Summarize information on a topic with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365
Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat combines the power of artificial intelligence (AI) with your work data and apps to help you unleash creativity, unlock productivity, and uplevel skills. It works across multiple apps and content, giving you the power of AI together with your secure work data. Its ability to synthesize information and create things from multiple sources at once empowers you to tackle broader goals and objectives.
To compare, Copilot in the different Microsoft 365 apps (such as Word or PowerPoint) is specifically orchestrated to help you within that one app. For example, Copilot in Word is designed to help you better draft, edit, and consume content. In PowerPoint, it’s there to help you create better presentations. But with Copilot with Graph-grounded chat, we can pull that all together into a new experience.
You can access Microsoft 365 Chat in several ways:
Use Copilot in desktop and mobile versions of Microsoft Teams. See Use Copilot with Graph-grounded chat in Teams.
Launch the experience at Microsoft Bing (Bing.com/chat). See Use Copilot with Graph-grounded chat at Bing.com.
Access Copilot with Graph-grounded chat at Microsoft365.com. See Use Copilot with Graph-grounded chat at Microsoft365.com.
Let's get crafting
First, download and save the following files to your OneDrive folder and add them to your MRU list:
Open the Microsoft Copilot chat experience in Microsoft Teams and follow along with the prompts that reference the files above.
Note
Starting prompt:
Find and compile information on Contoso's new Protein Plus shake.
In this simple prompt, you start with the basic Goal: to summarize information about a new product. However, there's no information about why you need the summary or what you're looking for.
| Element | Example |
|---|---|
| Basic prompt: Start with a Goal |
Find and compile information on Contoso's new Protein Plus shake. |
| Good prompt: Add Context |
Adding Context can help Copilot understand the purpose and adjust the response accordingly. "...for an upcoming quarterly business review. We need an executive summary, as well as details on the social media campaign and competing products." |
| Better prompt: Specify Source(s) |
Adding Sources can help Copilot understand where to look for information and provide a more accurate response. "Look for information in /Market Analysis Report for Mystic Spice Premium Chai Tea.docx, /Contoso Chai Tea market trends 2023.xlsx, and /Market Trend Report - Protein shake.docx to write the executive summary." |
| Best prompt: Set clear Expectations |
Lastly, adding Expectations can help Copilot understand how to format the summary and what level of detail is required. "The summary should sound professional, with a hopeful tone about our release blockers. The competitive analysis should also include links to the relevant products in a table." |
Note
Crafted prompt:
Find and compile information on Contoso's new Protein Plus shake for an upcoming quarterly business review. We need an executive summary, as well as details on the social media campaign and competing products. Look for information in /Market Analysis Report for Mystic Spice Premium Chai Tea.docx, /Contoso Chai Tea market trends 2023.xlsx, and /Market Trend Report - Protein shake.docx to write the executive summary. The summary should sound professional, with a hopeful tone about our release blockers. The competitive analysis should also include links to the relevant products in a table.
With the Goal, Context, Source, and Expectations all laid out, Copilot has everything it needs to give you a great response.
Explore more
You can also use Copilot to get summaries and catch up on things quickly. It can pull together quick summaries of projects, meetings, email messages, chats, and more. Use it to find out what's due, get the latest updates on a project, or find recent communications from a colleague or manager quickly.
Here are some more examples:
Last week, someone shared a document that defined the key deliverable dates for Project X. What were those dates?
Summarize messages from Sam over the past two weeks. Call out any important details, like deliverables, due dates, and action items for me.
List the developments on Product Z that would be relevant to an executive who owns the product launch, based on collaboration over the past five business days.