M365 Copilot — Copilot in Word, PowerPoint & Excel

At a glance — what makes in-app Copilot different

No @ required
Copilot reads your open document automatically.
You do not need to reference it.

Direct editing access
Copilot can insert, rewrite, and transform
content inside the document in place.

Each app is different
Word = text. PowerPoint = slides.
Excel = data and formulas. Different tools, different prompts.

Capabilities by application

Word

Draft · Rewrite · Summarise · Transform · Coach

Open Copilot panel → ribbon

What it can do

Draft from scratch

Generate a first draft from a prompt or an outline. Copilot writes into the document.
Rewrite selected text

Select a passage and ask Copilot to change tone, length, reading level, or structure.
Summarise the document

Generate an executive summary or key-points list from the full document.
Coach (Writing Assistance)

Get feedback on clarity, conciseness, tone, and vocabulary for selected text.
Transform format

Convert prose to bullets, bullets to prose, unstructured notes to a table.

Prompts to try

Summarise this document in 5 bullet points for an executive who hasn't read the background."
Rewrite the executive summary to be more direct. Cut to under 100 words."
Convert the risks section to a table with columns: risk, owner, mitigation."
Draft a conclusion paragraph that summarises the three recommendations."
Check the tone of this email draft. Flag anything that sounds defensive or ambiguous."

Note: Copilot in Word also reads other documents you reference. Type @ inside the Copilot panel to bring in a second file as context — useful for comparing against a template or previous version.

PowerPoint

Create · Add slides · Rewrite · Summarise · Organise

Copilot button → ribbon

What it can do

Create a presentation

Generate slides from a prompt, a topic outline, or a Word document. Includes speaker notes.
Add a slide

Describe the slide you need and Copilot inserts it in the right position.
Rewrite slide text

Shorten, simplify, or reframe the text on the current slide or across the deck.
Summarise the deck

Generate a one-paragraph or bullet-point summary of the full presentation.
Organise into sections

Restructure slide order and group related content into logical sections.

Prompts to try

Create a 10-slide presentation on the Q2 project status. Include speaker notes. Use the data in @Q2-Status-Report.docx."
Add a slide after slide 4 that shows the top 3 risks and their owners."
Rewrite the slide titles to be action-oriented and under 8 words each."
Summarise this deck in 3 bullet points I can use as a verbal intro."
Shorten the text on every slide so each has no more than 4 bullet points."

Note: Creating from a Word document gives more structured output. Prepare a brief Word outline first for complex decks — Copilot will follow it more accurately than a free-form prompt alone.

Excel

Analyse · Formulas · Insights · Highlight · Python (advanced)

Copilot button → ribbon

What it can do

Analyse data

Ask questions about the spreadsheet in natural language. Copilot reads the open sheet.
Write and explain formulas

Describe what you want to calculate — Copilot writes the formula and explains it.
Highlight and filter

Ask Copilot to highlight rows, apply conditional formatting, or filter based on criteria.
Surface insights

Identify trends, outliers, and patterns across the data. Generates a natural language summary.
Python in Excel (advanced)

Generate Python code for advanced analysis, modelling, and visualisation. Requires Python in Excel feature enabled.

Prompts to try

Which rows have actual spend more than 10% over budget? Highlight them in red."
Write a formula that calculates the weighted average of column D using column E as weights."
What are the top 5 vendors by total spend this quarter?"
Show me a trend of monthly costs from January to April. Which month had the highest variance?"
Add a column that classifies each row as On Track, At Risk, or Over Budget based on the variance column."

Note: Copilot in Excel works best on data formatted as a table (Insert → Table). Unformatted ranges may produce incomplete results. Column headers should be clear and in the first row.

Agent Mode in Excel (GA): Select a model (including Claude via Copilot) and ask it to perform multi-step actions directly on your spreadsheet — restructure data, apply formatting rules, create sheets, run analysis chains. Access via the Copilot panel model picker (if enabled in your tenant).

In-app Copilot vs Copilot Chat — key differences

Use Chat for live M365 data · Use in-app for document-level work

Capability	Copilot Chat	Word / PPT / Excel
Access to open document	No — use @file to reference	Yes — reads automatically
Direct editing / insertion	No — outputs text only	Yes — inserts into document
Access to email and Teams data	Yes — live M365 data	No — open file only
Multi-document queries	Yes — @ multiple files	Limited — @ one additional file in panel
Scheduled prompts	Yes	No
Formula generation	No	Yes — Excel only
Slide creation	No	Yes — PowerPoint only

Rules to follow

1Open the document first, then open Copilot. In-app Copilot reads your open file. If nothing is open, Copilot has no document context.
2Format Excel data as a table before using Copilot. Select your data range → Insert → Table. Copilot performs better on named tables than on plain ranges.
3For PowerPoint, start from a Word outline for complex decks. Create a structured Word document first → open PowerPoint Copilot → reference the Word file. The deck structure follows the document structure.
4Review every Copilot insertion before accepting. Copilot writes into your document. Use Undo (Ctrl+Z) immediately if the insertion is wrong — do not edit around it.
5Use Chat for anything involving email, calendar, or Teams. In-app Copilot reads the open file only. For cross-app queries, switch to Copilot Chat and reference the file with @.