Your Microsoft Copilot workflow companions
Microsoft Copilot combines its LLM foundation with Work IQ, the intelligence layer that connects it to your organizational content, in one app organized into four modes.
Important
Your experience with Microsoft Copilot may differ from what is presented in this training based on your version. See What Copilot license do I have? for reference.
One app, four ways to work
It's easy to think of Copilot as just a chat window, but chat is only one part of a bigger picture. The Microsoft Copilot app organizes AI assistance into four modes: Chat, Cowork, Code, and Autopilot. Each mode targets a different kind of job—asking a question, delegating a task, building a tool, or automating work that repeats—so you reach for the mode that matches what you're trying to get done.
Recognizing which mode fits your situation helps you set the right expectations before you start. A quick question calls for a different approach than a multi-step project, and work that repeats every week calls for something else again. The following sections introduce what each mode does and when it fits your work.
Ask, draft, and explore with Chat
Chat is your starting place for AI at work. Turn to it for quick answers, drafting content, brainstorming ideas, and exploring a topic through conversation, all within a single session.
By default, Chat draws on real-time web information. Grounding refers to the source data Copilot uses to shape its responses, so by default Chat doesn't automatically access your organization's files, emails, or meetings. This makes Chat a low-risk starting point for building AI confidence: you can practice prompting and explore what AI can do before you connect it to more of your work context. When you do connect Chat to your work context, it can also draw on your files, emails, meetings, and chats to give more relevant, personalized responses.
Chat is available in a browser, in the Microsoft Copilot app, and directly inside apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook, so it's ready wherever you're already working.
Use Chat when you need help in the moment: a fast answer, a first draft, or a quick summary you can act on right away.
To explore Chat further, see Build foundational generative AI skills and Enhance business workflows with AI.
Delegate multi-step work with Cowork
Cowork takes AI further by acting across your Microsoft 365 apps on your behalf. Where Chat helps you complete a task in a single session, Cowork handles multi-step, autonomous work that spans multiple apps and can take minutes or hours to finish.
For example, you could ask Cowork to draft a project status report, send it to your team in Teams, schedule a follow-up meeting, and create a task list, all as a single instruction. Cowork carries out the connected steps in sequence and may ask for your input or approval depending on the action, your permissions, and your organization's configuration.
Use Cowork when a request has grown beyond a single answer: you need Copilot to carry out several connected steps and hand back a finished result.
To go deeper on Cowork, see Delegate work with AI. To learn how Cowork skills support repeatable, automated work, see Work on repeat.
Build tools with Code
Code turns a plain-language description of what you need into a working tool, such as a tracker, a dashboard, or a small app, without requiring you to write code yourself. You describe the outcome you want, and Copilot plans, builds, and refines a solution, then presents it for your review.
This mode is designed for the people closest to a problem, not only for professional developers. If you've ever tracked a process in a spreadsheet or a chain of emails because you didn't have a purpose-built tool for it, Code gives you a way to build one yourself.
Use Code when you have a recurring problem that a custom tool would solve, and you want to create that tool directly from your own description of the work.
To learn more about Code as this mode continues to roll out, explore AI Skills Navigator for deeper learning.
Important
To get early access to Code, you need to join the Frontier preview program and accept the terms of participation. Frontier connects you directly with Microsoft's latest AI innovations. Frontier previews are subject to the existing preview terms of your customer agreements. As these features are still in development, their availability and capabilities may change over time.
Automate ongoing work with Autopilot
Autopilot are always-on agents that stay active in the background, within the boundaries you set, to help move recurring work forward without you having to ask each time. Rather than waiting for a prompt, Autopilot monitors the work you assign it and surfaces what needs your attention.
For example, Autopilot can flag a stalled decision and propose next steps, or independently resolve a scheduling conflict on your calendar. You stay in control of what it's allowed to act on, and you review its work as it happens.
Use Autopilot when a task repeats often enough that you'd rather set it up once and let Copilot keep it moving, instead of prompting for it every time.
To learn more about Autopilot as this mode continues to roll out, explore AI Skills Navigator for deeper learning.
Important
To get early access to Autopilot, you need to join the Frontier preview program and accept the terms of participation. Frontier connects you directly with Microsoft's latest AI innovations. Frontier previews are subject to the existing preview terms of your customer agreements. As these features are still in development, their availability and capabilities may change over time.
Choose a mode by outcome
The following table shows how each mode differs and when to use it:
| Mode | Best for | Example scenario |
|---|---|---|
| Chat | An answer or draft finished in one session | Researching a topic or drafting an email |
| Cowork | A finished result from a connected sequence of tasks | Preparing a status report and scheduling the follow-up |
| Code | A reusable tool built from your description | Building a tracker for a recurring process |
| Autopilot | Ongoing, background progress on repeating work | Flagging a stalled approval and suggesting next steps |
A single workflow may use more than one mode as the work moves from idea to execution and ongoing follow-through.
Consider a marketing team at a retail company preparing for a product launch: Chat helps you quickly research a competitor's campaign or brainstorm product messaging. When it's time to coordinate the full launch, sending briefings, scheduling reviews, and creating action items, Cowork handles those steps together. If your team needs a way to track campaign performance, Code turns that need into a working dashboard. And once the campaign is live, an Autopilot can watch for stalled approvals and help keep the rollout on schedule.
Note
We recognize that different people like to learn in different ways. You can choose to complete this module in video-based format or you can read the content as text and images. The text contains greater detail than the videos, so in some cases you might want to refer to it as supplemental material to the video presentation.
Whichever format you choose, keep the following in mind:
Important
Your experience with Microsoft Copilot may differ from what is presented in this training based on your version. See What Copilot license do I have? for reference.
Code and Autopilot require enrollment in the Frontier preview program. If your organization hasn't joined Frontier, these modes might not be available to you yet.