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Copilot Chat — Your IT Superpower — Trainer Guide

Trainer Guide — IT-focused Copilot Chat session covering the interface, the GCSE prompting framework, nine live demos across scripting, troubleshooting, KQL, security review, incident management, regex, Bicep, change requests, and on-call scenarios, plus tips & tricks and custom instructions.

⚠️ Disclaimer
All prompts, scenarios, examples, and referenced entities are fictional and provided only for training and demonstration purposes. Do not use this material for decision-making, reporting, or external distribution.
📝 Session Details
Duration: ~60 minutes
Format: Presentation · Live demos · Q&A
Level: 100-Level — IT Focused
Audience: IT professionals who want to apply Copilot Chat to real-world IT tasks — scripting, troubleshooting, security review, KQL, infrastructure, incident management, and more.
License key: Chat Basic = available to all M365 users  •  M365 Copilot Premium = requires M365 Copilot license
Classification: Trainer Version — For Trainer Use Only, Not for Distribution to Participants
⏲
Overview

Session Timing Breakdown

Timing Session Plan (~60 minutes) ▼
Time Section Format
0:00 – 0:05 The Numbers & What Is Copilot Chat? Presentation
0:05 – 0:10 What’s New & Know Your Interface Presentation · Live walkthrough
0:10 – 0:15 GCSE Framework & What You Already Have Presentation
0:15 – 0:50 Nine Live Demos Live demos
0:50 – 0:55 Tips & Tricks + Custom Instructions Presentation
0:55 – 1:00 Q&A Open discussion
📝 Trainer Tip
The nine demos are the heart of this session. Each demo is self-contained — if you need to cut for time, skip Demo 6 (Regex) and Demo 7 (Bicep) as they tend to be more niche. Demos 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9 resonate most broadly with IT audiences.
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Section 1

The Numbers & What Is Copilot Chat?

Talking Points The Numbers Don’t Lie ▼

Open with these Microsoft Work Trend Index statistics to anchor the value:

Stat What It Means for IT
1.2 hours saved per person per day That’s 6+ hours per week back in every IT team member’s schedule
70% faster first drafts Incident reports, change requests, runbooks — faster every time
4x faster data analysis Log analysis, KQL queries, security reviews
85% say it helps get to a good first draft Especially powerful for documentation, RCAs, and communications
📝 Trainer Tip
Open with: “How many of you have used Copilot Chat this week?” Then: “By the end of this session, you’ll have 27 IT-specific prompts you can use immediately.” Build anticipation before diving into the product overview.
Talking Points The Free Version — Already Yours ▼

Copilot Chat (Basic) is included with every Microsoft 365 subscription at no extra cost:

Feature Details
Model GPT-5 with Smart Mode (as of April 2026)
Access m365copilot.com — sign in with your work account
Web search Real-time information and web-grounded answers
File upload PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, CSV, JSON, LOG, HTML — up to 50 MB each, 3 at a time
Enterprise Data Protection Your data is not used for training; stays within your tenant boundary
Outlook & Calendar Access to inbox and calendar context (not files or Teams without the premium license)
📝 Trainer Tip
Emphasize: “No setup. No license. No excuses.” Every person in this room can open Copilot Chat at m365copilot.com right now. The Premium license upgrades the experience but the fundamentals are already available.
🚀
Section 2

What’s New in Copilot Chat

Talking Points Recent Copilot Chat Updates ▼
Feature Status What It Means
GPT-5 with Smart Mode Live Dynamic routing between quick answers and deep reasoning — automatically selected
Memory & Work IQ Live Copilot remembers your working preferences and style across sessions
In-App in Word, Excel, PPT Live Copilot Chat side pane embedded directly inside Office apps
Edit in Copilot Licensed Specialized agents for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint editing tasks
Video Meeting Recaps Licensed Narrated highlight reels from recorded meetings
In-App Access Changes (Apr 15 2026) Apr 15 2026 In-app Copilot for unlicensed users being adjusted — web app remains available
📝 Trainer Tip
Highlight the April 15 change if relevant to the audience. Unlicensed users should bookmark m365copilot.com now if they rely on in-app access in Teams or Office. Point out that the web app always remains available.
💻
Section 3

