Microsoft Copilot Tutorial

You might have noticed a new icon appearing just  about everywhere. On the taskbar in Windows, in apps like Word, PowerPoint, Teams, in your  Edge browser, and recently even on your keyboard. But what exactly is it and should you start  incorporating it into your daily workflows?

Hi everyone, Kevin here, and in this video,  we're going to explore how Microsoft Copilot can transform your day-to-day tasks so you  can work both smarter and also faster. Whether you're drafting emails, crafting documents,  or managing data, Copilot is here to assist you. Your workflows are about to get significantly  better.

Let's dive in to find out how. First off, what even is Copilot and what can you  do with it? To answer that question, I partnered with Microsoft and they recommended  asking Copilot.

To get Copilot, you can navigate to copilot. microsoft. com in your web browser,  or on a Windows PC, down below on your taskbar, you can click on the Copilot icon and that'll also  kick off the Copilot experience.

Now, as a quick trick, you can also press the Windows key together  with C on your keyboard, and that will also launch Copilot. And if you have a newer keyboard, it's  even easier. You can click on the dedicated Copilot key.

This opens up the core way that you  can interact with Copilot. In the field at the bottom, you can type in a prompt, and a prompt can  be a question or something you need. For example, let's try typing something in.

I'll enter in,  "What is Microsoft Copilot? " Now, along with typing in a question, over on the right-hand side,  you can also use the microphone on your computer to ask something to the Copilot. Now that I've  entered in my question, over on the right-hand side, let's click on Submit.

And look at that,  Copilot has responded. And if we scroll up above, here it tells us exactly what Copilot is. It's  described as your everyday AI companion.

Now, you can keep the conversation going by asking  additional follow-up questions, and it'll remember all of the context of your conversation. So down  below, back in the prompt, let's ask something else. This time, I'll enter in, "What are 10  interesting ways I can use Copilot?

" And let's send that through. And if we look right up above,  we can see the response to the question. Here, you could use it for writing assistance.

It can  help you generate emails, write essays. You could also get coding help. Right here, you can have  it translate between different languages.

And even you can have it write jokes. And I've  tried that, and it does a really good job, or at least it gets me laughing. Once you're  ready to move on to a new conversation, down in the bottom left-hand corner, you can click on this  button that says, "New topic.

" And right up above, we now have a clean slate to work with. So far,  we've been getting text-based responses back from the AI. However, you can also have it create  images.

So, let's test that out. Down below, in the field, let's type in, "Make an image of a  cookie store on a city street called none other than The Kevin Cookie Company. " And let's see what  it comes back with.

If we look right up above, it looks like it generated four different images  of a cookie store on a city street. And overall, these look really good. Some of them have some  spelling issues, but it looks like it nailed it in this one.

So, you could attempt again until you  get the perfect output that you're looking for. Along with generating images, you can also extend  the power of Copilot by using plugins. For this, we're going to use Copilot on the web.

This opens  up the web interface of Copilot, and you'll see that it looks very similar. Over on the right-hand  side, here we could click into chats, and we can see a history of all of our chats or conversations  with the Copilot. And to the right of that, we have something called plugins.

When I click on  that, you'll see all sorts of different plugins that you can toggle on to extend the capabilities  of the Copilot. So, for example, let's say you're trying to get information about recipes. Maybe you  want to turn on Instacart, or maybe you're trying to find the best flight to a certain destination,  you could turn on Kayak.

Down at the very bottom, this is one of my favorites, there's something  called Suno. I'll toggle this on. And this gives the Copilot the ability to compose and create  songs.

This one is so cool. I recommend trying it as well. Now, over on the left-hand side, we  have the field where we can prompt the AI.

Here, I'll type in some text, make a short jingle or  song about the Kevin Cookie Company. Let's now submit that. And right above, it has now generated  a custom song.

Let's have a quick preview. That is so incredible. Keep in mind, the vocals, the  music, all of that is generated by AI.

That is so impressive. Now, up to this point, we've been  asking all of our prompts by typing in text, but you can also use an image as your prompt.  So, let's test that out.

I have an image on my computer of some chocolate chip cookies, and I’ve  really wanted to know how to make these. So here, I'll take the image and let's drop it over here.  It’s now uploading the picture.

Now, I could ask my question, but instead of typing, let's try  using the microphone. Over here, let's click on this icon. How do I make these?

And there, it's  now entered in my prompt. Let's try sending this through. And it looks like it's now responded. 

If I scroll up, here I can see the picture of the chocolate chip cookies. And down below, it  looks like it gives me the ingredients, and if we scroll down a little bit more, here, I have the  instructions to make these cookies. That is spot on.

Hopefully, you're starting to see some of the  incredible power of using Copilot, and all of this is completely free. There's also a premium plan  that gives you faster image and text generation, and brings Copilot to all of the Microsoft 365  apps. Let's now look at how you can use Copilot in some of the Microsoft 365 apps.

Let's start by  looking at Microsoft Outlook to see how Copilot can help you here. In the top right-hand corner,  let's click on the Copilot logo. This opens up a number of different sample prompts.

And down at  the bottom, you can also type in your very own prompt. Now, right over here, we can click on this  icon, and you can view additional sample prompts, and that'll give you some ideas of how  you can use Copilot in your inbox. Now, I have a few messages, and I want to know if there  are any action items for me.

Up at the very top, let's hover over Understand, and then click on  that. And here, there's the option that says, "Do I have any action items in my unread emails  today? " Well, that's a good question.

Let's click on that and see what the Copilot comes back with.  And look at that. It looks like there are two different actions that I need to follow up on. 

Here, it looks like Henrietta had a request for me. It looks like she's asking about the status  of the marketing campaign. And then it also looks like Adele had a question for me.

So that's a  really helpful way to get caught up on my email quickly. Here, I'll close out of this pane, and  let's start by responding to Henrietta. I'll click on this email message.

And here, I see it over  on the right-hand side. Looking at this message, it's just a little bit long. So right up on top, I  can also click on a summary by Copilot.

And here, it summarizes the email for me. And it looks like  she really just wants an update on the campaign, so I should probably respond to her. Right  down below, I'll click on the reply icon.

This now opens up my reply. Now I’ll click into  the message, and then to initiate the Copilot, I can press the forward slash. And here, I have the  option to draft with Copilot.

I’ll click on that, and over here, what do I want to say? Well, can  you respond that I've been heads down researching cookies for another project, but I'll send her  an update soon. And let's click on Generate.

And here, it looks like it's drafted a nicely  written message. Thanks for reaching out. I've been heads down.

I appreciate your patience.  That's a nice touch. Now, over here, I could continue refining the message, but I'm good  with it.

I'll click on Keep It. And here, too, I can also continue refining it. So let me just  add my name at the end, and I think this is a good response.

So right up above, I’ll click on Send. Let's now jump into PowerPoint. Here I am now in PowerPoint, and let's see if I can get started  on that ask from Henrietta.

Up on the top ribbon, over on the right-hand side, here I have  an icon for Copilot. I’ll click on that, and that opens up a pane over on the right-hand  side. Here I see some example prompts, and I could also type in my own prompt.

Now, I want to create  a new presentation. So over here, I’ll click on this sample prompt. And here it inserts Create a  Presentation About.

And I want it to be about the new Double Chocolate Chip Cookie for the Kevin  Cookie Company. And let's now send that through. And look at that.

It has created an entire  presentation. Now, over on the left-hand side, here I see the intro. I might have to modify some  of these images, but this gives me a really good starting point.

This is really good. Now, up on  top, if I want to modify the look and feel of any of these slides, up in the top right-hand corner,  I can click into the Designer. And here it's going to take this existing slide, and it'll use AI  to continue refining this slide.

So over here, I like how it makes the image full bleed and  uses up the full slide, so I'll click on that. And right now, I think this is a really good  starting point. Let's now jump into Microsoft Word.

