Welcome to this blog series where I will share my experiences with Microsoft Copilot for 365, an innovative AI-powered tool designed to enhance document creation, email composition, presentation design, business workflows, and more. I am Brian Breznai, a Principal Solutions Architect at LiftCloud, a cloud consulting company that specializes in transforming IT infrastructure and operations using Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Ansible, and Terraform. If you haven’t already, go check out my last blog post in this series. We’ve learned how to enable copilot in office 365, and now I want to explore copilot prompts that elevate productivity, creativity, and communication.
Copilot prompts that work well
One of the things I love about Copilot for 365 is that it can handle a wide range of writing tasks, from emails and reports to blogs and stories. Here are some of the prompt ideas that I tried, that worked well with Copilot for 365:
- Write a catchy headline for a blog post about the benefits of meditation.
- Write a summary of the main points of a research paper about the effects of social media on mental health.
- Write a thank-you email to a client who hired me for a writing project.
- Write a short story about a robot who falls in love with a human.
- Write a list of tips for improving your writing skills.
For each of these prompts, Copilot for 365 generated a reasonable and engaging text that matched the tone and style of the task. Of course, some of the texts needed some editing and polishing, but overall, I was impressed by how Copilot for 365 could handle different genres and formats of writing.
Copilot prompts that don’t work
However, Copilot for 365 is not perfect, and there are some prompt ideas that don’t work well with it. Here are some of the prompt ideas that I tried and that failed with Copilot for 365.
- Write a poem about the meaning of life.
- Write a review of a movie that doesn’t exist.
- Write a recipe for a dish that is impossible to make.
- Write a joke that is funny and original.
- Write a riddle that is impossible to solve.
For each of these prompts, Copilot for 365 either generated a nonsensical or irrelevant text, or failed to generate anything at all. I think this shows that Copilot for 365 has some limitations when it comes to creative and abstract writing, and that it relies on existing data and information to generate texts. So, if you want to write something that is out of the box or that requires a lot of imagination, you might want to use your own brain instead of Microsoft Copilot for 365.
The Separation and Integration of Copilot for 365 between Microsoft Office Apps
Another thing I learned from messing around with Copilot for 365 is that it has different capabilities and features depending on which office app you use it with. For example, Copilot for 365 can help you write formulas and charts in Excel, but not in Word. Copilot for 365 can help you write captions and alt texts for images in PowerPoint, but not in Outlook. It can help you write summaries and outlines in Word, but not in OneNote. And so on.
This means that Copilot for 365 is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather a tailored and customized assistant that adapts to the specific needs and functions of each office app. I think this is a smart and useful design, because it allows Copilot for 365 to focus on the most relevant and helpful tasks for each app, and to avoid unnecessary or redundant features. However, this also means that Copilot for 365 is not fully integrated across all office apps, and that you might need to switch between different apps to access different features of Copilot for 365. I hope that in the future, Copilot for 365 will be more seamless and consistent across all office apps, and that it will be able to transfer and share data and information between them.
Conclusion
So, that’s it for this blog! I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from messing around with Copilot and seeing what it can and cannot do. I think Copilot for 365 is a powerful and versatile tool that can help you with a wide range of writing tasks, but it also has some limitations and challenges that you need to be aware of. I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and I’ll see you all in my next blog post where I’ll review some Copilot use cases. Stay tuned!
Resources
Additionally, if you’re enjoying learning about Microsoft Copilot for 365, check out my hands-on workshops designed to take your Copilot skills to the next level:
- Master the Integration of Microsoft Copilot – Dive deep into the seamless integration of Microsoft Copilot across various platforms with our expert-led sessions. Perfect for those looking to streamline their workflows!
- Unlock the Full Potential of Microsoft 365 with Copilot 365 Workshop – Learn to harness the full capabilities of Microsoft 365 with Copilot 365. This workshop is ideal for maximizing productivity and efficiency in your daily tasks.
- Unlock the Power of Microsoft Copilot Studio – A comprehensive workshop focused on Microsoft Copilot Studio, where you’ll discover advanced features and techniques to make the most of this powerful tool.
Lastly, at the conclusion of this series, I will host a live webinar to answer questions and provide a demonstration of Microsoft Copilot for 365 in action. If you are interested in learning more about how Microsoft Copilot for 365 can benefit your organization, stay tuned!
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