Everyone loves the idea of a big “prompt library”, a long list of ready‑made phrases you can copy and paste into Copilot. It feels useful… until it isn’t. The truth? Prompt lists get old fast. Your work changes. Your documents change. Your goals change. And suddenly those pre‑written prompts don’t fit anymore. Even worse: people start copying prompts that were written for a completely different situation. That’s when Copilot gives weird or unhelpful answers, not because it’s wrong, but because the prompt didn’t match the task.
If you’ve tried Copilot in one app, you’ve seen a quarter of the magic. Over the last four posts, we explored quick wins in Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint. This wrap‑up shows how those wins summarized, and why a handful of basic skills in each app make Copilot’s help sharper, safer, and faster. I’ve also linked short, practical resources so you can level up in minutes, not months.
Copilot in Outlook is your writing assistant for email. It can summarize long threads, draft replies, polish tone, and pull-out action items so you don’t have to read every line or start from a blank page. Typical tasks include “Draft a response to this thread” and “Summarize the key decisions,” directly from the email you’re looking at.
Copilot helps you turn ideas into polished slides quickly. No more struggling with layouts or wasting hours on design. Just tell Copilot what you need, and it drafts slides, adds images, and even writes speaker notes.
Do spreadsheets make your head spin? You’re not alone, many of us feel overwhelmed by endless rows and columns of numbers. But with Copilot in Excel, you don’t need to be a data expert or know complicated formulas. Just type your question in plain English, and Copilot will do the heavy lifting for you. Whether you want to spot trends, create colorful charts, clean up messy data, or simply get a quick summary, Copilot is ready to help.
Ever get stuck staring at a blank page or lost in a long report? Copilot in Word is here to help. It can draft, rewrite, summarize, and organize your ideas, so you spend less time struggling and more time getting things done.
Tracy van der Schyff 