Microsoft 365 Copilot Community - Tips, Tricks and Updates

06/01/2026

A new tool called the SharePoint list agent will be appearing in Microsoft 365 Copilots soon.

This agent is designed to help you create SharePoint lists using just natural language. Instead of manually building columns and settings, you can simply describe the type of list you need, or base it on existing content, and Copilot will build the structure for you.

This is rolling out between now and February.
From my perspective, this removes the technical barrier that often scares people away from using SharePoint effectively.

I can see us using this to instantly turn a messy brainstorming document into a structured project tracker without any manual data entry. It basically automates the boring administrative setup so you can get straight to work.

Do you find setting up lists tedious, or do you prefer doing it manually to get it just right?

05/01/2026

Video overviews coming to Microsoft Copilot!

We noticed a really interesting update rolling out for Microsoft 365 Copilot called Video Overviews. If you are using Copilot Notebooks, this feature now allows you to generate a short, narrated video summary of your written content. It is enabled by default and is currently rolling out, with full availability expected by late February.

​I think this is going to be a game-changer for sharing information with busy colleagues. Instead of asking a manager or client to read through a dense document of meeting notes, you can send them a quick video summary they can watch on the go.

It feels like a great way to make sure your key points actually get seen. I’m curious if you think your team would prefer watching a summary over reading one?

08/11/2025

Have you tried Copilot inside a Teams chat?

You can now ask Copilot to perform actions inside a Teams chat for everyone to view. Simply type "" and then write your prompt.

You can use it for things like:
1. Asking clarifying questions on internal documentation
2. Summarising a conversation into bullet points and action items
3. Convert a conversation into a reusable how to guide

Give it a try and let us know what you use it for

02/11/2025

Notebooks will be shareable!

Launching end of October and fully available by December, Notebooks in Copilot will finally be shareable.

This already useful feature will become even more powerful now that multiple users can access and interact with the Notebook and have chats inside it.

I think this will make research and project management more collaborative and productive.

30/10/2025

Agentic or AI browsers seem to be the hot topic at the moment. Open I just released Atlus and Perplexity Microsoft have their own which have been around for a couple of months.

These new browsers have been referred to as the new interface for the internet. Essentially they allow an AI agent to interact directly with the pages inside the browser. The typical use cases that companies showcase is things like booking restaurants or flights.

Currently, I don't think they'll fundamentally change the way people interact with websites right now, but as more people get to use these new browsers I anticipate they'll find innovative ways to improve efficiency and create opportunities.

Unfortunately the Microsoft AI browser is only available for personal users and not business which means I haven't had a chance to test it out yet.

If you'd like to test out Perplexity's AI browser (Comet) and get one month free on Perplexity Pro use the link below.

Perplexity is a free AI-powered answer engine that provides accurate, trusted, and real-time answers to any question.

16/10/2025

Following yesterday's post about having an AI policy, if you don't know where to start, Copilot can help. Use the prompt below to interview you to understand your companies position and then generate a first draft AI policy.

Remember to fill in the blanks before using the prompt

Goal:
Help me create a clear, practical, and ethical AI Policy for {Company Name}, a small/medium business operating in {Industry/Field}. The policy should cover how staff use AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot, and how AI interacts with company data, customers, and internal operations.

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Context:
Our company uses Microsoft 365, and therefore Copilot will have access to our users’ and company’s M365 data such as emails, Teams messages, documents, and SharePoint files. The AI policy should consider:

Data privacy, confidentiality, and compliance with relevant laws (e.g., GDPR).

Appropriate use of AI tools (e.g., what’s allowed vs. restricted).

Transparency, accountability, and staff responsibilities.

Human oversight and accuracy verification.

Security, risk management, and potential bias mitigation.

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Source:
Use best practices and standards from:

Microsoft’s Responsible AI Principles

UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance on AI and data protection

ISO/IEC 42001:2023 AI Management System guidelines (where relevant)

Real-world SMB examples and policies

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Expectations:
You are an AI Policy Advisor.
Use the “Ask Me One Question at a Time” method to collect the information needed before writing the policy.

Once you have enough information, generate:

1. A full AI Policy Document (with headings and clear sections).

2. A summary version for staff training or onboarding.

Keep the tone professional, plain-English, and SMB-friendly (avoid jargon).
Highlight areas that need regular review or human approval.

15/10/2025

What is shadow AI?

Shadow AI is a term that's being used when employees are using AI tools that haven't been approved by the organisation.

What's the problem?

This could mean that employees are using unregulated tools or using them in an unsafe way. If they're putting company data in this could put them at risk.

What's the solution?