I have a little bit of additional work that  I need to get done there. Here in Microsoft Word, just like we saw in Outlook and also PowerPoints,  up on the top ribbon, over on the right-hand side, here I could click on Copilot, and here too,  I also have some example prompts, and here, I could enter in a prompt in this field. But  what I think is even easier, here I have some text for a radio commercial that I'm pulling  together for this new Double Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I can highlight all of this text, and  when I highlight it, over on the left-hand side, you'll see the Copilot logo. And right underneath  that, you'll also see the shortcut key. I can press Alt-I, and that'll launch the Copilot  experience.

Here, I can make changes to the text. I can have it auto rewrite it, or I can even  visualize as a table. Let's click on Make Changes.

And over here, I could describe what I'd like to  change. Now, personally, I don't think this text that I wrote is all that professional, but I  think it's a good start. So, let's see if it can make it sound more professional and maybe  also shorten it a little bit.

We don't have that much time with a radio commercial. Then  let's click on Generate. And look at that.

It now rewrote the text. And it took the ideas that  I had, but it made it sound more professional, and it also shortened it considerably. Now,  down below, I can continue asking questions to help me with refining this text.

But overall,  I think it looks good. So, I'll click on Keep It, and that's now inserted this AI-generated text  directly into my document. Let's now jump into Microsoft Excel.

Here I am now in Microsoft  Excel, and I have a data table showing me the year and the most popular cookie flavor for that  year. Ideally, I'd like to format Double Chocolate to stand out so I can very easily see when it  was the most popular cookie. Now, up on top, I could click into Conditional Formatting, and I  could try to get this to work.

But to be honest, this menu just scares me a little bit. Over on the  right-hand side, let's use Copilot instead. This opens up that pane over on the right-hand side  that we've seen in all the other apps so far.

And down at the very bottom, let's type in the prompt.  Highlight all cells where Double Chocolate Chip is the most popular cookie. Let's send that through. 

And it looks like the Copilot has responded. And here it shows me a custom formula that I can  use to highlight those cells. Now, I think all of these recommendations look good, so down  below, I'll click on Apply.

And it's now applying those formatting changes. And look at that.  It highlights each row where the most popular flavor was Double Chocolate.

That really helps  me visualize the data a lot more easily. Let's try one more example. Let's see if it could help  me visualize this data as a chart.

So over here, I'll type in Generate a chart showing me market  size by year. Let's run that. And right up above, let's go up.

And here it looks like it's generated  a chart. Let's add that to a new sheet. Here, I see the table.

And here, I see my chart showing  the market size in billions by year. This is perfect. I didn't have to mess with the chart menu  at all.

Now, these are just a few examples of how you can use Copilot to start analyzing your data  in Excel. You don't really have to know that much about formulas and functions. Instead, you can  work alongside the Copilot to make sense of your data.

Those are just a few examples of how you can  use Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps. Of course, there are many other Microsoft 365 apps. One  thing you'll notice is that Copilot is context aware.

When you're in PowerPoint, it helps you  with your slides and storytelling. In Excel, it helps you with data analysis. In Word, it  helps you with writing.

Each app has its own Copilot that is fine-tuned to what you're trying  to get done. And there you have it. Remember, the key to productivity is not just working hard,  but working smart.

And with Microsoft Copilot, you're well on your way to doing just that. If  you're excited to explore more about Copilot, I highly, highly recommend checking out the  Copilot Lab made by Microsoft. It's a fantastic resource where you can learn even more about  its capabilities and get hands-on experience.

But don't stop there. For those of you looking to  really master Copilot and the art of prompting, be sure to visit the Copilot for Microsoft 365  training. These are live, one-hour training sessions catered specifically to different roles,  like HR, finance, executives, operations, sales, IT professionals, and marketing.

You'll see  Copilot in action specific to common tasks in those role types, and you can interact live with  a trainer to help you get the most out of Copilot in your everyday work. Best of all, they're  completely free and they go on all the time. So, you'll likely find one that suits both  your role and also your schedule.

To watch more videos like this one, please consider  subscribing and I'll see you in the next video.