Introduction to Microsoft Copilot 365

What is Microsoft Copilot?

At its core, Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant that helps you streamline tasks across the Microsoft suite—whether it’s writing documents, creating presentations, or analyzing data. By integrating AI into familiar tools like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, Copilot brings automation, intelligence, and creativity into everyday workflows.

What’s the difference between Copilot, Copilot Pro, and Copilot 365?

That’s a great question! It initially confused us quite a bit. Here’s the breakdown:

• Copilot - An AI chat interface (like ChatGPT and Claude), not integrated with other Microsoft apps, for general-purpose individual use.

• Copilot Pro - AI integrated across the Microsoft suite of apps on the web for individual users. It requires a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan to access Microsoft apps on a desktop.

• Copilot 365 - AI integrated across the Microsoft suite of apps for business or school users, with more advanced, enterprise features and deeper integrations. It requires a Microsoft 365 Enterprise, Academic, or SMB subscription to access Microsoft apps.

You can read the official release from Microsoft on the difference between these offerings here.

Now, let’s dive into what you’ll learn in this course, focusing on Microsoft’s newest Copilot 365 features that are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in your workspace.

What will you learn in this course?

Recently, Microsoft released a ton of new feature updates for Copilot 365 users, and this course largely focuses on many of these advanced features (and some other ones too!)

Here’s what we’ll cover in the lessons ahead:

1. Use Copilot to chat with your work

Learn how to use Copilot Chat as a central hub to get caught up on everything happening across your company—whether you need to catch up on meetings, summarize documents, or gather insights from web research. You’ll learn how to:

• Summarize documents across your workspace

• Chat with your meetings and Team conversations

• Catch up on email and tasks in Outlook

• Perform web research directly from Copilot

2. Generate content across Microsoft apps

In this lesson, you'll learn how to create reports, presentations, and more by generating content across different Microsoft apps like Word and PowerPoint. Copilot enables seamless collaboration and content creation by referencing existing data files. You’ll learn how to:

• Create documents from prompts in Word

• Transform Word documents into PowerPoint presentations

• Leverage PowerPoint Designer to refine presentations

3. Create branded PowerPoint presentations from shared design templates

Discover how to automate the creation of branded presentations using company-wide shared design templates. Copilot will help you apply your brand’s unique look to presentations while making content creation a breeze. You’ll learn how to:

• Set up design templates in PowerPoint

• Generate presentations using those templates

• Quickly summarize and highlight key points in PowerPoint decks

4. Collaborate on content with Copilot in Loop and Whiteboard

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to work smarter with Microsoft Whiteboard and Loop to brainstorm, categorize, and summarize content collaboratively. You’ll learn how to:

• Create Whiteboard stickies and visual brainstorms with Copilot

• Categorize ideas and summarize them into shareable Loop documents

• Refine content in Loop and share it with colleagues

5. Create a Copilot agent with a knowledge source

In the final lesson, you’ll dive into one of the most advanced Copilot features: creating a Copilot agent that can pull answers from knowledge sources like websites and SharePoint. You’ll learn how to:

• Configure and set up a custom Copilot agent

• Deploy it within your organization’s Microsoft 365 workspace

• Leverage the agent for real-time Q&A and support within Teams or other platforms

By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills to automate and enhance your workflows using the latest Copilot 365 advanced features. Alright, enough with the preamble — let’s get into it! In the next lesson, we’ll dive into Copilot chat, which will quickly become your second brain.

‍

‍

‍

This tutorial was created by Garrett.