information to help you find what you need. |
| Forms | Draft—Use prompts to draft questions and suggestions that help you create surveys, polls, and other forms. |
How Microsoft 365 Services Support Copilot
Your Microsoft 365 license includes services and features that can assist in preparing your data and organization for Copilot implementation.
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