--- id: copilot-first-steps-in-copilot lang: en track: copilot title: "First steps in Copilot" seoTitle: "First steps: getting started with Copilot" description: "Find Copilot in the apps you already use and in the standalone chat, write a clear first message that gets something useful back, and keep your chats tidy." part: getting-started partTitle: "Getting started with Copilot" partOrder: 2 order: 2 level: Beginner durationMinutes: 3 outcome: "Find Copilot wherever you work, send a message that gets something useful back, and keep your chats easy to find." summary: "Copilot is a chat pane inside the apps you already use plus a standalone chat, and good results come from a clear, specific message." draft: false updated: "2026-10-14" furtherReading: - title: "Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat overview" url: "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/chat" note: "Microsoft's overview of what Copilot Chat does and where to find it." - title: "Get started writing prompts in Microsoft Copilot" url: "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/get-started-writing-prompts-in-microsoft-365-copilot" note: "Microsoft's own tips for writing clear Copilot prompts." - title: "How Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat history works" url: "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/how-microsoft-365-copilot-chat-history-works" note: "How Copilot saves, lists and separates your conversations." - title: "Draft content with Copilot Chat and Pages" url: "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/draft-content-with-microsoft-365-copilot-chat-and-copilot-pages-34582f3b-432a-4431-b228-a3aae3456916" note: "Drafting with Copilot Chat, and moving a draft into a Page." keywords: - getting started with Copilot - Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat - where to find Copilot - first Copilot prompt - Copilot chat history - one topic per chat quiz: intro: "Four quick questions. Ace them all and the next lesson unlocks." passScore: 4 questions: - q: "Does a Copilot chat started in Word carry over into standalone Copilot Chat?" options: - "No, each surface keeps its own separate history" - "Yes, all Copilot chats share one history" - "Only if you rename the chat first" answer: 0 explain: "No. Each surface keeps its own separate history, so a chat started in Word doesn't show up in standalone Copilot Chat, and vice versa." - q: "What does Copilot already know automatically when you open it inside an app like Outlook or Word?" options: - "Nothing, until you paste the text into the chat" - "Every chat you've had in other Copilot surfaces" - "The document, email or meeting you currently have open" - "Who the answer is for and what format you want" answer: 2 explain: "The document, email or meeting you currently have open. That's why it can act on it directly, like summarising it or rewriting a paragraph." - q: "Why is \"summarize this\" a weaker prompt than a version that names the focus, format, and audience?" options: - "It's too short for Copilot to process at all" - "Copilot can't guess what matters most to you or who the answer is for" - "Copilot ignores the open document unless you name the file" answer: 1 explain: "Copilot can't guess what matters most to you or who the answer is for. Spelling it out gets a more useful, more directly usable answer." - q: "Why start a new chat for a new topic instead of continuing an old one?" options: - "Old chats are deleted automatically, so you'd lose them anyway" - "A long chat can no longer be renamed" - "A new chat is the only way to send a follow-up" - "Copilot reads the whole conversation each time, so unrelated older messages dilute the context" answer: 3 explain: "Copilot reads the whole conversation each time you send a message, so unrelated older messages dilute the context and blur the answer." pass: badge: "Perfect score" title: "You're off to a good start." body: "Full marks. You know where Copilot lives, how to brief it, and how to keep your chats tidy. Next up: Copilot's modes and web grounding, and why you still check its sources." retry: "Check the marked answers and give it another go. You've got this." --- > **Level:** Beginner ยท **Reading time:** ~3 min > > **What you'll be able to do:** find Copilot wherever you work, send a message that gets something useful back, and keep your chats easy to find. ## Where Copilot actually lives There's no single "open Copilot" moment. It shows up in several places, and it helps to know which is which before you start. - **Inside an app** (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams): a Copilot icon opens a side pane docked next to what you're working on. It already knows which document, email or meeting is open, so it can act on it directly: "summarise this," "rewrite the second paragraph," "build a formula for this column." - **Standalone Copilot Chat** (in Teams, on the web at [copilot.cloud.microsoft](https://copilot.cloud.microsoft), or the [Microsoft Copilot mobile app](https://support.microsoft.com/topic/24bd7d62-f3c7-47d8-8cce-ee78edc018d4)): a general purpose chat window, separate from any one document, closer to how you'd use Claude's own chat. - Each surface keeps its own conversation history. A chat you start in Word doesn't carry into standalone Copilot Chat, and vice versa.
Two places Copilot livesTwo panels. Left, inside an app: a Copilot panel docked beside an open document, sees the open file automatically. Right, standalone Copilot Chat: a general chat window with its own history. Each surface keeps its own conversation history.Two places Copilot livesDocumentCopilotInside an appSees the open file automatically.Copilot ChatStandalone Copilot ChatGeneral chat, own history.Each surface keeps its own conversation history.
## Talk to it like a sharp colleague Copilot performs best with full sentences and real context, not keyword fragments. Compare these two: *Vague:* "summarize this" *Useful:* "Summarize this email thread in five bullet points, focused on what the client is asking us to change, and flag anything with a deadline. Write it so I can paste it straight into a status update for my manager." Same document, same tool, very different answer. The second version tells Copilot what to focus on, what shape you want the answer in, and who it's for, exactly the kind of context it can't infer from the file alone. This is the whole skill in one example: be specific about the focus, the format, and the audience, and Copilot stops guessing. It doesn't stop at the first message either. Say Copilot answers with all five bullets, but two of them read too formally for a quick internal update. A natural follow-up gets you the rest of the way: "Keep the five bullets, but make the tone more casual, like you're updating a teammate rather than writing a memo, and cut the second bullet to one line." Copilot revises what it already wrote rather than starting over, the way a colleague would edit a draft instead of writing a fresh one from scratch. That's the habit worth building: send a clear first message, then treat what comes back as a draft to steer rather than a final answer to accept or reject whole. Most of Copilot's best answers come from that second or third message, not the first. ## Keeping it tidy Copilot Chat saves and lists your conversations the same way Claude does. You can rename a chat from the menu next to its title so it's easy to find later ("Q3 client renewal," not "New chat 14"), and the Chats list on the left keeps a running record so you don't need to keep a thread open just in case. Two small habits pay off early: rename anything you'll come back to, and don't be afraid to abandon a chat that went nowhere; nothing forces you to keep using it. ## One topic per chat Copilot, like most chat-based AI, reads back over the whole conversation every time you send a message. Starting a fresh chat for a new topic keeps answers sharp. Reusing one long-running Copilot Chat for unrelated questions makes responses vaguer over time, as older, irrelevant messages dilute the context. ## Try it Pick an email or document you're currently working on. Open Copilot in that app and ask for something specific: a summary with a particular focus, a first draft of a reply, a table pulled from the text. Then send one follow-up refining it ("make it shorter," "more formal tone," "add a line about next steps") and notice how the second answer builds on the first. Rename the chat before you close it, so you can find it again next week. ## Key terms [Copilot Chat](/glossary#copilot-chat), [Prompt](/glossary#prompt), [Grounding](/glossary#grounding), [Chat history](/glossary#chat-history), [Copilot](/glossary#copilot)