Advanced tips and tricks for Copilot
Dive into Copilot’s unique features and insider techniques to level up your skills.
2024-12-06
This is the last tutorial of our “Learn how to use Copilot” course! To wrap it all up, we'll cover advanced techniques to enhance your Copilot experience.
Note, that most of these advanced tips are for using Copilot Pro in your Microsoft 365 applications, not the Copilot assistant in the web chat experience.
Chaining prompts for complex tasks
You can improve your Copilot workflows by breaking down complex tasks into a series of linked prompts. This allows you to guide Copilot through a multi-step process, refining the output at each stage.
Example prompt in Excel:
Create a table with sample data on our Q4 results.
Then, you can format the data as a table, using the “Format as Table” option in the top ribbon, and ask Copilot for relevant data visualizations to go with this generated data:
Suggest relevant data visualizations.
Lastly, you can ask Copilot to provide talking points on your data:
Generate talking points for the data.
Leveraging domain-specific knowledge
Copilot can adapt its responses based on specific industry or domain knowledge. Specify your field or the context of your work to get more relevant results.
Example prompt in Word:
Acting as an experienced patent attorney, review this technical description and suggest improvements to strengthen our patent application.
Iterative refinement
Don't hesitate to ask Copilot to revise or refine its output. You can request changes in tone, format, or content to get exactly what you need.
Example prompt in Outlook:
Draft an email to our client about the project delay.
Then:
Revise the email to sound more empathetic and include specific next steps.
Combining Copilot with traditional features
Remember that Copilot is an enhancement, not a replacement, for existing Microsoft tools. Combine Copilot's suggestions with your expertise and the traditional features of Microsoft applications.
Example prompt in Excel:
Use Copilot to suggest a complex formula, then manually adjust it to fit your specific needs.
Cross-application workflows
Leverage Copilot's ability to work across different Microsoft applications to create seamless workflows.
Example workflows
In Word:
Summarize this report into key bullet points.
In PowerPoint:
Create a presentation based on [insert bullet points from Word].
In Outlook:
Draft an email announcing the availability of the new report and presentation to the team [insert bullet points from Word].
Wrapping up
As you continue to work with Microsoft Copilot, remember that the key to mastery is practice and experimentation. Don't be afraid to push the boundaries of what you think Copilot can do – you might be surprised by its capabilities!
Always review and refine Copilot's output, combining its suggestions with your own expertise. With time, you'll develop a collaborative rhythm with Copilot that significantly enhances your productivity across the Microsoft ecosystem.
Thank you for completing this course. You're now equipped to leverage Microsoft Copilot to its fullest potential. Happy Copiloting!
This tutorial was created by Garrett.