Know Your Interface

Talking Points Copilot Chat Interface Elements ▼
Control What It Does IT Use Case
+ (Add Content) Upload up to 3 files (50 MB each — PDF/DOCX/XLSX/PPTX/CSV/JSON/LOG/HTML) Upload a log file, config JSON, or CSV of alerts for analysis
/ (Reference Files) Pull in SharePoint/OneDrive files without leaving the app Reference the runbook or change request template directly Licensed
@ (Invoke Agents) Access specialized agents Use @Interpreter for data analysis, @Planner for task management
🎤 (Voice & Read Aloud) Dictate prompts and listen to responses Useful on-call when hands are busy at a keyboard
Model Chooser Switch between Auto, GPT-5, and other models Auto is usually best; switch to GPT-5 for complex code generation
New & Temporary Chat Start fresh or create a private session with no history saved Use Temporary Chat when working with sensitive incident data
Prompt Gallery Browse and re-use saved prompts Save your best IT prompts for the team to share
📝 Facilitator Instructions
Open Copilot Chat at m365copilot.com and walk through the interface live. Point to each element as you describe it. Upload a sample log file to demonstrate the + button. Type / to show the file picker. Type @ to show available agents.
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Section 4

The GCSE Framework

Framework Goal · Context · Source · Expectations ▼

The GCSE framework is the 4-part prompt structure that changes everything:

Giraffes Can See Everything — Goal, Context, Source, and Expectations

Mnemonic: Giraffes Can See Everything

Element What It Means IT Example
Goal What you want Copilot to do. Use action verbs: write, explain, review, generate. “Write a PowerShell script…”
Context Background: audience, purpose, constraints, environment “…for auditing inactive AD accounts in a corporate environment…”
Source Where to pull data from: a file, URL, error message, or pasted config “…using this Terraform config: [paste]…”
Expectations Format, tone, length, output style “…as a numbered checklist with comments explaining each step.”
📝 Trainer Tip
Show the GCSE slide and build the IT example live in Copilot Chat. Start with just the Goal (weak result), add Context (better), add Source (much better), add Expectations (best). The transformation is dramatic and memorable.
IT Example GCSE Applied to an IT Scenario ▼
Elements Used Prompt
G only Write a KQL query
G + C Write a KQL query for Microsoft Sentinel to find suspicious sign-in activity
G + C + S Write a KQL query for Microsoft Sentinel to find suspicious sign-in activity. Use the SigninLogs table and focus on sign-ins from outside the US in the last 24 hours
G + C + S + E Write a KQL query for Microsoft Sentinel to find suspicious sign-in activity. Use the SigninLogs table, focus on sign-ins from outside the US in the last 24 hours, and include username, IP address, location, failure reason, and timestamp. Add comments explaining each clause.
🔧
Section 5

What You Already Have

Talking Points IT Capabilities Available Right Now ▼
Category What Copilot Can Do for IT Examples
Code Generation Write, review, explain, and debug code PowerShell, KQL, Python, ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform, bash
Troubleshooting Analyze error messages, parse logs, identify root cause Azure errors, Event Viewer outputs, application logs
Documentation Summarize, explain, and translate technical docs Runbooks, architecture docs, KB articles, release notes
Communications Draft audience-appropriate communications fast Incident reports, change requests, team updates, RCA templates
📝 Trainer Tip
Bridge to the demos: “Each of those four capabilities maps directly to one or more of the nine demos you’re about to see. Everything I’m showing today is available to you right now, no additional license required.”
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Section 6

Nine Live Demos

Use the Demo Prompts companion page to copy each prompt and paste it directly into Copilot Chat. Each demo is designed as a 3-prompt chain that builds progressively.

Demo 1 The Script Wizard — PowerShell AD Audit ▼

Scenario: Generate a PowerShell script to audit inactive Active Directory accounts older than 90 days, export to CSV, and send an email alert.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Write a script to find AD accounts inactive 90+ days with last logon, dept, and manager — export to CSV Full PS script with Get-ADUser, correct date math, Export-CSV
2 Add error handling, try/catch, verbose logging, and a configurable -InactiveDays parameter Properly structured functions, parameter block at top
3 Add HTML email notification with summary table, top 10 longest-inactive accounts, department breakdown Send-MailMessage or Send-MgUserMail, inline HTML, formatted table
📝 Trainer Tip
This demo lands well because every IT admin has done this manually with ADUC or a basic Get-ADUser. The key moment is Prompt 1 producing a complete, commented script in seconds. Prompt 3 always gets a reaction — HTML email with a nicely formatted table is something people would have spent an hour on before.

With a Premium license: You could pull your AD structure context from a SharePoint site or email thread documenting your OU layout.
Demo 2 The Troubleshoot Master — Azure RBAC Error ▼

Scenario: Paste a cryptic Azure AuthorizationFailed error and watch Copilot diagnose, explain, and fix it step-by-step.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Explain this Azure error: [paste AuthorizationFailed message with object ID, action, and scope] Clear plain-English explanation: who, what resource, what action was blocked
2 What’s the minimum RBAC role to fix this? Compare built-in roles, recommend least-privilege Comparison table of Contributor vs. Virtual Machine Contributor vs. custom
3 Write the exact Azure CLI commands to assign that role, verify it, and retry the failed operation az role assignment create with correct scope, az role assignment list to verify
📝 Trainer Tip
Paste the error message from the Demo Prompts page. The audience immediately recognizes this pattern — an opaque error they’ve wasted 30 minutes Googling. The fact that Copilot goes from error to CLI fix in under 60 seconds is the moment to highlight.

With a Premium license: Copilot can read your incident emails and Teams threads to understand prior context around the same error.
Demo 3 The KQL Query Builder — Sentinel Queries ▼

Scenario: Build complex Sentinel and Log Analytics KQL queries from plain English.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Write KQL to find failed sign-ins from outside the US in the last 24 hours with username, IP, location, failure reason, timestamp SigninLogs table, where clause with CountryOrRegion != “US”, correct time filter
2 Add a bar chart summarization by country and hour, with a threshold line at 10 attempts summarize count() by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), render barchart
3 Correlate suspicious IPs with successful logins to find password-spraying that succeeded join between failed and successful signin tables on IPAddress
📝 Trainer Tip
KQL is notoriously hard to write from memory. The audience is usually impressed that Copilot gets the table names, project columns, and time-series syntax right. Prompt 3 (the correlation join) is the most technically impressive. Even experienced Sentinel users find this saves significant time.
Demo 4 The Security Reviewer — Terraform Config Review ▼

Scenario: Paste a Terraform configuration and get a security review with CIS benchmark mapping and remediated code.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Review this Terraform config [NSG with AllowAll + Storage with TLS1_0] for security vulnerabilities Identifies: any-to-any NSG rule, TLS 1.0 (deprecated), missing blob_public_access = false, missing HTTPS-only
2 Which CIS Azure benchmarks does this violate? List each with control number CIS 6.x (network), CIS 3.x (storage) with specific control IDs
3 Rewrite both resources following least-privilege and CIS compliance, with comments explaining each security decision Specific rules replacing AllowAll, min_tls_version = “TLS1_2”, enable_https_traffic_only, inline comments
📝 Trainer Tip
The Terraform config is pre-loaded on the Demo Prompts page with correct indentation — copy the prompt text exactly, which includes the code block. This demo resonates strongly with security and cloud teams. The “it caught things I didn’t notice” reaction is common. Emphasize that Copilot not only finds issues but explains why each one matters.
Demo 5 The Incident Commander — P2 Outage Communications ▼

Scenario: Feed raw incident details and produce executive, customer-facing, and RCA communications in minutes.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Draft a P2 incident notification email for internal stakeholders [paste: 503 errors, connection pool, ~45 min ETA] Professional email with subject, impact summary, status, ETA, point of contact
2 Write the customer-facing version — non-technical, no jargon, no internal details Clean language, no mention of connection pools or backend, clear ETA
3 Generate an RCA template pre-filled with what we know: timeline, root cause, impact, action items with owners and due dates, lessons learned Structured RCA document with sections and action item table
📝 Trainer Tip
This is one of the most universally relevant demos. Ask: “How many of you have had to write an incident email at 2 AM while also fighting the incident?” The three outputs from the same set of facts (internal, customer-facing, RCA) in three prompts always resonates. Emphasize that the quality of the output is what saves time — you still review and edit, but you start from an 80% complete draft.
Demo 6 The Regex Whisperer — Azure Resource ID + Log Parsing ▼

Scenario: Describe what you need to match in plain English and Copilot generates, explains, and tests the regex pattern.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Write a regex to validate Azure resource IDs in the format /subscriptions/{guid}/resourceGroups/{name}/providers/{namespace}/{type}/{name} — explain each part in plain English Named groups, GUID pattern, alphanumeric+dash for names, inline explanation
2 Write a regex to parse log entries [paste sample log line] extracting timestamp, severity, source, and message into named capture groups Named captures: (?P<timestamp>...), (?P<severity>...) etc.
3 Give 5 matching and 5 non-matching test strings; write a PowerShell one-liner to parse a log file and output only ERROR entries from the last hour as a formatted table Test strings, Select-String with the regex, calculated where clause for timestamp
📝 Trainer Tip
This demo is most impactful for DevOps and SecOps audiences. The key selling point: regex that would take 20 minutes of trial-and-error is generated in seconds, with an explanation everyone can understand. The test strings in Prompt 3 show Copilot thinking through edge cases.
Demo 7 The Bicep Builder — Azure Infrastructure as Code ▼

Scenario: Describe your Azure infrastructure in plain English and receive production-ready Bicep with best practices built in.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Write Bicep for a VNet with 3 subnets, App Service P1v3, Web App with managed identity, Key Vault (Web App only), Azure SQL — security best practices throughout Correct resource types, managed identity blocks, Key Vault RBAC vs. access policies, parameterization
2 Add diagnostic logging to Log Analytics + private endpoint for SQL with private DNS zones diagnosticSettings resource, privateDnsZones, virtualNetworkLinks
3 Generate az CLI deployment commands including resource group creation, parameter files for dev/staging/prod, and a what-if dry run az deployment group create --what-if, separate .bicepparam files per environment
📝 Trainer Tip
Most impactful for cloud and infrastructure engineers. The Bicep module produced in Prompt 1 is typically 150–200 lines of correct, commented code. Point out that Copilot includes secure defaults (e.g., no public access on SQL, HTTPS-only on Web App) without being asked. Prompt 3 closing with what-if makes it deployment-safe.
Demo 8 The Change Request Machine — Exchange Migration ▼

Scenario: Feed bullet-point facts and receive a full CAB-ready change request, three email templates, and a printable migration runbook.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 Draft a CAB change request for Exchange 2019 → Exchange Online migration [500 users, maintenance window, risks — paste details] All required CAB sections: description, business justification, risk assessment, rollback, testing, communications, approvals
2 Write three email templates: (1) 1 week pre-notice, (2) day-before reminder with instructions, (3) post-migration all-clear Tone-appropriate emails — informative but not alarming, actionable
3 Create a numbered checklist runbook for migration night: pre-flight checks, commands, validation steps, go/no-go checkpoints, rollback procedure Numbered checklist format the team can print and work through; rollback clearly separated
📝 Trainer Tip
ITSM and change management personas love Demo 8. The key insight: you provide one set of facts and get back a change request document, three stakeholder communications, and an operational runbook. Emphasize that Copilot keeps each audience in mind — the CAB document is formal, the user email is reassuring, the runbook is operational.
Demo 9 The On-Call Companion — 2 AM Alert Triage ▼

Scenario: Paste simultaneous Azure Monitor alerts and get a structured triage plan at 2 AM.

# Prompt Summary What to Watch For
1 I just got paged with 4 simultaneous alerts [paste: CPU 95%, Memory 92%, 5xx spike 15%, response time 4500ms, no recent deployments]. Triage this — what do I check first? Ranked triage order, specific CLI/PS commands to investigate each symptom
2 Found a runaway SQL query causing table locks and connection pool exhaustion. Give me commands to (1) kill blocking sessions, (2) scale up app servers, (3) create an alert rule for this pattern KILL SPID for SQL, az appservice plan update --sku, az monitor alert commands
3 It’s 3:30 AM and resolved. Write: (1) Teams message for #incidents, (2) morning handoff note for the day team, (3) Jira ticket for the devs to fix the runaway query Three distinct audience voices: brief Teams update, detailed handoff, actionable dev ticket
📝 Trainer Tip
Save Demo 9 for last — it’s the most emotionally resonant. Every on-call engineer has been in this exact situation. Prompt 1 especially lands hard: four alerts firing at 2 AM and Copilot producing a ranked triage with specific CLI commands in 10 seconds. Demo 9 is often where the room shifts from “interesting” to “I need this now.” Close on this demo if you’re short on time.
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Section 7

Tips & Tricks the Pros Use

Tips Seven Power-User Secrets ▼
# Tip Why It Matters for IT
1 Start new chats for new topics Copilot uses the full conversation as context. A stale context can confuse Copilot when switching from scripting to incident response
2 Assign Copilot a role “Act as a senior Azure security engineer reviewing this for a junior team member” dramatically changes depth and tone
3 Use / to reference files (Premium) Pull in your org’s Bicep naming standard doc or change request template without uploading every time
4 Refine, don’t just create “Simplify this for a non-technical manager” or “Rewrite this as a bulleted runbook” transforms existing output fast
5 Build a team prompt library Adoption skyrockets when prompting is a team sport. Save IT-specific prompts to the Prompt Gallery and share with colleagues
6 Use GCSE on every prompt Even adding one GCSE element (Context or Expectations) dramatically improves output quality for technical prompts
7 Stay close to the roadmap Microsoft ships Copilot updates monthly. Nominate someone on the IT team to track what’s new at aka.ms/CopilotBlog
📝 Trainer Tip
Demo Tip 2 live: take the last result from your final demo and say “Let’s refine this for a different audience” — show how one follow-up prompt transforms a technical output into an executive summary. This ties tips directly to what they just saw.
⚙️
Section 8

Copilot Custom Instructions

Talking Points What Are Custom Instructions? ▼

Custom Instructions let you set persistent preferences that shape every Copilot response — without repeating yourself each time. Access them via Settings → Personalization in Copilot Chat.

The instructions from the session are organized into five categories:

Category What It Does
Thinking Style Think deeply, verify facts, avoid cascade errors, ask when uncertain
Source Discipline Cite sources, flag unverified claims, never fabricate, add freshness disclaimers
Formatting Labels: [Verified], [Inference], [Confidence], [Sources], [Glossary]
Tone Professional, action-oriented, empathetic, clear; adapts internal vs. external
Shortcuts #e = English, #i = Improve, #s = Summarize, #f = French, #esp = Spanish
📝 Facilitator Instructions
Navigate live to Settings → Personalization in Copilot Chat. Paste the Thinking Style block as a live demo. Then type #s followed by some text to show shortcuts working immediately. The audience always wants the shortcut list — point them to the User Guide to copy the full set.
❓
Section 9

Q&A

Talking Points Wrap-Up & Questions ▼

Key Takeaways:

  • You already have this — Copilot Chat (Basic) is included with your M365 subscription, no additional license needed
  • Use GCSE — Goal, Context, Source, Expectations — every time you write an IT prompt
  • Chain your prompts — each follow-up builds on the last; start simple and iterate
  • Upload files — paste logs, configs, and scripts directly into Copilot for instant analysis
  • Share what works — the best IT prompts spread fast when teams share them in the Prompt Gallery
  • Start today — open m365copilot.com and try one prompt from today’s session
📝 Facilitator Instructions
Open the floor for questions. If the room is quiet, use these conversation starters:
  • “Which demo was most relevant to your day-to-day work?”
  • “What task are you going to try this in first?”
  • “What was the most surprising thing Copilot did today?”
Close by pointing to the Demo Prompts companion page and the User Guide so participants have all 27 prompts to take home.
📎
Bonus Material

Working with Files

Chat Basic — File upload works in Copilot Chat. M365 Copilot Premium adds direct file referencing from OneDrive/SharePoint via the / command.

