How to Use Copilot in Outlook (Draft, Summarise and Coach)

Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant, and in Outlook it does three genuinely useful things: it reads long threads so you don't have to, it turns a few words into a full draft, and it tells you if your email sounds grumpier than you meant. Here's how to use each, and what to watch out for.

Copilot in Outlook needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (through work or school) or a Copilot Pro subscription on a personal Microsoft 365 plan. If you see the Copilot icon on the ribbon in new Outlook or Outlook on the web, you're set. Classic Outlook also supports it on the current channel.

1. Open a conversation with several replies.
2. Click Summary by Copilot at the top of the message.

A few seconds later you get a short summary with numbered references — click a number to jump to the message it came from. Great for catching up after a day off or before a meeting.

On your phone, the same Summarize button appears at the top of long threads in the Outlook app.

1. Click New mail (or Reply).
2. Click the Copilot icon in the message toolbar and choose Draft with Copilot.
3. Describe what you want in plain English: "Reply saying yes to Thursday, ask them to send the agenda beforehand, friendly tone."
4. Click Generate.
5. Read the draft. Use Adjust to change the tone (formal, casual, direct) or length (short, medium, long), or type a follow-up instruction like "Make it shorter and mention the parking."
6. Click Keep to drop it into the email, then edit as you like.

Copilot writes in the style you ask for, but it doesn't know what you know. Check names, dates and facts before you send.

Written a reply to a complaint and not sure how it lands?

1. With your draft written, click Copilot → Coaching by Copilot.
2. Copilot reviews the tone, clarity and reader sentiment, and suggests specific changes.
3. Take the suggestions you agree with. Nothing changes unless you apply it.

This is the feature most people end up using daily. It's remarkably good at spotting a sentence that reads as passive-aggressive.

Click the Copilot icon on the main ribbon to open the chat pane. You can ask things like:

• "What did Sarah say about the budget last week?"
• "Do I have any emails from the school I haven't replied to?"
• "Summarise my unread emails from today."
• "When is my next meeting with Tom?"

Copilot answers from your mailbox and calendar, with links to the emails it used.

Open a meeting invitation and Copilot can prepare you: it pulls related emails and files and summarises what the meeting is about. If the meeting was recorded in Teams with transcription on, Copilot can also summarise the recording afterwards.

• Read everything before you send it. Copilot is confident even when it's wrong.
• Don't paste confidential information into prompts unless your organisation has said it's fine — in a work Microsoft 365 Copilot tenant your data stays in your tenant, but check your company's policy.
• It won't send anything by itself. You always click Send.
• It's a starting point. A draft that sounds like you takes one edit; a draft that sounds like a robot gets ignored.

I don't see Copilot anywhere. You need a Copilot licence (see above) and the new Outlook or Outlook on the web. Sign out and back in after a licence is added.

Summary by Copilot doesn't appear. It only shows on conversations with more than one message. Single emails use the Copilot pane instead.

Draft with Copilot is greyed out. You're replying to an encrypted or rights-protected message, or the account isn't licensed. Try a different message.

Summarise before you read, draft before you type, coach before you send. Use Copilot for the first 80 percent and your own judgement for the last 20 — that's where it earns its keep.