How to Use Copilot in PowerPoint (Beginner's Guide)
Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant built into PowerPoint. Give it a sentence and it drafts a whole presentation; give it a Word document and it turns that into slides; ask it to summarise a 40-slide deck you've been sent and it does. It's a strong first draft, not a finished product — but it saves the blank-page hour.
Quick reference
| What you want | How |
|---|---|
| Open Copilot | Home → Copilot (or the icon at the top right) |
| New presentation from a prompt | "Create a presentation about…" |
| From a Word document | "Create a presentation from /" then pick the file |
| Add a slide | "Add a slide about…" |
| Summarise a deck | "Summarise this presentation" |
| Tidy the design | "Organise this presentation" |
1. What you need
Copilot in PowerPoint needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (an add-on to a business subscription) or a Microsoft 365 Personal/Family plan with Copilot included. If the button isn't there, that's why. You also need the file saved to OneDrive or SharePoint for most features.
2. Create a presentation from a prompt
1. Open a new, blank presentation and click Copilot on the Home tab.
2. Type something specific: "Create a 10-slide presentation introducing our new staff induction process, for new starters, friendly tone."
3. Copilot proposes an outline. Edit it, then click Generate slides.
2. Type something specific: "Create a 10-slide presentation introducing our new staff induction process, for new starters, friendly tone."
3. Copilot proposes an outline. Edit it, then click Generate slides.
The more you put in the prompt — audience, length, tone, key points — the better the result.
3. Create from a Word document
Write the content in Word first (headings become slide titles), save it to OneDrive, then in Copilot type / and pick the document, or say "Create a presentation from [filename]". Copilot builds slides from the structure, adds speaker notes and suggests images. This usually gives the best results of all.
4. Edit what you've got
With a presentation open:
• "Add a slide about pricing" — inserts a slide in the current style.
• "Rewrite this slide more concisely" — select the text first.
• "Add an image of a mountain road to this slide".
• "Organise this presentation" — adds section headers and tidies the order.
• "Change the design to something more corporate".
• "Rewrite this slide more concisely" — select the text first.
• "Add an image of a mountain road to this slide".
• "Organise this presentation" — adds section headers and tidies the order.
• "Change the design to something more corporate".
5. Understand a deck you've been sent
"Summarise this presentation", "What are the main recommendations?" or "Which slide talks about the budget?" Copilot answers with links to the slides.
6. Check everything
Copilot makes things up occasionally and its images are generic. Before anyone sees the deck: read every slide, check numbers against the source, replace stock images with your own, and run Designer or Reset on slides that look off. Treat it as a keen junior colleague's first draft.
Troubleshooting
No Copilot button. No Copilot licence, or an old version of PowerPoint. Check File → Account for updates and your subscription.
"Copilot can't work on this file." Save it to OneDrive first. Copilot needs the file in the cloud.
The slides look nothing like my template. Start from your template file, then ask Copilot to add content, rather than asking it to create the presentation from scratch.
Wrapping up
Write the content in Word, ask Copilot to turn it into slides, then edit. Use it for first drafts, summaries and tidying — and read every word before you present it.
