How to Turn Copilot in Microsoft Word into a Useful Writing Partner

Copilot in Word lets you tap into the power of AI to take you from a blank page to a finished draft. But beyond just writing from scratch, many people also use Copilot to analyze and transform their documents.

Writing and rewriting manuscripts

Copilot can help you create a new document from scratch or work on an existing one. Click the Copilot icon in the left margin of your document and in the Draft with Copilot window , provide a simple prompt or describe a complex request.

Tip : In a document with existing content, you can also use the Inspire Me button to have Copilot automatically write for you based on content already in your document.

Once Copilot has created the content, you can keep it, discard it, or recreate it to provide a different version. Click and > to navigate through Copilot's suggestions. Of course, you can also change your starting prompt at any point. Additionally, in the Copilot compose box, you can add instructions to change the tone or style of the response, such as making it shorter or changing the feel to be more casual.

If you've already written some content, you can ask Copilot to help improve it. Highlight the text, then in the left margin next to the selected text, click the Copilot icon and select Auto Rewrite to have Copilot provide rewrite options.

You can tap Regenerate to get a new set of responses or add instructions to get what you're really looking for. Once Copilot displays the rewritten text options, use the arrows to navigate through the different versions and select the one you like.

Note : If you have a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription at work, you'll also have the option to reference files in Draft with Copilot. You can bring in up to three of your existing files as inputs to base your Copilot draft content.

Convert existing content

Just like with Auto Rewrite , you can highlight the content you've written (or perhaps created via Copilot), then in the left margin next to the selected text, click the Copilot icon and select Visualize as a Table .

Copilot will convert the selected text into a table. You can fine-tune the table by entering details in the Copilot edit box about what needs to be adjusted in the table, such as adding blank columns or replacing rows with columns.

Document analysis and summary

You can ask questions about the document, such as asking Copilot to summarize the document to quickly grasp the essence of the document or checking if the document contains meaningful calls to action. After Copilot responds to the prompt, you can also see the references that cite where Copilot got the information in your document.

You can ask Copilot to generate ideas, tables, or lists that can be copied and inserted into your document. You can also ask open-ended questions and the app will try to provide you with answers. If those answers aren't in your document, Copilot will create content for you.

You can open the Copilot pane via the Copilot icon in the Home tab of the ribbon. In the Copilot edit box, you also have a View prompts option that opens the Copilot Prompts Gallery to give you suggestions for the myriad of things you can use Copilot for in Word.

You can toggle back and forth to condense the key information you’re looking for and also convert the document into any way you want. With each prompt, Copilot will rescan the document and generate a response. You can get better results by providing more context and details about what you want.

For summaries, Copilot is currently limited to around 80,000 words. If you have a longer document, you may want to break it up and summarize it in multiple parts.

Copilot in Word is not just about writing better, it can also help you research, brainstorm new ideas, and extract insights from your documents. However, because AI-generated content can sometimes be inaccurate (a phenomenon known as AI illusion ), always review and verify the output of that content before hitting send on that email or submitting that homework assignment.