M365 Copilot Promptathon — Standard — User Guide

Prompts are how you ask Copilot to do something for you — like creating, summarizing, editing, or transforming content. Think about prompting like having a conversation. Use plain but clear language and provide context, just as you would with a human assistant.

The first step is simply telling Copilot what you need. Here are six common use cases:

Available to everyone with a Microsoft 365 subscription — no additional license required.

Best for: general drafting, research, web-grounded questions, file analysis via upload, and cross-app tasks.

The premium experience adds in-app AI across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, plus advanced features.

To get the best response, focus on four key elements when phrasing your prompts:

Here is a mnemonic to help you remember the four elements.

Watch how each GCSE element improves the prompt:

Try the following two prompts using Copilot Chat and compare the responses you get:

What differences do you notice? How does specificity change the quality of the output?

Scenario: You are an HR Manager who needs to prep for an upcoming candidate interview for a new AI Engineer position within the IT department.

Make your prompts more impactful by thinking about how Copilot fits into your entire workflow, not just a single task.

We’re all familiar with creating a list of actions from Teams meetings — but why are you doing it? If it’s to send to someone else, why not get Copilot to write the email too?

Copilot is built to take action, so telling Copilot what “to do” or what “not to do” can be very effective.

Following up on your prompts helps you collaborate with Copilot to gain more useful, tailored responses. You don’t need to get it perfect on the first try — iterate.

Let’s refine the output with a conversational approach.

Now refine it! Try follow-up prompts like:

• “Make these more specific to finance teams”
• “Add a real-world example for each bullet”
• “Rewrite in a more executive-friendly tone”

Providing a sample sentence, paragraph, or existing document to Copilot offers a guideline and enhances the quality of the output. This ensures the result is formatted in a familiar and ideal way, minimising the time you need to spend reviewing and editing.

Boost AI confidence and success through prompting with the Copilot Prompt Gallery.

While every employee has a Copilot to transform individual productivity, every business process can be transformed by agents.

Instructions define the agent and tailor its experience to business requirements and expected outcomes.

To get the best user experience, provide as many details as needed to minimize the user’s effort in prompting your agent:

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)
File size limit: Up to 50 MB per file upload (Copilot Chat). M365 Copilot (Premium) users can reference files directly from OneDrive or SharePoint without uploading.

1. 1 Be specific — include audience, tone, and format in your prompt
2. 2 Iterate — if the first response isn’t right, refine it (“Make it shorter,” “Use a table”)
3. 3 Always review — verify facts before sending or acting on Copilot output
4. 4 Use follow-up questions — Copilot remembers context within a session
5. 5 Try “What else?” — ask Copilot to expand, add examples, or suggest alternatives
6. 6 Name your audience — “Write this for a non-technical executive” changes everything
7. 7 Ask for options — “Give me 3 different versions of this email”
8. 8 Use it for brainstorming — “Give me 10 ideas for…”
9. 9 Check privacy — follow your organization’s AI usage policy for sensitive content
10. 10 Share what works — contribute your best prompts to your team’s shared library

When you want clean, copy-ready output, add this to the end of your prompt:

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

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

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.

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

Think Deeply

Source Discipline

Tone

Internal / Collaborative Audience

Customer / External Audience

Formatting & Content Labels

Quick Shortcuts

📎 Attach a file using the + icon before sending this prompt.

📎 Attach a file using the + icon before sending this prompt.

📎 Attach two files using the + icon before sending this prompt.

✍️ Paste the paragraph you want rewritten directly into this prompt.

• Use GCSE — Goal, Context, Source, Expectations — every time you write a prompt
• Iterate — your first prompt is a starting point, not the final answer
• Keep it conversational — follow up, refine, and build on responses
• Use templates — reference existing documents for consistent, high-quality output
• Share what works — use the Prompt Gallery to save and share prompts with your team
• Experiment — the best way to learn is to try different approaches