How to Use Microsoft Copilot -- Complete Guide for 2025
Quick answer: Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant integrated across Microsoft 365 apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and OneDrive. Access it by clicking the Copilot button in any Microsoft 365 app. Copilot Pro costs $20/month for personal Microsoft accounts. Copilot for Microsoft 365 costs $30/user/month for business accounts and requires an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription.
Microsoft Copilot is used by 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies and over 400 million people across Microsoft products as of 2024. It is the most widely deployed enterprise AI tool in the world because it integrates into software most knowledge workers already use daily.
## What Does Microsoft Copilot Do in Each App?
Word: drafts documents from prompts, rewrites selected paragraphs, summarizes long documents, generates tables from data in the document and suggests edits for clarity and tone.
Excel: generates formulas from natural language descriptions, creates charts from selected data, identifies patterns and anomalies in datasets and explains what existing formulas do.
PowerPoint: creates complete presentations from a Word document or text prompt, generates speaker notes, changes design themes and suggests slide layouts.
Outlook: drafts email replies from a brief, summarizes long email threads, suggests optimal meeting times based on calendar data and drafts meeting agendas.
Teams: transcribes meetings in real time, generates meeting summaries with action items, answers questions about what was discussed in any meeting you attended and summarizes missed meetings.
OneDrive and SharePoint: searches across all your documents using natural language, summarizes files without opening them and identifies relevant documents for a given topic.
## How Much Does Microsoft Copilot Cost?
Copilot (free, included in Windows 11 and Bing): general-purpose AI assistant with web access. Does not integrate with Microsoft 365 apps or your personal documents.
Copilot Pro ($20/month, personal): integrates with Word, Excel, Outlook and other Microsoft 365 personal apps. Provides GPT-4o access and priority performance. For individual subscribers.
Copilot for Microsoft 365 ($30/user/month, business): integrates across all Microsoft 365 business apps with access to your organizational data (emails, documents, meetings). Requires Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium, E3 or E5.
## How Do You Get the Most Value from Microsoft Copilot?
In Outlook: use Copilot to summarize email threads before replying, draft initial responses from a brief and prepare meeting agendas from email context.
In Teams: turn on meeting transcription for every meeting. Review Copilot meeting summaries instead of watching recordings or reading full transcripts.
In Excel: describe the formula you need in plain English instead of looking up syntax. Ask Copilot to explain what a complex formula does.
In Word: start new documents by giving Copilot a brief and using the draft as your starting point rather than a blank page.
## FAQ: Microsoft Copilot
Q: Is Microsoft Copilot the same as ChatGPT?
A: Microsoft Copilot is powered by OpenAI models (GPT-4o) but it is a distinct product with deep integration into Microsoft 365 apps and access to your organizational data. ChatGPT is a standalone AI assistant without Microsoft 365 integration.
Q: Is Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 worth $30/user/month?
A: For knowledge workers in Microsoft-heavy environments who attend multiple meetings per week and produce regular document output, yes. The meeting summarization and email drafting features alone typically save 3 to 5 hours per week per user.
Q: Does Microsoft Copilot keep my data private?
A: Microsoft 365 Copilot for business accounts does not train on your organizational data. Your data stays within your Microsoft 365 tenant boundary. Microsoft is SOC 2 certified and provides GDPR, HIPAA and other compliance documentation.