The first step is ensuring that the company has a clear AI policy that employees are aware of. Following that employees need to have access to AI tools that make their jobs easier and the ability to request new tools for review.

Simply telling people not to use AI tools isn't going to work.

How can Copilot help?

Microsoft Copilot is a great place to start. It's a useful all round assistant that most roles can make use of. More importantly, all of the data put into Copilot is stored within your M365 tenant. This means it benefits from the same enterprise grade security as all of your other data in OneDrive and SharePoint.

This applies to both the free and paid for versions. Simply switching from the free version whatever general chatbot you're using (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok etc) to the free version of Copilot will immediately improve the security of your data and conversations.

14/10/2025

Microsoft is bringing more functionality to the free version of Copilot.

Copilot is coming to Microsoft Office 365 for those with a free Copilot licence. This means you'll be able to use all of the Copilot features that have previously only been available for paid users, inside Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

So why bother paying for a Copilot license if Microsoft continues adding paid for features to the free version.

Two reasons:

1. Grounding - the paid for version is grounded in your M365 data meaning it can return responses based on internal documentation, project details, emails, meeting summaries and more.
2. Agents - Not only do you get the Microsoft pre built agents (Researcher, Analyst, Prompt Coach etc) but you also get unlimited Copilot studio. Agents are going to be huge over the next 6-12 months and having access to a low code platform to create your own will be invaluable.

13/10/2025

Copilot knows a lot about you, and that can be really useful.

I used the below prompt to get Copilot to write a presenter bio for a webinar I was planning to give.

Review my emails, teams chats, 365 data and LinkedIn profile (insert link) and other relevant data to review and understand who I am. Using that information write a short profile about me that can be used as a presenter bio for (insert purpose).

12/10/2025

If you want Copilot to sound more like you when writing emails, here's how!

To get Copilot to sound more like you when writing any content you need to give it detailed tone of voice information. This is easy to create for emails with the following prompt:

"Review all of my sent emails for the past 30 days. Determine those that are internal and those that are external and treat these separately. For each type (internal and external) identify my tone of voice including usual greetings, sign offs, use of contractions, tone, length and style. Output a separate descriptive tone of voice statement for internal and external that can be used to write emails that sound like me."

Once you've got that follow these steps to add to Outlook

1. Open Outlook
2. Click the drop down on the Copilot button in the top right
3. Open Settings
4. Select "Draft Instructions"
5. Turn on "Use custom instructions"
6. Insert your output from the previous prompt
7. Click "Save"

11/10/2025

Want more personalised responses from Copilot?

Copilot memory is used to store important information about you and your preferences to give more personalised and relevant responses, without having to give context every time.

Use these two prompts to help Copilot get to know you better:

1. Ask me five questions, one at a time, to understand my writing style and commit the answers to memory.
2. Ask me 10 questions to get to know me better. 5 should be personal and 5 should be work related. Ask the questions one at a time and commit the answers to memory.

10/10/2025

It's Friday! Which probably means you're sitting thinking about the weekend. So why not let Copilot plan next week based on what you haven't had time to do this week.

Use the prompt below to get Copilot to review your to-do list, prioritise the important bits and then recommend when you can complete them.

Goal:
Review all incoming and pending work items across my communication and task platforms, then proactively schedule the most critical items into my next week's calendar.

Context:
* Source Data: Analyze all unread and flagged emails in my Outlook inbox, all unread and saved Teams chat messages, and all pending Microsoft To Do tasks.
* Prioritization: Identify and tag the top 5-10 highest priority items that require significant action or deep work (e.g., items related to project deadlines, direct requests from executive leadership, or urgent client deliverables).
* Scheduling Constraints: Cross-reference these high-priority items with my existing Outlook calendar for the next calendar week (starting Monday, [Insert Next Monday's Date]).
* Action: Find open slots of at least 60 minutes during standard working hours (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM) and schedule these high-priority items as focus blocks. The scheduled item's title should clearly indicate its source (e.g., "Deep Work: Finalize Q3 Report Draft (Email)").

Style:
The output should be an Action Log summarizing what was scheduled. It should be clear, concise, and structured using a simple table format.

Expectations (The Output):
* Confirmation: Confirm that the high-priority items have been scheduled directly into my calendar.
* Summary Table: Provide a table listing the following for each scheduled item:
* Scheduled Item Title: (As it appears in the calendar)
* Original Source: (Email, Teams, or To Do)
* Scheduled Date and Time: (e.g., Monday, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM)
* Time Block Duration: (e.g., 60 minutes)
* Next Steps: List the 3-5 next highest priority items that could not be scheduled due to lack of time, suggesting a time slot if an existing low-priority meeting were moved.