Difficulty: Easy · Tools: Microsoft Word with Copilot · Updated: 21 October 2026 · Who can read this: anyone
Overview
Copilot in Word drafts inside the document you already have open. Microsoft’s support page for drafting says you open a blank document or you place the cursor where new text should go, you open Copilot, you describe the page, you can point at a source by typing /, you select Generate, and then you keep the draft, discard it, regenerate it, or refine it with a follow-up.
That is the whole lesson. At the end you have a one-page brief in your file, and you have decided which sentences stay. Copilot does not send the document. You do.
Microsoft is also plain about the license. Copilot in Word needs an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription, a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, or both. What you see can depend on that license, on whether an admin has turned the feature on, and on whether you are in Word for Windows, Mac, the web, or iPad. Some editing experiences are still rolling out. If the button is missing, this lesson stops at Step 1 with a clear reason, and that is a finished outcome.
The brief you are making has five short parts: who it is for, what changed, what you need from them, what it costs in time or money, and what happens next. One page. Anything that does not fit is a cut, not a second page.
The honest goal: a one-page brief in your own document, reviewed by you, or a confirmed reason Copilot is not in this copy of Word.
Who This Is Useful For
You already write updates in Word: a client note, a project status, a leave-behind after a meeting. You lose twenty minutes staring at a blank first paragraph. You want the first draft in the file, not in a chat you then have to paste.
What You Will Learn
/, when that menu appears.What You Need
Word, signed in. An eligible Microsoft 365 plan or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Microsoft says users without custom model selection still get Auto, Instant, and Think deeper, where those are offered. You do not need to pick a model for this lesson. If a model menu appears, leave it on Auto.
Have the raw material in front of you: a handful of bullets in the document, or another file, email, or meeting you are allowed to use. Do not point Copilot at a file you would not open on a shared screen.
Step 1 — See whether Copilot is in this Word
Open Word and sign in with the account that has the subscription. Open a blank document. Microsoft documents two ways to open Copilot. On the drafting page, Copilot is at the bottom right of the document: you describe what you want there. On the welcome page, you select the Copilot button in the corner of the document, and the chat pane opens with Edit mode on.
Look for that control. If it is not there, check the account. A work account can have Copilot turned off by an admin even when a home account would show it. The support note also says the feature can be missing on a given app version while it rolls out.
Pro tip: Try Word on the web with the same account before you reinstall the desktop app. A missing desktop button and a missing web button together point at the license. A button that exists only on the web points at the desktop version.
Step 2 — Put the facts in the document first
Type the notes at the top of the blank page, in your own words. Five to ten lines is enough. Include names, dates, and numbers you are willing to stand behind. Then add a line that says what the page is:
One-page brief for a client who missed Tuesday’s call.
They need: what changed, what you need from them, the cost, and the next step.
Audience: one busy person. Tone: plain. Length: one page.
Copilot drafts from what you give it and from other work context it is allowed to see. Microsoft says it may use files, email, meetings, and web information when that is available, and that you can point at a specific source. Facts you care about should be on the page anyway. Then you can see whether the draft added any.
Pro tip: If a number matters, type the number. “The pilot costs 400” belongs in your notes. “A reasonable pilot cost” does not.
Step 3 — Generate from the cursor
Click where the brief should start, under your notes. Open Copilot at the bottom right, or from the corner button if that is what your build shows. Paste this, then edit the bracketed parts so they match your notes:
Draft a one-page brief from the notes above.
Sections, in this order: who it is for, what changed, what I need from them, cost, next step.
Use only facts that appear in this document. If a fact is missing, write “Not in the notes” in that section.
Do not add praise, slogans, or a call to action I did not write.
Select Generate. Read the draft once without editing. You are looking for three things: it is one page, every number matches your notes, and the missing sections say they are missing.
Microsoft’s documented next step is to keep the draft, discard it, regenerate it, or refine it with a follow-up. Discard is a real choice. A fluent page that invented a deadline is a discard.
Pro tip: If the first draft is long, the follow-up is “Cut this to one page. Delete any sentence that is not in my notes.” Generate again only after that, not before you have read it.
Step 4 — Point at a source with a slash, if you need one
When the brief depends on another file, an email, or a meeting, Microsoft’s drafting steps say to type / and choose that item, if it is available. The welcome page says the same: type / in the Copilot pane and start typing the name, or pick the item from the menu that opens.
Type /, then the name. If the item is not in the list, you do not have access, or this build is not offering that picker. Paste the few lines you need into the document instead. Do not describe a file Copilot cannot see and hope.
After it drafts, search the page for any name or figure that was not in your notes and not in the source you picked. Delete those sentences or replace them with “Not in the notes.”
Pro tip: / is a pointer, not a permission slip. If you would not forward that email, do not select it.
Step 5 — Keep a version you can defend
When the page is one page and the facts match, keep it. Delete your raw notes from the top, or move them below a horizontal line and label them “working notes,” so a forwarded file does not open on your scraps.
Microsoft’s drafting page says you are responsible for whether generated content stays, gets revised, or is removed before you share it. Read the cost line and the next-step line out loud. If you hesitate, the sentence is not ready.
There is a second mode, Edit with Copilot, documented separately. In that mode Copilot changes the document in place. Microsoft says that for a shared document it shows a preview in the chat first and waits for you to confirm, and that you can undo. This lesson stays on the draft you can discard. Use Edit with Copilot later, on a copy, once you have seen a draft you were willing to keep.
If a model menu is available, Microsoft says the choice can include providers such as OpenAI or Claude on eligible premium subscriptions, and Auto when you do not want to choose. Auto is the right setting until you have a reason to change it. The menu does not check your facts.
Pro tip: Save the file with a dull name that includes the date. “Brief 2026-10-21” beats “Final final.” You will know which review you sent.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Prompting into an empty file. The draft then has nothing to be faithful to. Notes first, Generate second.
Keeping a paragraph because it sounds like you. Sound is not a source. The test is whether the fact was in the notes or in the file you selected with /.
Using Edit with Copilot on the only copy of a shared file. Microsoft warns that this mode edits in place. Duplicate the file first if other people can see it.
Going Further
The same five sections work for a project update: status, milestones, risks, decisions needed. Microsoft uses a brief of that shape as one of its own prompt examples. Swap the section names in Step 3 and leave the “only facts in this document” line untouched.
On a phone, Microsoft documents a different control: Draft with Copilot on the canvas, then the Generate arrow. The review rule does not change. Read it before anyone else does.
Key Takeaways
/ to point at a file, email, or meeting when that menu is offered. Otherwise paste the lines you mean.Microsoft’s steps: open Copilot, describe the page, type / for a source, Generate, then keep or discard.
How the corner button opens the pane, and how / points at a document, email, or meeting.
Sources: