Finish a job in Copilot
- Open Copilot. At work, sign in with your work account so your organisation's protections apply.
- Paste the instructions.
- Attach the file, or tell Copilot which file, email or meeting to use.
- Check the result against your own notes before you send or save it.
Make it stick. If your employer pays for Copilot, save the instructions as a prompt, or ask IT about a shared agent so everyone gets the same format.
Microsoft now calls its work products Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat. What Copilot can see at work depends on your licence and on what your organisation has switched on.
What happens to what you type
Work and personal accounts are treated differently. Check which one you are signed in to.
| Account | What the company says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot with a work account | No. Prompts and responses aren't used to train foundation models. | Microsoft: enterprise data protection in Copilot |
| Copilot at work: what it can see | Only organisational data you already have permission to view. | Microsoft: Copilot privacy and data |
Checked 30 October 2026. Your employer's settings and contract can change this.
Tools with Copilot steps built in
Open any tool and choose Copilot under "Do it in your own AI". The instructions fill in with your details.
- Turn meeting notes into actionsAn action table with owners and dates, the decisions, open questions and a follow-up email.
- Write a professional emailA subject line, a clear email in British English, a shorter version and the lines to check before you send.
- Build a weekly management reportA one-page report: summary, KPIs against target with status, risks, decisions needed and next week's priorities.
- Clean a spreadsheetA clean table you can paste back into Excel or download as CSV, plus a list of every change and every problem it could not fix.
- Write a standard operating procedureA numbered procedure with an owner for each step, what to do when things go wrong, and a one-page checklist.
- Write a job descriptionA job description, person specification and advert, with a wording check and the right official guidance for where the job is.
- Draft an employee letterA letter to check and send for everyday situations, and the official route for the ones that need a set process.
- Plan a new starter's onboardingA dated plan from before day one to the three-month review, skipping weekends and bank holidays, ready for Excel or your calendar.
- Reply to a customer complaintA calm reply, the internal actions for your team and a note on whether to escalate.
- Build a quoteA clean quote with line items, VAT by rate and a total in pounds, ready to print or save as PDF, plus a covering email.
- Check a company or supplierThe facts from the Companies House register, the warning signs, and the checks the register cannot do for you.
- Brief your AI for any taskClear instructions for any job, with the guard rails that stop an AI making things up, ready to paste into the AI you use.
When Copilot gets in the way
- Copilot can't find my fileFour questions. Most of the time the answer is which Copilot you have, where the file lives, or who can open it.
- Can I paste staff or customer details into AI?Three questions about your account, your employer's rules and the kind of details. Not legal advice: it points you to the rules that apply.
- How do I get AI to do this the same way every week?Pick your AI. Each one has its own way to keep instructions, so you don't start from scratch every Monday.
- My AI made something upAI writes what sounds likely. When it doesn't have the facts, it fills the gap. Here is how to stop it.