Draft documents with context - Microsoft Copilot Tutorial

Welcome to Copilot for Writing and Creativity. This lesson focuses on Word and PowerPoint, the two apps where you create the documents and presentations that drive your work forward. Writing from scratch is hard. Writing with context is easier. This learning objective teaches you how to use Copilot and Word to draft documents that build on what you already have—emails, notes, prior documents, and organizational knowledge. The single biggest improvement you can make to copilot drafting is providing context. Let's walk through how to do this effectively in Word. Reference existing files when prompting Copilot to draft. When you open the Copilot pane in Word and ask it to draft something, you can reference other documents. Say, draft a project proposal based on Project Phoenix status report, and Copilot reads that file to inform the draft. Use the forward slash key to find and attach documents, emails, or meeting notes. The forward slash command opens a file picker that searches your Microsoft 365 content. You can attach Word documents, PowerPoint docs, meeting transcripts, emails, and more. Copilot reads them and uses them as source material. Copilot synthesizes multiple sources into a coherent first draft. You can reference two, three, even more files. For instance, draft an executive summary based on the Q3 report and customer feedback analysis documents to combine both sources. You'll find that Copilot weaves the information together instead of just copying and pasting. Reducing reduces hallucination and increases relevance. When Copilot generates text without context, it might invent details that sound plausible but are wrong. When you ground Copilot in your actual documents, the output stays anchored to real information. Start with an outline or brief to guide the structure. If you have even a rough outline—three bullet points of what you want to cover—give that to Copilot. It uses your structure as a skeleton and fills in the flesh. You stay in control of the shape while Copilot handles the words. Pro Tip! Contoso's product managers now write one-page briefs before any major document. They feed the brief to Copilot, and the first draft comes back 80% complete. The brief takes 10 minutes, the draft takes 10 seconds. Agent mode in Word is a step beyond basic drafting. It turns Copilot into a true editing partner that can make changes directly in your document through conversation. Now let me say that as I record this for you, I don't yet have Agent Mode available in my subscription. Hopefully by the time you're watching this training, it'll be available for you. Anyway, Agent Mode lets you edit documents through natural language conversation. Instead of highlighting text and clicking buttons, you can say, make the introduction more compelling, or add a section about implementation timeline after the budget section. Copilot understands the request and edits the document directly. Ask Copilot to rewrite sections, expand thin areas, or tighten wordy passages. Select a section and say, this is too long, cut it in half without losing the key points. Or point to a thin paragraph and say, expand this with more detail about the risks. Copilot makes the edits while you watch. Copilot respects your existing formatting and structure. When Copilot generates or edits text, it preserves your document's styles, headings, and layout. You don't end up with a mess of inconsistent formatting after an edit. Multi-turn conversations let you refine through dialogue. You can go back and forth with Copilot. Make this more formal. Actually, that's too formal. Split the difference. Now add a transition to the next section. Each turn builds on the previous one. Suggestions help with clarity, organization, and tone. Copilot can review your document and offer suggestions beyond grammar and spelling. It identifies areas where ideas could be clearer, where organization could improve, and where tone might not match your audience. Pro Tip Woodgrove Bank's legal team uses Agent Mode and Word for the Web for contract redlines. Instead of tracking changes manually, they tell Copilot what to change and review the results. review time dropped by 40 percent.