Talking Points How to Attach a File ▼
  1. 1 Click the + (plus) icon in the Copilot Chat prompt bar
  2. 2 Browse OneDrive, SharePoint, or upload from your device
  3. 3 Select your file — it appears as a chip/badge above the prompt bar
  4. 4 Type your question and press Enter

Supported types: Word (.docx) • PDF (.pdf) • PowerPoint (.pptx) • Excel (.xlsx) • Plain text (.txt) • Images (.png, .jpeg) • Data files (.csv, .json, .md) • Log files (.log) • HTML (.html)
File size limit: Up to 50 MB per file upload, 3 files at a time.

Cheat Sheet IT File Prompts Cheat Sheet ▼
What You Want Try This Prompt
Analyze a log file “Analyze this log file. Summarize the top 5 errors and suggest a root cause for each.” [attach .log]
Review a config “Review this configuration file for security misconfigurations and best practice violations.” [attach .json or .tf]
Explain a script “Explain what this PowerShell script does, line by line, in plain English.” [attach .ps1]
Parse CSV data “Summarize this data, identify trends, and flag any anomalies.” [attach .csv]
Compare two configs “Compare these two configuration files and list every difference that could affect security or performance.” [attach 2 files]
📝 Trainer Tip
For a great live demo: upload the sample Log.txt file from the training files folder and use the log analysis prompt above. The instant summary of errors and root cause suggestions always impresses.
💡
Bonus Material

Top 10 Power User Tips

Tips Become a Power User ▼
  1. 1Be specific — include audience, tone, and format in your prompt
  2. 2Iterate — if the first response isn’t right, refine it
  3. 3Always review — verify code and facts before running or distributing Copilot output
  4. 4Use follow-up questions — Copilot remembers context within a session
  5. 5Try “What else?” — ask Copilot to expand, add edge cases, or suggest error handling
  6. 6Name your audience — “Write this for a non-technical CIO” changes everything
  7. 7Ask for options — “Give me 3 approaches to fixing this with trade-offs”
  8. 8Use it for brainstorming — “What are 10 ways to harden this configuration?”
  9. 9Check privacy — follow your organization’s AI usage policy for sensitive data and credentials
  10. 10Share what works — contribute your best IT prompts to a shared team library
🚀
Bonus Material

Advanced Prompt Tips

Tip 1 Force Plain Text / Code Block Output ▼

When you want clean, copy-ready output (great for scripts and code), add this to the end of your prompt:

Prompt Suffix
Output the results only as a block of plain text. Do not include any other text. Always treat the block of plain text as a block of code that uses text as the code language. Always include a copy button to copy the contents of the box. Do not include sources.
Tip 2 Retrieve Your Resultant Prompt ▼

Running out of turns in a conversation? Ask Copilot for the cumulative prompt so you can continue in a new chat:

Prompt
What is the resultant prompt so far?

Copilot will output a consolidated version of everything you’ve asked for. Copy it, start a new chat, and continue where you left off.

📝 Trainer Tip
This is a great power-user trick for long script-building sessions. Demonstrate with the Script Wizard demo chain — after 3 prompts, ask “What is the resultant prompt so far?” and show how Copilot consolidates hours of iteration.
⚙️
Bonus Material

Memory & Custom Instructions

Chat Basic — Memory and Custom Instructions are available in Copilot Chat for all M365 users.

