7 Copilot in Outlook Tips That Save Charity Staff Hours Each Week

Hey there, fellow email warriors!

If you're anything like me, your inbox can feel like a bottomless pit, constantly demanding your attention. For ages, I've been on a quest to tame the email beast, and let me tell you, after countless hours of diving deep and putting it to the test, I've found a game-changer: Copilot in Outlook.

This isn't just another shiny new tool; it's like having a super-smart assistant right inside your email. Copilot can do so much more than you might think, and I've been using it for over a year now. I'm here to share seven powerful tips that you'll wish you knew sooner, because they truly can save you hours each week!

Ready to transform your email game? Let's dive in!

First Things First: Getting Started with Copilot

Before we unleash the power, you need to make sure Copilot is ready to roll in your Outlook.

1. Subscription: You'll need a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription. Think of this as an extra license on top of your regular Microsoft 365 plan. It costs around $40 Canadian or about $30 US.
2. Turn it On: Once you have the subscription, make sure Copilot is activated in Outlook. Head to the gear icon (settings) on the top right, then find Copilot on the bottom left under "Copilot Control." Just make sure the toggle is on.

A quick but important note from Microsoft: your Copilot queries and Outlook content (including emails and calendar details) are NOT used to train their foundational AI models. This means your data stays private.

You'll find Copilot works similarly whether you're using the browser version of Outlook (which I'll be demonstrating with) or the desktop app.

1. Tailor Your Voice with Custom Draft Instructions

You know how you adjust your tone and style depending on who you're talking to? Copilot can do that for your emails automatically! This is a newer, incredibly useful feature.

Under your Copilot settings, you can go to "Draft Instructions". Here, you can define your preferred tone and length for email responses. This means Copilot will try to match your professional persona every time it drafts an email for you.

For example:

• If you're a professional lawyer: You might want your tone to be formal, precise, and respectful, with concise yet thorough emails.
• A sales manager: Could opt for a friendly, persuasive, and value-driven tone, keeping emails short to medium in length.
• IT support specialist: A helpful, clear, and reassuring tone for short, instructional emails would be ideal.
• An educator or trainer: Encouraging, clear, and supportive, with medium-length communications.
• An executive assistant: Polished, efficient, and courteous, with short and to-the-point messages.

These are just examples; you can completely customize them to fit you. I even like to set my greeting to "Hi [Person's Name]" because Copilot sometimes defaults to "Hello," and "Hi" just feels more like me. Remember, these aren't set in stone; you can always adjust them later when you're actually drafting an email.

2. Get Instant Catch-Ups with "Summary by Copilot"

Ever open a super long email thread and just dread trying to figure out what's going on? Me too! This is where "Summary by Copilot" shines.

You'll see this feature at the top of every single email in your Outlook. For those never-ending email chains, it gives you a nice, quick snapshot to catch up without reading every single message. It's a lifesaver for quickly understanding the context!

3. "Ask Copilot" for Deeper Insights (and Document Referencing!)

Beyond just summarizing, Copilot can help you gain additional insights before you even think about responding. You can access its chat pane by clicking the Copilot icon in the top right.

Here, you'll find some predefined prompts like "Understand what are the key points in this email". But the one I find particularly helpful is "Catch up on emails from the past day, organize and summarize by topics". If you've had a busy day and are buried under the average 120 emails people receive daily, this can get you up to speed incredibly fast.

But here's where it gets truly powerful: custom prompts. Imagine you need to reference a specific document before replying to an email. Instead of leaving Outlook, going to OneDrive, and searching for the file, you can just type:

Look up the event plan from /

When you type that forward slash (/), a menu appears, letting you search for files, people, meetings, or even other emails. You can pinpoint exactly what you need. Copilot will then pull that content and information right there for you, allowing you to respond much faster! If you need to open the document, just click on the file link, and it'll open in a new window.

This seriously minimizes context switching – no more bouncing between apps just to get the info you need.

4. Draft Emails with Copilot (Your "Imaginary Assistant")

Now that you're caught up and have all the info, it's time to craft that perfect response. When you go to reply, you'll see a "Draft with Copilot" option. You can click suggested prompts, the Copilot icon within the message body, or use the shortcut Alt + I.

You'll notice two types of prompts:

• Sparkle icons: These are AI-generated suggestions based on the specific content of the email you're replying to.
• Generic options: Like "short and friendly," "request information," "give update," etc.

But the real magic happens with custom prompts. When I think about writing a custom prompt, I imagine I'm giving instructions to an imaginary assistant. You simply tell Copilot the direction you want the email to go and the specific key points you want to highlight.

For example, you could tell Copilot: "Let Mike know I'm sending an invite for a meeting on Wednesday and also an email to our supplier about unfortunate circumstances". Copilot will then take that prompt and fill in all the details, drafting a full email for you.

Once Copilot generates the draft, always review the content. You have several options:

• Keep it: If you're happy.
• Discard it: If it's not what you wanted.
• Retry: Copilot will generate a different response.
• You can also instantly make it shorter, longer, or adjust the tone.

5. Fine-Tune Your Message: Edit Specific Text with Copilot

This is another brilliant, newer feature! Sometimes, a whole email is great, but just one sentence or paragraph needs a little tweak.

Now, you can select a specific piece of text within your draft, click the little Copilot icon that appears, and give it instructions. For example, you can say "make it shorter".

You'll then get options to replace the highlighted text with Copilot's suggestion, insert it below (so you have both versions), or discard it. You're not just limited to "shorter"; you can give specific instructions like "add this," "remove that," or "adjust this" to customize it exactly how you need. This level of granular control is incredibly powerful for perfecting your message.

6. Effortless Meeting Scheduling with Copilot

Ever promise to schedule a meeting and then spend ages finding the email, the people, and crafting the invite? Copilot makes this a breeze.

From an email, you can go to the ellipses (three dots) on the top right, then "Other reply actions," and finally "Schedule with Copilot". Alternatively, from the ribbon under "Respond," you'll find "Schedule with Copilot".

What happens next is fantastic:

• It automatically suggests a title for your meeting.
• It adds everyone who was on the email as attendees.
• It includes a summary of an agenda and even the entire email thread for easy reference.

This streamlines the entire meeting creation process! Copilot will often pull up the most immediate available time, but you can easily toggle to a specific day (like "Wednesday" if you promised to meet then) and click to select a time. It even shows you when everyone is available and can "find time" to suggest other mutually available slots. Send your invite, and you're done!

7. Get Coaching for Difficult Emails

Finally, for those emails where you need to be particularly careful – maybe a difficult conversation or a sensitive topic – Copilot offers "Coaching".

When drafting a new email, after Copilot generates your message, you can go to the Copilot icon on the top right and select "Coaching".

Copilot will then analyze your email for tone and clarity. It provides specific feedback on:

• Tone: Is it coming across as intended?
• Reader sentiment: How might the recipient feel when reading this?
• Clarity: Is your message easy to understand?

This is a phenomenal tool if you want to be mindful about how your message will be received. After the analysis, you can choose to "apply all suggestions," "ignore this," or "retry". If you apply the suggestions, Copilot will regenerate the email, often making it more balanced and effective.

My Final Thoughts

Copilot in Outlook is more than just a fancy add-on; it's a productivity superpower. From customizing your email personality and instantly summarizing long threads to drafting entire responses, pulling in document references, and even coaching you on your tone, it genuinely saves you time and mental energy.

I hope these seven tips empower you to make the most of Copilot and reclaim hours in your week. Go forth, experiment, and let Copilot transform your Outlook experience!

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