Use Copilot during conversations
Copilot conversation summaries help you capture customer needs, actions taken, and next steps without rereading an entire conversation. Consider a chat that requires a consultation before you transfer it to a specialist. In this unit, you learn how to generate, review, and use a summary to preserve context through the handoff and wrap-up.
| Step | Representative action |
|---|---|
| Generate | Request a summary for an ongoing chat or transcribed voice conversation. |
| Review | Compare the summary with the conversation and correct any gaps in your follow-up work. |
| Use | Copy the reviewed summary, use it during a handoff, or create a case when that option is available. |
| Revisit | Open a saved summary after the conversation closes when you need the earlier context. |
Generate a conversation summary
Copilot summarizes ongoing chat conversations and voice conversations that have a transcript. In Copilot Service workspace, open the conversation and select Summarize conversation to generate a summary on demand. This action gives you a current account of the discussion before you consult another representative, transfer the work, or complete wrap-up.
Your organization's configuration determines when other summaries appear. Copilot can generate a summary automatically when you start a consultation, transfer a conversation, or end a conversation, but only when that behavior is configured. If an expected summary or action isn't present, continue with the available representative workflow rather than assuming every environment has the same options.
The configured summary format also affects what you see:
| Format | How it presents context |
|---|---|
| Paragraph | Presents the conversation as a concise narrative. |
| Structured | Organizes key details into labeled sections for scanning. |
Both formats support the same goal: give you enough context to understand the customer's issue and the work completed so far. After Copilot generates the summary, review it in the summary card. You can copy the summary, provide feedback about its quality, or close the card.
Preserve context during handoff and wrap-up
A reviewed summary creates continuity when ownership or participation changes. During a consultation, the summary helps another representative understand the issue without asking the customer to repeat the full history. During a transfer, it records the customer's request, relevant facts, troubleshooting steps, and unresolved work for the receiving representative.
The same context supports accurate wrap-up. Instead of reconstructing the interaction from memory, you compare the summary with the transcript and conversation record. You then use the verified details in notes or other records required by your organization's process. The summary supports your work, but it doesn't replace the conversation as the source for verification.
Case creation is also configuration dependent. When case management and the Copilot case-creation option are enabled, the summary card displays Create case. This action creates a case and populates its description with the summary. Review that description before relying on it because a generated summary might omit or misstate a customer, product, entitlement, date, or resolution detail.
Conversation context remains useful after the interaction ends. Copilot-generated summaries for closed conversations are available later from the conversation record in Copilot Service workspace. This access helps you investigate follow-up questions, understand a previous handoff, or confirm what occurred without treating the generated text as a complete transcript.
Review Copilot output responsibly
Copilot output is probabilistic, which means the model predicts likely text rather than determining a guaranteed answer. Grounding gives Copilot organizational sources and conversation or case context to shape its output. Grounding improves relevance, but it doesn't remove the possibility of incorrect, incomplete, or misplaced details.
Human review is therefore required before you use a summary. Your role-based access still applies: Copilot uses only data sources that you have permission to access. Customer data is processed and retrieved in Microsoft-managed environments. It isn't shared with public models or used to train them.
Consider a customer who reports an intermittent device failure during a transcribed voice conversation. Copilot states that the device always fails and leaves out a promised callback. Before you transfer the conversation, apply this review checklist:
- Confirm the customer and case. Match the name, account, case, and contact details to the conversation record.
- Check the issue. Verify symptoms, timing, products, and conditions against the transcript.
- Check completed work. Confirm troubleshooting steps, decisions, and results without adding actions that didn't occur.
- Find omissions. Look for commitments, deadlines, preferences, risks, and unresolved questions.
- Correct downstream records. Fix inaccurate or incomplete details in the case description, notes, or handoff message.
- Provide feedback. Rate or report the summary through the feedback action when its quality needs attention.
In this scenario, you preserve the word intermittent and add the callback commitment before the handoff. The receiving representative gets accurate context, and the customer doesn't need to repeat key details.
Note
Learn more about Copilot conversation summaries and responsible AI for Copilot in Customer Service.
With a reviewed summary in place, you can complete the conversation while preserving reliable context for the next representative and future follow-up.