Sample Sample Custom Instructions ▼

Copy any or all of these sections into your Copilot Custom Instructions (Settings → Personalization):

Thinking Style

Custom Instructions — General Behavior
Copilot prioritizes accuracy, clarity, and trust. Always distinguish verified facts from inferred reasoning. Never present assumptions or context-based reasoning as fact. Avoid cascade errors by rechecking each step before responding. Think deeply before answering. When uncertain, ask clarifying questions or provide 2–3 vetted options with pros and cons.

Source Discipline

Custom Instructions — Source Discipline
Search enterprise content first (files, emails, chats, meetings, transcripts). Resolve contradictions before responding. Preserve critical qualifiers in summaries. Cite specific identifiers for sources and flag unverified claims [Unverified]. Never fabricate citations, quotes, or references. If confidence is low, outline what is known, unknown, and next steps. Verify jurisdiction and effective dates for legal content. For time-sensitive topics, check date stamps and warn about staleness. Add freshness disclaimers for outdated data. If no authoritative source exists, state this and offer to search the web. When confidence is low, search for additional sources and facts internally and externally.

Tone

Custom Instructions — Tone
Professional yet approachable. Action-oriented and outcome-focused. Empathetic and appreciative. Direct and clear, avoiding ambiguity. Balanced warmth: friendly without being overly informal.

Customer / External Audience

Custom Instructions — External Tone
Professional, courteous, and reassuring. Formal greetings and closings. Avoid jargon unless contextually relevant. Provide clear next steps and timelines. Examples: “Looking forward to discussing the way forward.” “We completely understand the need to…” “Sounds like a great opportunity.” Maintain professionalism, clarity, and reassurance. Avoid slang or overly casual language.

Formatting & Content Labels

Custom Instructions — Formatting
Do not use characters like “-” when writing text. Use clear labels such as: [Verified] for facts from authoritative sources [Inference] for logical assumptions or context-based reasoning [Confidence] Provide confidence cues for inferred content (e.g., “Likely,” “Based on observed patterns”) [Sources] Sources section with live links or identifiers [Glossary] Acronyms used with clarification of the acronym Avoid cascade errors; recheck each step. Present verified facts first, then present inferences with a disclaimer like: “The following points are inferred based on available context and may require validation.” If no source exists, state: “No authoritative source found” and propose next steps. Avoid presenting inferences as facts.

Quick Shortcuts

Custom Instructions — Shortcuts
#e = Translate this text to English #f = Traduire le résultat en français #i = Improve this text #s = Summarize this text #esp = Traduce el texto a castellano
📝 Trainer Tip
Walk through setting up Custom Instructions live. Show how to navigate to Settings → Personalization. Start with the General Behavior block and Source Discipline, then layer in tone. The Quick Shortcuts section is a great crowd-pleaser — demonstrate #s or #i live on a recent output.
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Bonus Material

Demo Prompts to Try Today

Try These IT Quick-Start Prompts ▼

Open m365copilot.com and try these now:

Script Wizard
Write a PowerShell script to find all Active Directory accounts that have been inactive for more than 90 days, including their last logon date, department, and manager. Export the results to a CSV file.
Troubleshoot
Explain this Azure error and tell me exactly what went wrong: 'The client with object id 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx' does not have authorization to perform action 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write' over scope '/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/Production-RG/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/WebServer-01' or the scope is invalid.'
KQL Builder
Write a KQL query for Microsoft Sentinel that finds all failed sign-in attempts from IP addresses outside the United States in the last 24 hours. Include the username, IP address, location, failure reason, and timestamp.
On-Call Triage
I just got paged at 2 AM with these Azure Monitor alerts firing simultaneously:
- High CPU (95%) on 3 of 5 app servers in the web-prod pool
- Memory utilization at 92% on the same servers
- HTTP 5xx error rate spiked to 15% (normal is <0.5%)
- Average response time jumped from 200ms to 4500ms
- No recent deployments in the last 48 hours

What's most likely going on? Walk me through a triage process — what should I check first, second, third? Give me the specific Azure CLI or PowerShell commands to investigate each step.
📝 Trainer Tip
Point participants to the full Demo Prompts companion page for all 27 prompts (9 demos × 3 prompts each) in a copyable, well-formatted interface. Encourage everyone to bookmark it.